Vishvas News launches seventh edition of Sach Ke Sathi Seniors

The media literacy campaign is a collaboration between Vishvas News and MICA, supported by Google News Initiative.

Jagran New Media’s 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.

It is the seventh edition of Jagran New Media's flagship media literacy effort Sach Ke Sathi. It has been launched by Vishvasnews.com in collaboration with MICA as its academic partner and 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. 

Bharat Gupta, CEO, Jagran Media, said, "Built upon shared synergy, the 7th edition of Sach ke Sathi will enable us to collectively prioritise the advancement of media literacy among seniors and create a robust foundation for a digitally literate society.” 

Rajesh Upadhyay, editor-in-chief, Jagran New Media, added, “We are thrilled to continue another chapter of Sach Ke Sathi. 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, "It will empower senior citizens with critical thinking skills, help them detect misinformation and also prepare them to tackle deepfakes. 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.