Representatives of political parties and media outlets who attended the 7th Meeting of the International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP) Media Forum organised at the January 7 Palace in Phnom Penh this morning under the theme “Fighting Fake News in the Digital Age to Sustain Peace” shared their grave concerns on fake news.
In the meeting, representatives of 18 political parties and journalists of fifteen media outlets from Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Republic of Korea, Lebanon, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Türkiye expressed their grave concerns about an explosion of misinformation and disinformation through new digital platforms in recent years, that are popularly referred to as fake news, and identified it as one of major sources of violence, hatred, racism, discrimination, and xenophobia, leading to political and social disturbances and disorder in many places around the world, and affecting international relations.
The meeting, co-chaired by H.E. Neth Pheaktra, Minister of Information of Cambodia and H.E. Mushahid Hussain Sayed, Co-Chairperson of the ICAPP Standing Committee and Chairman of the Senate Defence Committee of Pakistan, also believed that fake news is a significant threat to traditional journalism with news-trust sources, journalists and media outlets that follow strict codes of practice.
In this regard, all participants agreed to focus on the future collaboration on jointly developing a set of tools and frameworks to monitor, and effectively deal with the wide-spread fake news which can quickly undermine our efforts to achieve a global vision for peace, stability and human advancement.
Furthermore, all participants also noted with concern that developments in generative artificial intelligence (AI) have also expanded the risks of fake news which requires us to continue to focus on anticipating and managing their unforeseen impacts.
In this regard, the participants welcomed the United Nations’ initiative to develop a Code of Conduct for information integrity to create a healthier and more inclusive digital space, combatting the spread of fake news while upholding the principles of human rights, freedom of expression and opinion, and access to information.
In the era of digital transformation and with the rapid advancement of new technologies, all participant acknowledged the important role that the media plays in countering the spread of fake news. In this regard, all reaffirmed their continued commitment to capitalising on their strengths and their enhanced media networks in respective countries to combat fake news across the region.
All participants also confirmed their commitment to supporting the ICAPP’s goal of building an Asian community through the continued promotion of its ideals for peace and reconciliation.
