NAB CEO Seeks Tech Platform Help Combating Fake News During COVID-19
Communications challenges posed by the novel coronavirus prompted NAB CEO Gordon Smith to seek help from social media platforms to work with broadcasters to combat what he called fake news. He said the platforms can also work with newspapers on…
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such an initiative. Smith would have asked FCC Chairman Ajit Pai on stage during the NAB Show questions including about ownership restrictions that don’t apply to social media platforms, the executive said. The show was canceled because of COVID-19. "We do need scale to compete with these new entrants in communications," Smith said Wednesday in a C-SPAN interview for The Communicators, answering our questions. The program will be linked here. He thinks "it's in the interest of social media to have relationships that have economic value" and include broadcasters and newspapers "to get localism. They need to [increase] the integrity of their platforms." He would like "a more earnest effort" than tech companies have made. He said "a lot of falsehoods" and "slanders occur" and "spread like a virus" online. Many News Media Alliance member newspapers "have lifted subscriber paywalls and have developed special, free coronavirus-related newsletters," emailed Senior Vice President-Public Policy Paul Boyle. "Digital readership is up about 30 to 50% from this time last year." It's "not necessarily translating into dollars as advertisers are beginning to pull back," he noted. The Internet Association, Facebook, Google and Twitter didn't comment on Smith's remarks. Editor's note: Subscribers can read about Smith's remarks about broadcasters and pay TV in front of our pay wall here. Our report on NAB Show's cancellation is also in front of our pay wall, where we have put some of our other coverage of the epidemic. The article is here.