By Rosemary Wayo, GNA
Tamale, Oct 12 GNA-A two-day training workshop for selected Journalists working in five regions in Northern Ghana to equip them with skills to cross-check facts related to news gathering before publication has opened in Tamale.
It is organised by Dubawa, a fact-checking and verification organisation, with funding from the United States (US) Embassy in Accra.
Ms Caroline Anipah, Team Lead of Dubawa, said the training formed part of efforts to carry out fact-checking in news gathering across rural areas of the country.
She said the scale of misinformation being circulated had increased in recent times following growing technology, which she indicated called for attention, as it influenced political decisions and election outcomes.
Ms Anipah said Ghanaian Journalists must be equipped to adapt to change adding that misleading news could affect the country because the world was interconnected.
She noted that social media was not the only platform that misinformed the public, saying “Journalists increasingly rely on user-generated content on social media as a source of news stories. Some people do not verify thereby moving such information to the mainstream media.”
Mr Kevin Brosnahan, Press Attaché at the U.S Embassy in Accra said fact-checking was the foundation of democracy given the fact that people needed facts to make electoral decisions.
He said rural folks must access verified information to enhance their ability to effect better community policies and noted that there would be follow-ups to ascertain fact-checking projects undertaken by participating Journalists after the workshop, adding that the US Embassy had other exchange programmes for Journalists in other collaborating areas.
GNA