ISLAMABAD — Establishing truth in the digital age requires robust national infrastructure alongside traditional journalism, argued Dr. Sohail Munir during the 16th National Media Workshop hosted at the National Defence University (NDU).
Delivering the closing address titled “Truth as Infrastructure” for the panel on “Technology & Media: Latest Trends,” the Distinguished Visiting Fellow warned that society is losing its shared perception of reality as technology outpaces institutional trust.
“Truth defended is sovereignty defended. Defending the truth is how Pakistan stays in control of its own story,” Dr. Munir emphasized, calling for a strategic shift from disproving falsehoods to proactively confirming the truth.
Three Pillars for Building Digital Trust
Dr. Munir outlined a three-pronged strategy to transform truth into a foundational national infrastructure:
- Provenance (Verifiable Credentials): Creating system-level trust so authentic content carries verifiable origin credentials. He highlighted that under the Digital Nation Pakistan Act 2025, the Pakistan Digital Authority is actively laying the national framework for digital identity and trust services.
- Governance (Synthetic Content Rules): Enacting regulations that legally require AI-generated or synthetic media to declare itself.
- Training the Human Layer (Digital Literacy): Equipping citizens with the critical thinking skills needed to identify misinformation and pause before sharing unverified content.
He concluded by stressing that safeguarding truth cannot fall on a single institution, urging multi-sector collaboration across media, technology, government, and the general public.
