EDITORIAL: “AML Intelligence” joins the World News Day campaign to combat misinformation

By STEPHEN RAE

AML Intelligence has joined hundreds of news organizations around the world in an important new campaign to combat misinformation.

The Choose Truth initiative, launched this week ahead of World News Day on September 28, aims to highlight the critical role that news organizations play.

Choose Truth focuses on how fact-based reporting by journalists enables many modern democracies to function.

Their role has become even more important in recent years as misinformation has been amplified by technology companies and social media.

As part of Choose Truth, hundreds of news organizations in 100 countries will join forces to highlight the importance of fact-based journalism.

They will invite their audience to support trusted news organizations, for example by choosing to subscribe to their work.

The World Organization of News Publishers, the group that coordinates World News Day, said a key goal of “Choose Truth” is to highlight journalists' “unwavering commitment to reporting the facts.”

“In a world where misinformation is becoming increasingly mainstream, choosing the truth has perhaps never been more important,” the group said.

Journalists Branko Brkic and Maria Ressa, joint winners of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize, said the clamor over misinformation “will die down at some point.”

“Right now we are fighting – every moment, every hour, every day… We will defend the truth,” they wrote in a joint article for World News Day.

Despite their critical role, many news organizations struggle financially because their work is used for free by tech companies.

The World Organization of News Publishers said there needed to be greater focus on the role of journalists in providing “trusted news and information that serves citizens and democracy.”

Stephen Rea, editor at AML Intelligence, said: “At AML Intelligence, we use journalistic checks and balances to verify and audit the regulatory information we publish for our audiences in banking, financial technology and beyond. “ More information about “Choose Truth” is available HERE.