Journalists urged to use RTI law to counter fake news

MARDAN: The speakers at a two-day training workshop on Friday stressed the need to utilize the right-to-information law to counter fake news and carry out investigative reporting.

The Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI) and Individual Land (IL) organised the training titled “RTI for Investigative Reporting, Countering Fake News & Gender Inclusive Reporting.”

Aziz Ahmad, Provincial Coordinator of the project, “Citizens for Good Governance” imparted the training. Trainer and journalist Saiful Islam Saifi, Pir Wilayat Shah and Noor Alam highlighted the need to use effectively the RTI Law.

They added that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Right to Information Act 2013 was promulgated in pursuant to Article 19-A of the Constitution. The trainers said that according to the Act, every citizen shall have the right to have access to information in all matters of public importance, subject to regulation and reasonable restrictions imposed by law.

They added that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Right to Information Act 2013 was enacted to improve governance, reduce corruption and hold accountable the government, autonomous and statutory organizations. The resource persons said the Act gave all the citizens the right to have access to information to participate meaningfully in a democratic setup.

Shedding light on investigative reporting, the speakers said that the journalists should play their part in encountering fake news. They demanded the government to make strict legislation to counter the fake news as it was a threat to the country’s solidarity.