Faking risk: on fighting fake news
Government measures to handle the pandemic are mainly backed by the Disaster Management Act of2005 Section 54 of the Act attends to “punishment for incorrect caution.” “Whoever makes or distributes an incorrect alarm or caution as to disaster or its intensity or magnitude, leading to panic … Whoever makes or distributes an incorrect alarm or warning regarding disaster or its seriousness or magnitude, leading to panic,” are accountable for punishment under the Act.
What is false caution can be a tricky question. Who understands what is the accurate intensity or magnitude of COVID-19? What we know is that individuals who are dealing with cases are mostly those who reported on inadequacies or insensitivity of the state. There can even be a case that the more accurate the reporting on the government’s ineptitude, the more prevalent the panic goes! In Gujarat, a journalist is dealing with a case for reporting that Chief Minister Vijay Rupani may be replaced. The state has arrogated to itself the power of the editor– the task to judge and choose