By Victoria Agyemang
Kumasi (A/R), Oct 29, GNA – Some 20 selected journalists within rural communities in Central, Ashanti, and Bono Regions have benefited from a two-days residential training on fact checking.
The training was targeted at militating against the surging rate of information disorder particularly misinformation and disinformation penetration in the Ghanaian media space.
The two days event was organised by Dubawa Ghana, a fact checking arm of the Centre for Journalism, Innovation and Development (CJID) with funding from the US Embassy, Ghana.
Dubawa Ghana has since its existence, observed the worrying and increasing trend of mis/disinformation within the media landscape particularly social media across the world and deemed it prudent to help address it
Madam Caroline Anipah, the Country Lead of Dubawa Ghana, who took participants through ‘Understanding Information Disorder’, said there would be serious consequences if the media relent on efforts to fight false information.
She said development could be stuck in every country when society or citizens lived their lives on false information.
The training she mentioned was expected to facilitate transformation of newsrooms of local media houses by establishing a fact-checking desk to promote accountability journalism.
Madam Anipah believed that the training would expose journalists to fact checking to enhance their capacity in combating rising trend of information disorder usually called ‘Fake News’.
She advised journalists to use their core skills and competencies to verify and authenticate information before publication or sharing on social media.
“Before you share information on social media, check the website, dateline, byline to determine who or where the information is coming from,” she cautioned.
Mr Nathan Gadaguh, Editor of Dubawa Ghana educated the participants on tools and techniques to check and determine a website, video, or audio to verify fake news or information.
He reminded journalists to ensure fairness, balanced and accurate reportage and never allow their emotions and interests misinform the public.
Mr Gadaguh noted that social media was not only the channel misinforming the public, but journalists increasingly relied on user generated content on social media as a source of news stories.
Therefore, some of them fail to verify or authenticate before sending such information out into the public domain.
The training which was held earlier in the Northern Region is the second of the three sessions.
Participants were trained on relevant knowledge and skills in topics including, understanding information disorder, actors and techniques of mis/disinformation, verification, and fact-checking “Fake News,” media ethic and law and the rights to Information law.
Mr Addai Brobbey, a broadcast journalist in the Ashanti Region in an interview commended the organizers and sponsors adding that the skills acquired would help him produce authentic news.
He urged the Government to support such great training to help scrub fake news producers from the mainstream for the betterment and growth of the country.
GNA