At the meeting between Thai Minister Attached to the Prime Minister's Office Puangpet Chunlaiad and Vietnamese Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung. (Photo: VNA) Bangkok (VNA) – Thailand will join hands withVietnam to combat fake news, Thai Minister Attached to thePrime Minister's Office Puangpet Chunlaiad has said.
The information was disclosed by Puangpet after her meeting withVietnamese Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung to gain an insight into its anti-fake news initiatives. The meeting took place on the sidelines of the 16th Conference of the ASEAN Ministers Responsible forInformation (AMRI) and the 7th AMRI Plus Three Conference in the central city of Da Nang, Vietnam, from September 22-23.
She praised Vietnam for setting up a committee to fight fakenews on social media. According to Puangpet, combatting fake news is one of the main items before theAMRI meeting, adding Thailand also supports the Guidelines on Management ofGovernment Information in Combatting Fake News and Disinformation in the media,as endorsed in the 16th AMRI meeting.
The two ministers agreed that journalistic ethics are key to ensuring newsreliability. She also urged more information sharing between the two countriesas well as among members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Earlier, Deputy Director-General of the Public Relations Department (PRD) of Thailand,Sudruetai Lertkasem, represented the Permanent Secretary to the PrimeMinister’s Office at the 20th Meeting of the ASEAN Senior Officials Responsiblefor Information (SOMRI) as SOMRI Chair, who will be passing the duty ofchairmanship onto Vietnam.
During its tenure, Thailand strengthened the theme “DigitalCommunity and Accessibility for All” to ease the intense situation caused byCOVID-19 and other challenges. However, she said, tough situations have broughttogether the media and information sectors, particularly the SOMRI workinggroup, which has played an active role in strengthening media and digital literacy,countering fake news, and reducing the gap for vulnerable groups to overcomethe pandemic.
Sudruetai said she believed that under Vietnam’s Chairmanship, all ASEANmember states will continue their close cooperation in promoting greater ASEANreadiness for the digital age as well as media and information literacy in theregion./.
