Lack of communication with Big Tech, especially regarding their evolving policies, poses a serious challenge to digital newsrooms in Pakistan, editors from leading news outlets said at a session organised by Media Matters for Democracy (MMfD) on June 6, 2023.
The session, “Big Tech vs Newsrooms: When Social Media Threatens Journalism in South Asia”, was part of the 12th edition of RightsCon, a leading global human rights summit. “Big Tech vs Newsrooms” aimed to navigate the challenges and threats facing emerging digital newsrooms and examine Big Tech’s role in hindering the progress of transitioning news outlets across Pakistan, according to an official press statement.
The session, moderated by MMfD’s Yasal Munim, featured distinguished speakers from digital journalism and tech accountability. Haroon Rashid, managing editor at Independent Urdu; Mehr Husain, editor at The Friday Times; Gibran Ashraf, former editor at SAMAA Digital; and Sadaf Khan, co-founder and director programmes at MMfD, graced the panel.
🔴MMfD at #RightsCon🔴
MMfD led an interactive virtual session ‘Big Tech vs Newsrooms: When Social Media Threatens Journalism in South Asia’ at RightsCon '23.
It examined threats & challenges to Pakistani digital newsrooms & broke down Big Tech’s role in impeding their growth. pic.twitter.com/uN4PXEGZSO
— Media Matters for Democracy (@mmfd_Pak) June 8, 2023
Rashid, shedding light on the communication gap between Pakistani newsrooms and leading social media platforms, remarked that newsrooms are “reprimanded” for Big Tech’s one-sided policy changes that are implemented without consultation or communication with stakeholders. Ashraf, too, highlighted the “communication void” between Pakistani newsrooms and Big Tech platforms and attributed the hindered growth of digital news outlets to frequent algorithmic changes. These modifications elevate a significant challenge for newsrooms in comprehending their own audiences, he said.
Husain, on the other hand, was of the opinion that if newsrooms have to ensure stability with regards to the type of journalistic content they aim to produce, they have to work with technology rather than trying to figure out how to make it work for them. She remarked Big Tech is not designed to help or protect newsrooms, but to ensure they keep up with it. It is not the journalists’ role to hold Big Tech accountable as that is where the state and other organisations working in digital rights come into the picture, she opined.
Husain further added it will be unfair to expect journalists to call Big Tech to account given newsrooms’ constant struggle with economic stability and other concomitant challenges and threats.
Khan remarked the concern is not just about the dependence of newsrooms on Big Tech platforms or holding them accountable, but also about the power tech corporations demonstrate over an individual’s consumption of content, which then dictates rules for newsrooms to keep modifying their journalistic content to retain economic sustainability. She elucidated the example of The Facebook Papers revelations in the context of Pakistan, saying Big Tech heavily influences content consumption patterns (often pushing hate speech and other forms of harmful online content) in the country where a large segment of the population lacks digital literacy.
She also pointed out Big Tech’s profiteering from hateful content across its social media platforms, a questionable business practice that extends to the very root of their flawed and discriminatory technical infrastructure.
The session also highlighted the Pakistan Digital Editors Alliance (PDEA), a recent initiative comprising digital newsroom editors and journalists and which aims to make newsrooms more economically sound and sustainable.
Complete session can be accessed here — Big Tech vs Newsrooms: When Social Media Threatens Journalism in South Asia
