Our Correspondent Kohima, Aug. 11 (EMN): The Consul General, US Consulate Kolkata, Melinda Pavek on Thursday said free and independent media are the cornerstones of a healthy democracy and cautioned against the adverse impact of information asymmetry with respect to undermining people’s trust in democratic institutions. She was speaking at a two-day workshop aimed at training media practitioners and journalists to discern and respond to deceptive, biased or false news, at American Centre in Kolkata. In this regard, she mentioned the Digital Communication Network (DCN) established by the United States. The DCN is a network of more than 8,000 journalists, educators, communicators, new media professionals, and public officials who are working to combat disinformation and propaganda. The network develops and shares tools that provide people with accurate information and fact-checking capabilities, a press release stated. She added that the United States is working on developing, strengthening, and integrating more such networks across the Indo-Pacific region to promote media literacy, popularise fact checking, and support press freedom. Director of American Center Kolkata, Adrian Pratt pointed out that information is largely free but also showed a surge of misinformation and disinformation. He highlighted the role of digital technology in bolstering people’s access...