ABP Network on Monday entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Indore to strengthen both parties’ professionalism and contribution towards the development of an informed and open society through a mutual academic-practice collaboration framework.

The agreement aims for both parties collectively investigate the social-psychological underpinnings of fake news and design preventive mechanisms to address this issue.

The collaboration will also focus on analyzing and recommending policy-level interventions to combat fake news ecosystems.

Through this partnership, both ABP Network and IIM Indore will cooperate and collaborate to carry out joint research for developing tools and processes needed for creating an informed and open society. They will further develop awareness modules on digital literacy for the citizens of India.

There will also be a provision for short-term training/research opportunities for personnel of ABP Network and IIM Indore. Further, both the parties will also hold joint seminars of mutual interest.

Commenting on the partnership, Avinash Pandey, CEO of ABP Network, said, “With this collaboration, we look forward to a constructive professional relationship with IIM Indore in the years to come. ABP Network has always stayed true to its commitment to increasing the scope of an informed and open society.

“By entering into this agreement, we aim to develop preventive strategies to address the challenges of fake news, its genesis, and its impact, and develop awareness modules for the general public. We are confident that this partnership will play a pivotal role in the research and development of the dynamic media space and will allow an exchange of a plethora of ideas and strategies,” Pandey added.

Speaking on the occasion, Prof. Himanshu Rai, Director of IIM Indore, said, “We are delighted that IIM Indore and ABP Network are signing a Memorandum of Understanding. Social consciousness is at the fore in the mission statement of IIM Indore. Through this agreement, we can lay the foundation for building a conscious nation by combining the ground reach of the ABP Network and the intellectual excellence of IIM Indore.

“This will be done primarily by trying to solve the problem of fake news. According to us, the effect of fake news is not only on individual sensitivity but can also affect social unity and national security. Our journey starts here,” Rai added.