Report Launch: Disinformation Risks and Bangladesh Online News Market

Report Launch: Disinformation Risks and Bangladesh Online News Market

Digitally Right and the Global Disinformation Index (GDI) are launching a study into the disinformation risks on digital news platforms in Bangladesh. The study is based on an assessment of editorial and operational transparency in 33 Bangladeshi news domains creating an index that intends to serve the media and advertisers that they can utilize to defund disinformation.

The virtual launch event for the report is scheduled for 10:30 am on March 28th, 2023, and it will be held on Zoom. The event will feature an expert panel of media editors, researchers, and representatives from GDI and Digitally Right. To register for the event, please visit the following link: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_0hTiIud-RHelA54ep1C0pw

The expansion of news into the online world has exposed the industry to new risks of disinformation, which can be financially incentivized for news websites. Disinformation can have harmful consequences, such as disrupting society’s shared sense of accepted facts and undermining public health and safety. 

To combat ad-funded disinformation, GDI provides independent, trusted, and neutral ratings of news domains’ risk of disinforming their readers. These ratings can be used by advertisers, ad tech companies, and platforms to redirect their online ad spending in line with their brand safety and disinformation risk-mitigation strategies.

In 2022, GDI rated the disinformation risks of news sites in 20 countries around the world. Digitally Right, a Dhaka based media and technology research company collaborated with GDI to conduct the online news market assessment in Bangladesh. 

We invite you to the launch event of the report titled “Disinformation Risk Assessment: The Online News Market in Bangladesh,” and a panel discussion that focuses on the risk of disinformation, trust in media, and their impact on media sustainability. 

Digitally Right Launches Dismislab to Promote Media Literacy

Digitally Right Launches Dismislab to Promote Media Literacy

Digitally Right launched Dismislab, an independent information laboratory to tackle online misinformation and disinformation and enhance the critical thinking ability of the audience and media professionals in Bangladesh.

Launched as an experimental project in January 2023, the Dismislab carries out cutting-edge research to understand the trends in media and information space; factcheck and debunk falsehoods that impact society and people’s lives and offers training on online verification for newsrooms and university students to improve their fact-checking skills.

It provides in-depth articles to improve media literacy and act as a media watchdog by providing a space for journalists and academics to publish well-researched pieces on the role and practices of the media as a provider of critical information to its audience.  

With the name Dismislab, inspired by the words “dis” and “mis” information and “dismissal”, it seeks to dismiss false and harmful information by presenting facts and contexts. It also aims to look into the source and intent of (mis)information to help the audience navigate an information disorder.  

Dismislab has four objectives:

  1. To build and promote media literacy at all levels through verification and research.
  2. To present facts by verifying online misinformation and disinformation.
  3. To help the media to avoid disinformation traps by providing training and mentoring.
  4. To make open source data accessible and understandable to the people.

In its launch, the site published various articles including on influence operations, financially motivated disinformation, clickbait networks, and critical issues like health and religion. For more, please visit the site: dismislab.com