National Press Day was observed in Sonitpur district at a programme held at the Department of Mass Communication and Journalism, Tezpur University organized in joint collaboration with Sonitpur district administration and office of the DIPRO, Sonitpur. A workshop on ‘Fact-Checking for Future’ was organized on the occasion, which was conducted by senior journalist and Editor of NEZINE.com, Sushanta Talukdar who spoke on the need of journalists to cross-check facts in the fast-paced era of digital journalism. As part of his presentation, he also highlighted several case studies which involved a huge amount of groundwork on part of the journalists before they were published as news items, laying importance on the significance of fact-checking as part of news reporting. He also spoke on the risks of relaying news items without referencing and cross-referencing and the social impact of fake news.
Vice-chancellor of Tezpur University, Professor V.K. Jain, Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Prof. P.K. Das, District Development Commissioner, Sonitpur, Dipshikha Dey, Head of the Department of Mass Communication and Journalism, Prof Joya Chakraborty, Prof Abhijit Bora, and other faculty of the department, DIPRO, Sonitpur, Neena Baruah, journalists from various media houses and students of the department were present in today’s programme.
Today’s workshop was held in a blended mode, with first-year students and several journalists joining the workshop through online video conferencing.
The National Press Day in the department is being organized with a two-day programme marked by a series of lectures on the freedom of the press, panel discussion, a skit by the students, and screening of documentaries. Earlier in the day, Dean, Students’ Welfare, Dr. Dhanapati Deka inaugurated a wall magazine and photo exhibition put up by the students and also released a special edition of departmental newsletter ‘Fine Print’, prepared by the students.