ISLAMABAD: Today, September 28, marked the “World News Day” as hundreds of news organizations, media associations, and individuals joined the “Choose Truth” campaign globally to highlight the importance of fact-based journalism.
This year’s theme, ‘Choose Truth’ has been developed by Project Kontinuum – a campaign incubator led by South African Daily Maverick and co-organized by WAN-IFRA’s World Editors Forum and the Canadian Journalism Foundation.
Choose Truth campaign reminds the importance of “Truth” in the current media landscape where misinformation and disinformation proliferating. Factual reporting is very crucial in these unprecedented times when wars, internal conflicts, and political strife regularly feature in every publication.
The shift of readers from print and electronic media to social media has driven the threat of misinformation. Anyone with the internet and a smartphone can help shape the global narrative ignoring the uncertainty of the information. Influential figures including politicians and celebrities have weaponized the source of information and pushed their biased narratives from the media platforms.
Among all this chaos between reality and fiction, journalism must based on the facts and truth. Many media organization around the world have launched their Fact Check Cells to counter the disinformation of clickbait and sensationalism ignoring the main essence of news, which is “truth”.
This year’s Choose Truth campaign holds the news platform and journalist who pushes a partisan narrative. The theme urges the media industry to uphold the integrity of journalism and hold high standards. Today also marked the very importance of evidence-based investigation and trustworthy sources for news stories.
World News Day, which takes place every year on September 28, is a global initiative to draw public attention to journalists’ role in providing trustworthy news and information that serves citizens and democracy.
The World News Day was first conceived in 2017 by Globe and Mail Editor-in-Chief David Walmsley and the last iteration of the campaign was supported by more than 500 newsrooms.
WAN-IFRA (The World Association of News Publishers) President Ladina Heimgartner said: “With ‘Choose Truth’, we underscore our shared commitment to defend the principles of fact-based journalism. In a world overwhelmed by misinformation, the responsibility of journalists to provide accurate, reliable, and independent news has never been more critical. This campaign is a reminder that truth is not just a choice – it is the foundation of a free and democratic society.”
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