NECA,CIPE, experts train journalists on combating fake news, fact-checking

UFOMBA UZUEGBU

Worried by the proliferation of fake news and it’s potential to incite violence and breed distrust among ethnic Nigerians, the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA),organized a one-day training workshop for journalists on combating fake news and fact-checking in Lagos on Friday.

The workshop which held at NECA’s head office, Ikeja,had as theme:”Combating Disinformation in a Digital Age: Fact-Checking for Responsible Journalism”.

Two experts in Digital Communication, advised journalists to use fact-checking facilities while producing reports, stressing that this would ensure the credibility of their work and set them apart from disinformation purveyors.

They described journalists as key actors in the fight to prevent the spread of fake news and disinformation and urged them to arm themselves with knowledge, skills and a questioning mind.

A facilitator  and Executive Director, International Press Center,Mr Lanre Arogundade,said it had become necessary for journalists to fact-check, saying journalism comes with the discipline of verification.

He said that such duty becomes very important as journalists are no longer controlling the media space.

Arogundade said : “The social media allows individuals to generate their own content, put it out there,and then when it comes to public interest issues, sometimes they mislead the public.

” They provide information about politicians who are leading us, and our main duty, is to help to sanitize the information space.

“So,what we have done is to say that, what fact-checking does is to remind us of those basic obligations of asking necessary questions and where we are not sure, use relevant tools to get the correct information and push it out there” he said.

Arogundade stressed that journalists had the responsibility of letting people know that sharing what they did not know the source, could also be very harmful to the public in the sense that some of this disinformation could lead to hate speech.

“Our role is to advocate for a sanitized information space,so that citizens, can only rely on us, for credible information”, he added.

Another facilitator, Mr Lekan Otufodunrin who is the Executive Director, Media Career Development Network,noted that the news space is filled aswith a lot of misleading information that may mislead,deceive and lead people astray.

” So,this is to empower journalists to appreciate the need for fact-checking and apply it to their day-to-day work.

“Even when they cannot do it all the time, do it once in a while, so that the quality of our reports can be enhanced and evidence-based, which is very important”, he said.

Otufodunrin noted that the workshop was timely, stressing that it came at a time there was no regulation and so much fake news that could mislead, deceive and make people take wrong decisions.

He argued that it is important that journalists show evidence, as they are the real professionals and be in that space where people are not deceived.