Shared Reality Only Possible by Working Together: US Diplomat 

Hyderabad, March 13: In the age of information, misinformation, and disinformation, the shared reality is only possible by working together, said Frankin Strum, Public Diplomacy Officer, US Consulate General Hyderabad. Addressing the inaugural offline session of the Countering Disinformation for Urdu TV Journalists workshop organized by the Osmania University and funded by the US Consulate Hyderabad, Mr. Strum stressed ‘journalists play a key role in providing accurate information to the public.’ 

Journalists play the most important role in articulating the most common reality to everybody in the public, he said adding that “misinformation is not brand new.” 

He said “there have been liars, conspiracies throughout history ..but what is new is the media environment that we live in, implying the changing landscape of reporting and journalism since the advent of social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

He appreciated the challenges faced by journalists and their struggles to provide accurate information.

Citing examples of misinformation and disinformation, he cited the story of new US consulate premises in Hyderabad and said any false information about the same can be addressed with fact-checking. 

He stressed on the importance of India-US relationship and said that the new consulate premises in Financial District, Gachibowli, a $340 million investment, speaks a lot about US interests in India, Hyderabad in particular.

He called upon the journalists to work together to solve the problems of fake news. The whole idea of democracy is we as people can work together to identify the problems and solve these problems. … that is only possible if we have a shared reality.

Head of the Department Osmania University Prof. K. Stevenson, Press Council of India Member Mr. M.A. Majid, US Consulate Hyderabad Media Advisor Mr. Abdul Basit, senior journalist and Chief Trainer Mr. U. Sudhakar and Deputy Commissioner of Police (Cyber Crime) Ms. Sneha Mehra IPS were also present on this occasion.

Journalists from Urdu TV media from different districts of Telangana, and students from Maulana Azad National Urdu University participated in this workshop. The workshop is held in hybrid mode, where multiple online sessions were held. The first offline session of the workshop was held at the Center for Research and Development at Osmania University in Hyderabad.