#IPIWoCo: Fight online smear campaigns with facts, editors say
(World News Austria)

On the opening day of the International Press Institute (IPI)`s 2019 World Congress in Geneva, Switzerland, leading editors called for greater efforts to expose and combat targeted online smear campaigns against journalists. Speaking at the World Congress`s Town Hall Meeting, Zaffar Abbas, editor of the Pakistani daily Dawn, said state and non-state actors were increasingly `weaponizing social media to attack independent journalists`. Dawn has been repeatedly smeared as `anti-state` in orchestrated campaigns to undermine its credibility. Despite the attacks, Abbas said he remained steadfast. `Should I give up on the values that brought me to this profession? I cannot do that. The fight has...