ARMT News

An illustrated interactive book on the infodemic alias fake news during COVID-19 titled “Break The Fake Toons” has been formally launched by Prof. K G Suresh, former Director General of Indian Institute of Mass Communication, New Delhi and Prof. Ujjwal Choudhury, Pro-Vice Chancellor of Adamas University, Kolkata on 6 June 2020 at the Media Educators’ Round Table Conference. This live webinar was organised by ABP Education powered by the Telegraph and Ananda Bazar Patrika, whe

April 30, 2020 All is well that ends well, but surely not the way this pandemic is going to end. Because, this pandemic has already left behind a series of misinformation into a new avatar called #Infodemic. The Covid-19 outbreak seems to come out with more time for people to wonder about the might of false information on virus than fight the virus. This crisis period has been more worrying for the false information being spread on the virus than searching truth about the vir

April 29, 2020 It has become a quite difficult task for WHO to control both the rise of #infodemic and #pandemic at the same time. The consequences of both the problem can’t be compromised; if pandemic poses a serious threat to global health, the infodemic hijacks the flow of information. The problem emerges out of such crisis period that infodemic cannot be denied for the sake of pandemic or the vice versa. Therefore, it has become important to keep a parallel control over b

April 28, 2020 Fake news may also appear in disguise of an altercation with a restaurant owner on the issue of its closure till October 15. You may drop your plan for candlelight dinner in your nearby restaurant but can’t overlook the quarrel with the owner who seems to make it true by shouting at the top of his voice. The restaurant owner in this case have not only failed to understand the rumor about the closure of all restaurants and hotel in the country till October 15 bu

April 27, 2020 The uncertainty about the cause of novel coronavirus tends to the spread of lies over the social media platform. It is a debatable issue that the outbreak of Covid-19 is caused either by man-made or natural reasons. Earlier, a news was viral that the virus was spread from a defunct refrigerator of a laboratory in Wuhan province of China. While on the other hand, it was also believed that the deadly virus transmitted from animal like bats, pangolins, etc. Despit

April 26, 2020 It’s vain to claim the intellectual property right (IPR) on fake news by individuals because it is a collective task. The root of fake news is difficult to find out and more difficult than that is to find its creator or the owner. So, one cannot be held responsible immediately for the spread of such fake news or rumor. It requires a large amount of research and fact check to attain at reality. This is about the consumption of large period of time to assess the

April 25, 2020 Gaga over the use of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) for Covid-19 control is unfortunately not an inspiring tale to tell. Hydroxychloroquine is a medication used for prevention and treatment of malaria, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and porphyria cutanea tarda. It was widely prescribed in 1980s as cases of malaria began to increase in India. The idea of using the tablet for novel coronavirus came from two small studies in China and France, and some anecdotes of success

April 24, 2020 Let’s take the tussle between pandemic and infodemic before the panchayat on the observance of National Panchayati Raj Day today. The seed of panchayat system in India as a symbol of good and grassroot governance was sown in post-independent India under the advocacy of Mahatma Gandhi. The most important part of this system is its decentralized power structure that serve justice in its true sense. This context of judicious arrangement deeply rooted in Indian adm

April 23, 2020 Sharing information for the sake of one’s intention to gain financial assistance has become a new normal with the rise of #infodemics. It is simply because this rise of infodemics has now been a town-talk of collecting money by all false means. People are now misled to worry less for the expenses of money. As it has been seen that a fake Facebook post of a daughter crying prayer for her mother suffering from novel coronavirus attracted audiences in large number

April 22, 2020 Pension cut by 30 per cent is the new way of panicking people amid this lockdown. The message about slashing the pension of government employees by 30 per cent and terminating the same for people older than the age of 80 on social media platforms like WhatsApp and Facebook has tensed the situation. Not only social media platforms, but some media outlets like ‘Rediff’ publishing articles with headline "Govt may slash pension to employees to by 30%" in the start

