In their bid to reduce the menace of fake news, misinformation and false reports among other unethical practices among journalists in Nigeria, Africa Check, an independent fact checking platform in Africa with the support of the United States Consulate General, Lagos and the International Press Centre have trained no fewer than twenty-one journalists on how to spot fake news, misinformation and write balanced reports.
The training, christened “2-day workshop of fact-checking and verification training for journalists/editors” held in Ibadan the Oyo state capital between Thursday and Friday, according to the Nigeria Editor of Africa Check, Mr. David Ajikobi, was to intimate the participants how best they can employ fact checking tools to check claims by politicians, researchers government officials among others.
Ajikobi said that the training would afford the journalists who will later teach their colleagues in their various newsrooms and organisations how to write balanced reports devoid of false information.
Among the twenty-one journalists who were selected for the Ibadan edition of the workshop, out of over two hundred, who applied for the training last year were those from print, electronic and online newspapers. They included those form DAILY POST, Premium Times, Silverbird, Fresh FM, Noble FM, Lead Radio, Ekiti State Broadcasting Corporation, Diamond FM, FRCN, Nigerian Tribune and Inspiration FM among others.
At the training as resource persons were the Director of IPC, Mr. Lanre Arogundade, a broadcast and certified media trainer, Mrs. Funke-Treasure Durodola and an international media trainer, Mr. Raymond Joseph.
Ajikobi, while speaking on the sideline in an interview with DAILY POST said “Africa Check is the continent leading fact checking organisation where we debunk and fact check all sorts of misinformation, fake news and the rest of them. We did this training in Lagos, we are doing it in Ibadan and from here we are moving to Enugu and Porthacourt.
“The rationale behind this fact checking training is that we have realised that after the elections, there was so much misinformation, fake news and manipulated contents and we thought that elections are just one in the electoral processes, so we said why can’t we give journalists the right skills, the right fact checking skills to be harmed in combatting fake news and misinformation.
Arogundade, who spoke on “Understanding elections in Nigeria – the facts” as well as “Perspectives and frameworks for post election solution-driven reporting of democratic accountability” urged journalists to take the issue of fair reporting, objectivity and other ethics of the profession as their social responsibilities.
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