The ‘New Straits Times’ is campaigning against all forms of fake and junk news for obvious reasons.
Precious time is expended in creating, sharing and trying to verify such content. There is no data to suggest that fake news is actually harming the day’s happiness score. We do know, however, that this “Now What?” literature is not going to cheer us up.
This innate desire to be the first to news is driving the fake news culture.
Many are unquestionably anxious to do some good, where dousing bad news is a form of contribution.
“Pause”, is our plea to this segment. Switch off briefly. Divert your energies to some quality, profitable endeavours.
We are in favour of citizen journalism as it directs light to obscured spaces. Also, we are built to collate and verify facts. We trawl the entire news ecosystem so that we don't leave important information out of our Digital and Print coverage. Can we agree on something? We acknowledge our imperfections, but do trust us to deliver the content you need to make key decisions.
And, yes, there is this other genre of fake-junk news — those with a political agenda. Try telling some people to wait for the next general election to deliver their verdict. They are bent on acting this instant, without a moment’s delay, terrorising political opponents, including friends residing in the same WhatsApp groups. We used to casually moan about political fatigue. Not any more, it seems. New energies have been harnessed to engage in thriving political debate. Fake news is helping to fuel the debate.
It is a given that we are pro-debate and anti-fake news. Naturally, the thought process of this Cover has long underpinned discussions in the newsroom.The trigger was the prime minister’s statement that talk of a cabinet reshuffle is “fake news”.
With our Cover assuming the ambition and scope of a daily newsmagazine, the presentation before you is an obvious choice.
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