Ashraful Islam Joy & Serajul Islam Shishir:

Muhmmad Nazrul Islam, Deputy Commissioner (DC) in Sirajganj said, “Mass-media can play vital role in preventing rumor and misinformation, which have now become great concern for the society. Some people are trying to create instability in the society spreading rumor and misinformation through social media including facebook and youtube. The perpetrators are using rumor and misinformation as their strong weapons to destroy the peace and harmony in the society. So, media workers should be more aware about those.”

He came with the remarks, while addressing a view exchange meeting tittle “The role of media in preventing rumors” held at the conference room of Deputy Commissioner’s office in Sirajganj on Sunday.

The programme was presided over by Md. Towhiduzzaman, Deputy Chief Information Officer of the Regional Information Office in Rajshahi, while Muhammad Nazrul Islam, Deputy Commissioner (DC) in Sirajganj attended there as Chief Guest.

The Deputy Commissioner also said, “The importance of newspapers is immense. This is why; it is called the fourth pillar of a state. Newspapers present various issues including inconsistencies in the society, injustice, crimes and government developments at the right time. But currently, various types of rumors are being spread out through social media like YouTube and Facebook. At the first sight, it seems that, the news has been published by any media of the mainstream. There is no way to understand its reality or faultiness. But later, it is proved that the matter was just a rumor. Nowadays, rumors are one of the biggest tools for creating instability in the society. Therefore, no news should be disseminated or shared without verifying the correct information. Media workers can play a leading role in preventing rumors by presenting true information to the public.”

Additional Deputy Commissioner Ganapati Roy, editors of local newspapers and journalists from different print and electronic media were also present at the event.

The speakers described the media as one of the main means of creating public awareness in addition to preventing rumors.