New Delhi, December 15th, 2023 : Jagran New Media’s internationally awarded and trusted fact-checking wing, Vishvasnews.com, launches “Sach Ke Sathi: Seniors'', a media literacy campaign to help senior citizens learn how to detect online misinformation, protect themselves from deepfakes and access trustworthy news and information.
SKS Seniors - the 7th edition of Jagran New Media's flagship media literacy effort Sach Ke Sathi - has been launched by Vishvasnews.com in collaboration with MICA as its Academic Partner, and is supported by the Google News Initiative. Two other fact-checkers - Fact Crescendo, and News Meter have also joined hands with SKS Seniors as its language partners to take the initiative forward in local languages.
The campaign focuses on imparting media literacy training to senior citizens, who are more vulnerable to false information and aims to impart skills to better navigate the digital information landscape.
SKS Seniors will go live in 50 cities, covering 15 states in 7 languages and will host 70 training sessions - 40 on-ground and 30 online. In addition to this, SKS will also launch a first-of-its-kind micro-learning video course on media literacy and promote media literacy through its print editions.
Commenting on the launch, the CEO of Jagran New Media, Mr. Bharat Gupta, said, "The collaboration between Vishvasnews.com, Google News Initiative (GNI), the fact-checking community, and MICA fulfils our objective to address the critical issue of media literacy specifically within the senior demographic, with a focus on digital safety and fact-checking. Built upon shared synergy, the 7th edition of Sach ke
Sathi will enable us to collectively prioritize the advancement of media literacy among seniors and create a robust foundation for a digitally literate society. It has been our endeavour at Jagran New Media to follow the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) that underline our dedication to this important cause.”
Rajesh Upadhyay, Editor-in-Chief, Jagran New Media, added, “We are thrilled to continue another chapter of Sach Ke Sathi and elevate the initiative’s standards by tailoring the approach to address many unique challenges faced by senior citizens in the age of misinformation, like limited digital literacy and fact-checking skills. The main focus is on providing senior citizens with essential tools and knowledge for awareness of digital safety and misinformation/disinformation through various training done by the fact-checking community and our academic partner, MICA. A well-devised communication and outreach plan has been implemented to ensure that the programme effectively reaches its intended audience, with a range of measurement approaches to assess the programme's impact at various stages.”
Surabhi Malik, Google News Lab Lead in India said, "Sach ke Sathi Seniors is a much-needed collaborative media literacy effort that will empower senior citizens with critical thinking skills, help them detect misinformation and also prepare them to tackle deepfakes. Mis and disinformation is a serious problem that clogs the information pipeline and prevents the flow of trustworthy & authoritative information, which is all the more crucial during elections. We are proud to support this collaborative initiative that will help participants better assess the credibility of information available online.”
Santosh K Patra, Associate Professor, Head of Media and Entertainment Management Area and Centre for Media and Entertainment Studies (CMES), MICA, added, “As the academic partner of Sach Ke Saathi Seniors, we see it as an opportunity to address the issue of digital information literacy with Vishvas News. We have designed a curriculum by adopting an interactive and learner-centric pedagogy that not only imparts knowledge but also fosters critical thinking skills to tackle the challenges of fake news, misinformation, disinformation and malinformatiom which is prevalent like a menace in our society today.”
Sach Ke Sathi was launched in 2019 by Vishvasnews.com and Jagran New Media with a mission to combat the spread of misinformation and disinformation. SKS won Wan-Ifra’s Best Trust Initiative SilverAward in 2023 and IAMAI’s 2022 Bronze for best content campaign.
The previous six editions dealt with crucial subjects such as Health Fact Check, Bihar Elections, Yes for Vaccine, Assembly Elections 2022, FactsUp, and more. Over the years, Sach ke Sathi has achieved significant success in raising awareness about the societal effects of misinformation and fake news, as well as providing the tools and training needed to identify misinformation at a larger level.
About Vishvasnew.com: Vishvas.News is India’s leading fact-checking and verification portal, with a dedicated editorial team to identify, verify, and authenticate news. It is available in 12 languages, including Hindi, English, Punjabi, Urdu, Assamese, Marathi, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Oriya, Bengali, and Gujarati.
Vishvas News has a dedicated team of certified and trained fact-checkers who make sure that any viral
claim or potential fake news is cross-checked and debunked without any fear or favour, following the organisation’s editorial policy and IFCN’s Code of Principles. It provides stories that come from genres including politics, sports, health, sanitation, law and justice, education, environment, employment, innovation, science, etc.
About Jagran New Media:
Jagran New Media has a reach of over 73.2 million users (*Comscore MMX Multi-Platform; October 2023) and has consolidated its position amongst the top news and information publishers in India. Thecompany publishes multimedia content, which includes over 7,000 stories and 40 videos in a day.
JNM is committed to producing factual & credible content that empowers New India with Knowledge, Information & Voice towards an Inclusive & Progressive Society. The company has dedicated websites covering National & Hyperlocal news, which include www.jagran.com, www.naidunia.com, www.inextlive.com, www.punjabijagran.com, www.gujaratijagran.com, and english.jagran.com. A leading health website in 3 languages, www.onlymyhealth.com; women focus portal, www.herzindagi.com, in 3 languages; and a focused website for education, www.jagranjosh.com. A leading fact-checking website, www.vishvasnews.com, in 12 languages and a gaming vertical, www.jagranplay.com, an in-house production house, Rocketship Films, also contributes to the offering.
About Google News Initiative:
The Google News Initiative works with publishers and journalists to fight misinformation, share resources and build a diverse and innovative news ecosystem. It is our effort where we work with journalists, publishers, and industry leaders in order to build a resilient future for news around the globe.
Contact Information
Shreya Saluja
+91 9205006330
shreya.saluja@jagrannewmedia.com
