Physical Address
23,24,25 & 26, 2nd Floor, Software Technology Park India, Opp: Garware Stadium,MIDC, Chikalthana, Aurangabad, Maharashtra – 431001 India
The fifth year of the Asia-Pacific Trusted Media Summit was held as a two-day-long hybrid conference on the 20th and 21st of September this year. A worldwide online event took place on the 20th of September, followed by an in-person event in select locations on the 21st of September. In India, the in-person event was held at the Crowne Plaza, Okhla, New Delhi. The event was attended by journalists, media educators, academics, and researchers who are fighting misinformation across the Asia-Pacific region and was hosted by data LEADS and Google News Initiative.
Climate Fact Checks, the first of its kind initiative to counter climate misinformation in India, too participated in the event as its project head, Harish Nair, took part in a panel discussion titled, ‘Climate Change: Sifting for truth’ on fact-checking misinformation around climate change.
The panel was hosted by Mayank Aggarwal – Environment Journalist – Member of The Reporters’ Collective and the various panelists who participated in the discussion are Subhra Priyadarshani – President – Science Journalists Association of India (SJAI), Aditi Tandon – Production Editor – Mongabay India, Harish Nair – Managing Editor – India Fact Crescendo and Project Head – Climate Fact Checks, Madhur Singh – India Editor – Eco-Business World & World Economic Forum.
The panel discussed how disinformation, especially around climate change, is one of the main concerns at present in terms of the global climate narrative. The panelist expressed alarm at the fact that globally, parties with vested interests, are pumping in millions to spread disinformation involving climate change.
The panelists also discussed that in India, more than misinformation, lack of information around climate is a serious issue and growing concern. Spreading climate information in a simple, easy-to-understand way so that the common people do not get confused by scientific jargon is need of the hour, they said.
They also expressed concern about the lack of political dialogue in India concerning climate change and the fact that it still has not become a political issue in the country even if the region is one of the most affected regions in the world in terms of global warming and climate change.
They also spoke about greenwashing and the fact that it is quite rampant in India in various forms. The fact that fact-checking misinformation normally does not involve looking into advertisements for false claims but in the case of climate, because of greenwashing, advertisements too need to be kept under the fact checking radar, was discussed.
The panelists further discussed that misattributing events to climate change is another growing concern. There is a growing tendency to blame climate change for every other random issue that might be the end result of various other factors, the panelists felt.
