Sola POPOOLA
The Media and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have been charged to embrace a culture of self-regulation, ensuring accountability and responsibility in their reporting practices.
This was the focus of a training session held for media practitioners and members of the civil society groups at the Lagos Airport Hotel recently, with support from Oak Centre.
The training equipped participants with the requisite skills and knowledge on how to identify and combat disinformation.
The training also dwelled on understanding disinformation, techniques for fact-checking and tools and resources for verifying information.
It was highlighted at the training that the surest way for Media and CSOs to maintain independence was to adopt self-regulation.
The facilitators argued that Media outlets can maintain their independence while also upholding high standards of journalism.This approach promotes: Accountability; Responsibility; Ethical journalism; Accuracy and Transparency.
Kabir Adejumo, a media expert and facilitator encouraged the media to always look for primary and multiple sources when trying to authenticate their facts .
He equally cautioned the media against relying on assertive sources rather than evidence based ones .
Adejumo also admonished to always do retraction and apologize to the public whenever they dish out wrong information . He cautioned that such act shojld not be seen as a sign of weakness but one thst promotes the credibility and integrity of the media outlet .
He expressed concern at the rate at which the menace of fake news is weakening the Nigeria’s democracy.
He said “we are here for training on misinformation and fact-checking using open intelligence source (OSINTS). The danger here is that when people are misinformed, they are disinformed. And when they are disinformed opinions are laid which could be detrimental to our democracy. I was just telling you about a fake news insinuating that the suspended governor of Rivers has been arrested. You can imagine the impact of such in the midst of the tension shocked state .
“Interestingly, we now have some media outlets having fact-checking desks.We can encourage others to invest in fact-checking.
Earlier, a project team lead with Information Literacy Project Lagos, Akoredele Ogundiminegha said the event was put together to address their fake news and disinformation.
The project officer said it is important for the public to know what is happening in the information and media world .
He stressed the need to promote information literacy in Nigeria ” It is wrong and dangerous for anybody to share or publish whatever information he or she received without verifying it .You need to fact-check your information before dishing ot out to the public. Whether weckije it or not whatever we read affect our thinking, actions, reasoning and perceptions too.
He also stated that fake news is capable of changing peoples ‘ perception about government and governance .