The power of the user in the time of fake news was highlighted by three eminent personalities from the fields of print media, advertising and new media during the afternoon session, Technology, Media, and the element of trust, at the Mathrubhumi Festival of Letters 2018.

Many relevant issues revolving around credibility were discussed in the session moderated by S. Prasannarajan, editor of Open magazine where Sreenivasan K. Swamy, chairman and managing director of R.K.Swamy BBDO Pvt. Ltd. and Professor Devdas Rajaram, a faculty member at Asian College of Journalism specialising in multimedia, social media and mobile journalism shared their views. 

Prasannarajan began by noting that where technology was once viewed with fear just as with all things new, the question now was if the digital revolution had liberated or added to the onus of the media. Prof. Rajaram consistently maintained that it was up to the storyteller and users of technology to act judiciously. I started my career when we were still writing, not typing. It is up to the media to make sure that the quality of news is maintained while the technology changed. He quoted Zuckerberg as an example of someone who created a new platform but where the network of users have become dependent without moderating use of the tool. Sreenivasan chose to call the extensive use of technology disruptive in nature. He said the number of people using smart phones would jump enormously in the next few years, putting a machine of expression into the hands of many more people with pent-up feelings who now had a way to let off steam. There is a method to the madness, he said.

The questions raised by the moderator was if it was an algorithm or editor who decided on the content as the definition of news underwent change and a Big Brother-like management of news took place and whether technology made it easier to propogate false information even while being a movement of empowerment. He said in the current environment people chose to be swayed by the incredible rather than choose what was credible. 

Sreenivasan, also chairman of the confederation of Asian Advertising Agency Associations and board of Advertising Standards Council of India  noted the presence of numerous bodies as watchdogs to decipher the circulation of false information in the media but democracies across the world were under stress, making people more divisive.

Prof. Rajaram emphasized the need to introduce social media literacy in schools to help the upcoming generations engage with news by using the power of discernment. It is already being done in some European countries, America etc. as children now tend to believe what they see on Facebook, without confirming the source of the information. He reminded the audience of the positive outcomes of technology, like how a movement #blacklivesmatter, with its origins in the USA, gained popularity across the world and how the Arab Spring gained momentum because of posts on social media. He said that technology would never hamper the work of a good journalist and that if people use it wisely, would only serve to enable them.