March 29, 2023
DHAKA – An analysis of thirty-three news domains of Bangladesh media have found that all of them are at medium to high risk of disinforming their online users, according to a report published today.
Of them, at least 16 sites are at high risk of spreading disinformation because of a lack of transparent check and balance and absence of accuracy policies.
The report titled “Disinformation Risk Assessment: The Online News Market in Bangladesh” is based on a study conducted by Digitally Right, in partnership with the Global Disinformation Index (GDI), between July and December 2022.
The study analysed around 700 articles published in the mainstream media based on two pillars — content and operational pillars.
The content pillar assessed the domains based on nine indicators, including news bias, headline accuracy, sensationalism, attribution, etc. All 33 sites performed well in these indicators, scoring 86 out of 100 on an average.
However, the domains performed poorly in the six indicators under operational pillar — including ownership information, editorial guideline, post-publication correction policy, fact-checking policy, etc. The average score was 29.
Shafiqul Alam, bureau chief at AFP, Dhaka; Ayesha Kabir, head of English, Prothom Alo; Talat Mamun, executive director, Channel 24; and Saiful Alam Chowdhury, associate professor, Dhaka University, shared their insights during presentation of the report through an webinar.
Digitally Right’s founder Miraj Ahmed Chowdhury moderated the event.