Better clarity needed on definition of fake news and use of new laws

I refer to TODAY’s interview with Mr Edwin Tong, Senior Minister of State for Law (“No access to information does not give websites licence to peddle falsehoods: Edwin Tong”; Oct 28).

Mr Tong’s response to criticisms that the Select Committee on Deliberate Online Falsehoods failed to clearly define falsehoods was to defer to the legal process, since the definition of falsehoods has been set out in laws relating to defamation and civil frauds whereby a statement “is false when the facts as asserted do not correspond with the facts as they exist”.

Deference to the courts hardly pass muster as an everyday understanding of fake news for everyday folk to abide by.

How do you avoid falling afoul of a statement that essentially says, “What is not true is basically false”?

This position also belies a lack of understanding about journalism, and Mr Tong and the Law Ministry now seek to add another layer of legalese to that.

Journalists do not sort out the real from the fake by talking to lawyers. They do it by asking questions.

Short of hiring lawyers as journalists or setting aside a legal team to go through every contentious report that a news outlet wishes to publish, such a blanket "if not sure, don't publish" approach would only encourage self-censorship and curtail free speech.

Ironically, this would affect journalists dedicated to professional quality more than it would someone intent on malice.

Mr Tong's deference to a fact-checking body is also cold comfort for journalists investigating wrongdoing that has no publicised trace — what good investigative journalism is about, incidentally. The only way to get to the truth is, once again, to ask pointed questions of those in the spotlight, the Government not least among them.

And finally, Mr Tong said that legislation is not “a tool for the Government". But the Law Ministry said in 2017 that “it is important for the Government, as well as corporations and individuals, to be able to respond robustly to false statements that could poison public debate and mislead decision-making”.

This raises the question of whether the Government will crack down on news websites, using carte blanche legislation against fake news.

If the Government is serious about tackling fake news, it needs to spell out more clearly what fakes news is, and for what the laws will and will not be used.

ABOUT THE WRITER:

Mr Howard Lee is a former editor with The Online Citizen and made his submission to the Select Committee on Deliberate Online Falsehoods in his personal capacity.