Infodemic is a new problem in the era of Social Media

An International webinar organized by DMCJ, BBAU. Scholars and experts from USA, Malaysia, narrated stories of the COVID crisis in their countries. The focus was on Media's role in the COVID Pandemic. Prof. Priti Saxena, Guest of Honor of the Inaugural session presented a socio-legal perspective of this pandemic, which was highly appreciated by the participants. The Keynote speaker of the Webinar Dr. Ankuran Dutta, Head, DMCJ, Gauhati University, Assam, gave an analytical viewpoint of COVID crisis. He said that" the term fake news is not appropriate, we can call it fake information, or misinformation. News can not be fake, he further added. Dr. Ankuran said that The information reaching to most of the people through social media platforms are heavily loaded with fake information and misinformation.

This makes the life of people very difficult while consuming information. People are finding it difficult to distinguish between right and wrong information.The case study of Malaysia was beautifully sketched by Dr. Sara Chinnaswami, Associate Professor and Political Analyst in Malaysia and the Chief Guest of the Inaugural Session, She went on saying that the pandemic taught us many things which will help the society in the long run.She told the participants that Malaysia has a very strong internet network which helped the Government to spread information very quickly. But it was also used for sending fake information that overloaded the internet platform.In the afternoon session a film on Cancer Survivors was screened. The film is made by Neelu Sharma, a research scholar in DMCJ and working on Health Communication. The Screening of the film was followed by a Discussion Session Chaired by Dr.Mahendra Kumar Padhy. Many participants presented paper in this session.

In the second technical session Prof. Gopal Singh spoke about the pandemic and stressed on tackling this issue seriously, as the world and media is facing the worst crisis of this century. The Chief Guest of the Valedictory Session Dr. Jatin Srivastava, Mass Communication Department, Ohio University, America spoke about the diseases during the eighties and nineties and pointed out that how our elders tackled these problems.He gave an analytical view of the media's role in this pandemic in USA and compared it with Indian scenario and applauded the efforts of the Government and Media in dealing with the COVID 19 crisis in India. Earlier,the Head of the Department Prof. Govind ji Pandey welcomed the guest and set the outline of the webinar. He said that the webinar on Role of Media in COVID crisis is a timely discussion on the spread of this pandemic and the viewpoints of the experts and participants will help understand the ways and means of controlling it. Prof. Sanjay Singh ,VC, BBAU has appreciated the efforts of the organizing committee of DMCJ for conducting the international webinar on a very relevant topic.The Seminar was coordinated by Dr. Kunwar Surendra Bahadur and Dr. Arvind Singh, faculty member, DMCJ Conducted the Valedictory Session and Vote of thanks was given by the Head of the Department. Dr Loknath, Dr, RachanaGangwar along with many research scholars and participants were also present in the webinar.

by the participants.

The Keynote speaker of the Webinar Dr. Ankuran Dutta, Head, DMCJ, Gauhati University, Assam, gave an analytical viewpoint of COVID crisis. He said that" the term fake news is not appropriate, we can call it fake information, or misinformation. News can not be fake, he further added.

Dr. Ankuran said that The information reaching to most of the people through social media platforms are heavily loaded with fake information and misinformation. This makes the life of people very difficult while consuming information.

People are finding it difficult to distinguish between right and wrong information.

The case study of Malaysia was beautifully sketched by Dr. Sara Chinnaswami, Associate Professor and Political Analyst in Malaysia and the Chief Guest of the Inaugural Session, She went on saying that the pandemic taught us many things which will help the society in the long run.

She told the participants that Malaysia has a very strong internet network which helped the Government to spread information very quickly. But it was also used for sending fake information that overloaded the internet platform.

In the afternoon session a film on Cancer Survivors was screened. The film is made by Neelu Sharma, a research scholar in DMCJ and working on Health Communication. The Screeing of the film was followed by a Discussion Session Chaired by Dr.Mahendra Kumar Padhy. Many participants presented paper in this session.

In the second technical session Prof. Gopal Singh spoke about the pandemic and stressed on tackling this issue seriously, as the world and media is facing the worst crisis of this century.

The Chief Guest of the Valedictory Session Dr. Jatin Srivastava, Mass Communication Department, Ohio University, America spoke about the diseases during the eighties and nineties and pointed out that how our elders tackled these problems.

He gave an analytical view of the media's role in this pandemic in USA and compared it with Indian scenario and applauded the efforts of the Government and Media in dealing with the COVID 19 crisis in India.

Earlier ,the Head of the Department Prof. Govind ji Pandey welcomed the guest and set the outline of the webinar. He said that the webinar on Role of Media in COVID crisis is a timely discussion on the spread of this pandemic and the viewpoints of the experts and participants will help understand the ways and means of controlling it.

Prof. Sanjay Singh ,VC, BBAU has appreciated the efforts of the organizing committee of DMCJ for conducting the international webinar on a very relevant topic.

The Seminar was coordinated by Dr. Kunwar Surendra Bahadur and Dr. Arvind Singh, faculty member, DMCJ Conducted the Valedictory Session and Vote of thanks was given by the Head of the Department.

Dr Loknath, Dr, RachanaGangwar alogn with many research scholars and participants were also present in the webinar.