New Delhi | Jagran News Desk: Misinformation Combat Alliance (MCA), a cross-industry collaborative effort, has been launched to combat and limit the spread of misinformation in India through targeted interventions and activities. As many as 10 organisations from the field of fact-checking, media, technology, and public relations have joined hands as the founding members of the alliance.
The founding members - Factly, Fact Crescendo, Newschecker, People Like Us Create (PLUC), Tattle, THIP - The Healthy Indian Project, Vishvas News, Youth Ki Awaaz, and Yuvaa - held extensive discussions over the nature, form, aim, and activities of the alliance, following which a Governing Charter was formed and adopted. Vishvas News is the IFCN certified fact-checking portal of Jagran New Media.
"Formalities of joining for the 10th member are yet to be completed. Details will be uploaded on the website as it is done," the MCA said in a press release.
"The aim of the MCA is to reach out to every internet user in the country and make him/her media literate, to change behaviour to make users pause, think and question before sharing and amplifying misinformation and to build and support a vibrant community of truth-seekers through advocacy and outreach," it added.
Bharat Gupta (CEO, Jagran New Media) was elected President and Rajneil Rajnath Kamath (Founder and Director, NC Media Networks Pvt Ltd) was elected Vice President. Membership to the MCA is open to all organisations and institutions who would like to play their part in combating the menace of misinformation.
Commenting on the launch, MCA President Bharat Gupta, explained the idea behind the formation of the alliance.
"We're three months into 2022 and we've already witnessed the third wave of the Coronavirus pandemic, elections in 5 Indian states, and a war in Europe. As each of the events played out (and in some cases, continue to play out), there was an unfortunate, yet predictable spike in misinformation. Even if we discount these outlier events, we continue to see misinformation in our daily lives. It's not just politics and current affairs. We also witness misinformation around health, finance, government schemes, consumer products and even entertainment. This has a profound impact, at both an individual and institutional level. Keeping this in mind, we have formed the Misinformation Combat Alliance," Mr Gupta said.
Meanwhile, Rajneil Kamath, MCA Vice President, said that the war against misinformation has to be a collective one. "Membership to the Misinformation Combat Alliance is open to all. The war against misinformation has to be a collective one, and this is where we come in. We are planning initiatives around media literacy, technology and advocacy, and you will see more action through 2022," Mr Kamath said.