April 21, 2020 People are still in dilemma to decide whether to stop delivery of newspaper or not. A rumor about the spread of Covid-19 through newspaper abound on social media for a couple of weeks today. Despite the WHO categorically rejected the rumor about newspaper as a carrier to Covid-19, the Maharashtra government on Saturday said door-to-door delivery of newspaper and magazines is prohibited as part of measures to contain the spread of the virus. As reported in vario

April 20,2020 A false rumor about the age-vulnerability to Covid-19 may shatter the millennial’s hopes to live. Young people across the world are ignoring the affective impact of the novel coronavirus on all ages and compromising its spread. This section of population has easily become the victim of #infodemic that the virus affects the older age much. But this is not true. “Although older people are hardest hit, younger people are not spared,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adh

April 19, 2020 No shortage of salt; it is all about conspiracy to create chaos amid #COVID-19 pandemic. There was never a shortage of salt in India; not even from the time of Chandragupta Mauryas when heavy taxes were imposed on salt. Not even during the pre-independence period when a salt march was led as a protest against hefty tax imposed on salt by the British. A fake rumor about shortage of salt in Assam has spread like wildfire amid the tensions of global health emergen

April 18, 2020 What social distancing is to pandemic, cross-check is to #infodemic. It is important to understand that cross-checking any news before its circulation can stop infodemics just as similar to the ways that social distancing can contain the spread of #COVID19. Several instances of misleading information have led many to fall victim of infodemics over the last one week. The circulation of unsubstantiated medical chemicals as a cure for the novel coronavirus or fals

April 17, 2020: Fear and anxiety has manifested the fight of COVID-19 as central to communalism in India. The rising #infodemic surrounding COVID-19 has laid down a red carpet to islamophobia today. And this has found its staunch presence in Ahmedabad hospital in Gujarat on Wednesday where coronavirus patients are segregated into two different wards based on religious identities. The circulation and tolerance of calling Muslim population as the bearer of the novel coronavirus

April 16, 2020 The novel coronavirus is more of a tale of competence and incompetence of our immune system – it’s a tale of attack on our common senses today. World scientists on #COVID19 are leaving no stones unturned in finding out the entire design of human being’s immune system and a way to boost it, if vulnerable to the deadly virus. But unfortunately, they are running so fast that they miss to make people’s common sense stronger to understand the virus in general terms.

April 15, 2020 The increasing spread of novel coronavirus in India is an alarming increase of Islamophobia today. The virus, which so far is not curable has been fabricated with communal color at the organization of an event within the shortest span of time. The event is about a large international gathering of an orthodox fundamentalist Muslim group called the Tablighi Jamaat from March 13-15 in Markaz at West Nizamuddin in Delhi. It received participants from international

April 14, 2020 As this Bohag #Bihu marks the beginning of the Assamese new year, people avoid gatherings and dedicates their fight against #COVID19. The Bohag Bihu also called the Rongali Bihu starts right from Goru Bihu on Monday when people in villages are seen taking cows for the traditional bath near the ponds or rivers maintaining the norms of social distancing. Though the spirit of Bihu is dampened by this pandemic; no people on the roads, no markets for Bihu shoppings,

April 13, 2020 When the entire world is gripped into #COVID19 pandemic, some legislators in India seems to negotiate cow urine as an immediate antidote. India has so far crossed 8,000 confirmed cases, with 7,409 active and 273 deaths for the outbreak of novel coronavirus, yet its legislators are no way behind in claiming that cow urine can cure the pandemic. Earlier on March 14, organizations like the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha organized a cow urine drinking party in the na

April 12, 2020 Whether you are at home or in jail, at least you are safe for staying indoor during this COVID-19 pandemic. Yes, it may be worrisome for you, but not for the administration and the state police as you are at least not wandering on the streets transmitting the vulnerable novel coronavirus. The reason for staying at home may be the pandemic; but to be in jail, one has to commit a serious crime. And without any surprise, there are people who have been committing a