It has been reported that the Department of Mass Communication, Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University recently launched a Media Literacy drive called ‘Dekh Bhai Fake’. As per information, the campaign was inaugurated by Vijay Satokar, retired Senior Editor, PTI, New Delhi, and Regional Director, Indian InstituteofMassCommunication (IIMC), Amravati. It mainly aims to educate the youth on the perils of’FakeNews’ in Social Media by reaching out to major colleges in Nagpur. The Department has undertaken this initiative as part of its out reach programme for its Golden Jubilee year. Speaking on the occasion, Satokar congratulated the students on the choice of subject.
He spoke about the dangers of fake news and the alarming rate at which they can spread. He spoke of “deep fakes” and the growing impossibility of telling real from fake.Dr Moiz Mannan Haque, Head of the Department said that “Although it may be impossible to stop fake news, it was possible for people to stop responding to such malafide falsehoods. He hopes that by creating awareness amongst the youth, a critical thinking generation of Social Media consumers would be born.” ‘Dekh Bhai Fake’ will reach out to students in all major undergraduate colleges in Nagpur. To do so, the students of the Department have formed six teams. Their presentation will cover the social,political and economic impact of fake news, besides the threat to the country’s integrity and sovereignty. It will educate the students on the various aspects of identifying false and misleading information and what they could do to stop its spread participants from the colleges will be encouraged to join the drive against fake news by staying connected through these Social Media networking sites. In the second stage of the drive, the students hope to reach rural colleges through a ‘Train the Trainers’ programme, to be executed with the cooperation of the university’s National Service Scheme (NSS) unit.
