ISLAMABAD: As the media has become one of the fastest growing industries in the world, its credibility has become the most sensitive issue.

This was stated by journalist David Hayward, who worked for the BBC for almost two decades.

He was speaking at a workshop, “Media ethics, journalism safety and responsible reporting”, organised by Mishal Pakistan at a local hotel on Thursday.

Mr Hayward said in the 1830s American businessmen became richest in the world because of the industrialisation. However, due to the digital revolution, currently eight richest people of the world, such as Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, belong to the media and news industry.

But the challenges for journalists are as huge as they were never before. US President Donald Trump has been attacking the media by declaring them ‘fake news.’ He is undermining the credibility of mediapersons, which is very dangerous for the journalist community, he said.

“Moreover, because of the digital media, even I was not able to judge that the UK would decide to quit the European Union,” he said.

On an average, 10 billion videos are uploaded on Facebook daily but because of fake and irrelevant videos Facebook has become the biggest source of disinformation and fake news, he said.

Talking about a recent cable of Wikileaks, which alleged that smart phones and other devices were being used for spying, Mr Hayward said digital safety had also become very important and journalists should take steps to keep their sources safe.

“We need to understand that people want to know what we are talking about. Now we have to be careful if we are watching television or the television is watching us,” he said.

Journalist Mubashir Zaidi said mediapersons should keep in mind that their sources and information can be leaked anytime.

“WhatsApp messages are not encrypted though it claims to be. Our messages are monitored and recorded by some elements. Moreover, we should not forget that there will always be new ways of spying.”

Talking about disinformation on the social media, he said a majority of news appeared as breaking news on the social media and then they are carried by TV channels and newspapers.

“After every bomb blast, the picture of a child’s shoe soaked in blood is shown on the social media. No one knows that it was the picture of an incident that occurred in Israel. Moreover, after every incident of fire, a picture of oil flames in Nigeria is uploaded on the social media,” he said.

“Because of this practice of carrying breaking news of the social media, recently fake news about a second blast in Lahore was aired by television channels. The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) later issued notices to 30 media channels,” he said.

Mr Zaidi said though some journalists deleted their Tweets they did not know that the tweets had already been monitored somewhere.

Chief Executive Officer Mishal Pakistan Amir Jahangir said with the advancement in technology, problems for journalists were increasing.

He suggested that journalists should ensure life safety while performing their professional duties.

Published in Dawn, March 10th, 2017