Namnandorj Bayaraa: ‘We need to be more responsible: we all both consume and produce information’
Namnandorj is the founder of Remo Media. Remo sends email newsletter and partners with local NGOs and schools to teach media literacy and does workshops on how to detect fake news. Our vision is to be one of the most innovative media companies in Asia. Namnandorj previously worked as the CEO of TenGer Systems, IT company in the finance industry. He also worked in two other start-ups as the country manager of what3words and project coordinator at Mongol ID. Namandorj is a member of Global Shapers Ulaanbaatar Hub and serves on the board of MASA NGO and Tomujin Academy.
What are the main issues facing news literacy today, and why is it so important?
To give you a little bit of background on the situation in Mongolia: out of our 3.1 million people, we have more than 2.4 million internet users and 60% of the population active on at least one social media network — mainly Facebook. We also have about 400 news websites, and I would say that less than 10% of them are reliable sources of information.
As a result of this abundance of news websites and Facebook groups and pages, we are constantly bombarded with information. Therefore, it is crucial that as citizens of the 21st century learn how to navigate through the information we receive. I witness fake news, misinformation, fake videos and altered pictures, and disinformation on almost everyday basis. This tells me that the news literacy of Mongolians is dangerously low.
What is Remo Media, and how are you trying to address this issue?
Growing up in Singapore and the US, I’ve had the privilege of having access to reliable information and quality content from reputable, worldwide media companies. Upon returning to Mongolia, I found this is not the case in my country, and, seeing that fake news is so prevalent, I felt compelled to leave my corporate job in finance to tackle what I consider to be a pressing issue.
Remo stands for Read More. I’m trying to get those who do not read to start reading more.
We felt it was best to deliver curated global news through an email newsletter, develop training material on how to detect fake news, and combat misinformation through soon to be released platforms, thereby creating awareness on the subject.
We have created lecture material that is aimed primarily at youth to teach them what news literacy is and how to detect fakes news, especially on social media. We are currently working on the second part of the training material which will cover fake pictures, fake videos, and standards of quality journalism.
We started raising awareness through our social channels and email newsletter. We also developed a chatbot that is dedicated to improving news literacy and that gives out advice on detecting fake news. But there is still a long, long way to go before it becomes a well-understood topic. I’m in the midst of leading trainings at companies, NGOs, and community centers in the countryside. People are slowing realizing the significance of what we stand for.
How do technology and social media factor into your efforts?
Like I said before, everybody is active on Facebook, so at Remo we share fake news that we come across on that platform and show that it is indeed fake, but only upon verifying with local and international sources. For example, we would let our readers know that actor Rowan Atkinson has not died or that Dwayne Johnson is not giving out millions of dollars on Facebook in return for likes and shares.
We’ve also started creating a fact-checking website that will include collections of fakes news from local and global sources on them so people can easily identify what is ‘true’ and what is ‘fake’. Additionally, we are working on an online platform where citizens and journalists alike can collaborate and improve the standard of local journalism by making sure each content producer is held accountable. Clearly, technology is very much part of the solution for us.
How have you been received so far?
Our readers love reading the Remo Daily email newsletter because we cover global news that would never otherwise reach Mongolia. In our first 100 editions of the newsletter, we curated news from more than 150 international sources. People appreciate reading quality content even if it’s a short summary. We are approaching 4000 readers in about 8 months.
My favorite story that I like to talk about is one about my mother. My mother is fairly good at conversing in English but not great at reading. One day, when I was showing her all the different types of newsletters I receive, she pointed out The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Japan Times newsletters and said: “Hey, I recognize these because I read them on Remo.” It fills me with joy knowing that our readers can trust what they read and are getting some of the best content out there. That is why I started Remo.
What role do both information consumers and producers play in your work?
In our training material, we teach people that we need to be more responsible because all of us are both information consumers and producers because we have our own social media accounts. We live in a place where most citizens do not distinguish professional journalism from a personal opinion posted on social media channels through posts, tweets, and blogs.
Remo’s approach to improving the media landscape in our country and other countries in the future is to focus on educating our readers. Our goal is to empower readers to become more responsible readers and critical thinkers who know what’s going on in the world. For now, we do our best to pay attention to our current readers and future readers, however, we are always encouraging local information producers to follow higher standards of journalism.
What challenges have you faced, and how have you overcome them?
We are Mongolia’s first dedicated daily email newsletter in Mongolian. Reading news from email is very much a new thing in our country so we are trying to promote this new habit for our readers. We find that digital literacy is not great because sometimes people have difficulty finding emails from Remo because they don’t check the Updates/Promotions tabs, for example. Typically, people do not check their email regularly so that is always a challenge for an email based service. We also see some misunderstanding and asking if Remo is an app or a typical news website. However, we are in it for the long run to improve general digital literacy.
Additionally, when we are reaching out to local companies and organizations and offering them our training for free, some of the response I get in return are not ideal at the moment. Some do not recognize the importance and decline our offer. However, there are many individuals and organizations who have shown me a great deal of support which I always appreciate.
Looking ahead, how are you trying to expand your impact?
We have started offering our training for free to companies, NGOs, and community centers in the countryside. Soon we will be applying for international grants through our newly set up NGO so that we can hopefully maximize our impact and train tens of thousands more people to be more responsible information users. By utilizing already available platforms, like social media channels, we believe we can continue to promote media literacy and help people understand what’s happening in the world and empower them to make better decisions. We are also going to release an English version of our newsletters because we want to have readers across the rest of Asia. By 2020, our goal is to make media literacy part of the education system so that all high-school graduates will be responsible information consumers and creators.
