The Shillong Press Club (SPC) has expressed concern over frequent attempts by certain individuals and organisations to, under the guise of sharing genuine news, resort to intentionally spreading disinformation of the most egregious kind.
“A deplorable recent instance has seen the name of the Editor of The Shillong Times, Padma Shri Patricia Mukhim, dragged into an attempt to malign a certain political party. Although the advent of citizen journalism, via the arming of the general public with smart-phones, does have its merits, it is imperative that, in this age of fake news, the public carefully consider the source of all the many posts that arrive through social media and messaging apps before giving any credence to them,” the SPC said today.
SPC also said that it is incumbent upon law enforcing agencies to take stringent action against the disseminators of such criminally defamatory posts.
“In the 21st Century, the authorities need to adopt modern means of tracking such criminals wherever they might be hiding,” it added.
