Shillong: The Meghalaya Editors’ and Publishers’ Association (MEPA) has expressed shock and displeasure with a troll circulated on social media by unknown persons, which, it said, is aimed at spreading falsehood against a senior member of the association, Patricia Mukhim, Editor of The Shillong Times.
“The troll carrying a false press release regarding Mukhim as the candidate of All India Trinamool Congress for the 2023 Assembly elections is sickening and distasteful. MEPA never expected such a troll with the sole intention of tarnishing the image of a senior journalist,” MEPA General Secretary John Wilson Thabah said in a statement.
The association has requested the cyber crime cell of Meghalaya Police to trace the origin of the troll and bring the persons involved to book.
On the other hand, the Shillong Press Club has also voiced its concerned by the frequent attempts by certain individuals and/or organisations to, under the guise of sharing genuine news, resort to intentionally spreading disinformation of the most egregious kind.
“A deplorable recent instance has seen the name of the Editor of The Shillong Times, Padma Shri Patricia Mukhim, dragged into an attempt to malign a certain political party,” the Club said in a statement.
“Although the advent of citizen journalism, via the arming of the general public with smartphones, does have its merits, it is imperative that, in this age of fake news, the public carefully consider the source of all the many posts that arrive through social media and messaging apps before giving any credence to them,” the statement read.
Urging the law enforcement to take stringent action against the disseminators of such criminally defamatory posts, the Shillong Press Club said, “In the 21st century, the authorities need to adopt modern means of tracking such criminals wherever they might be hiding. ”
