By Yussif Ibrahim
Fumesua (Ash), Dec. 02, GNA – Selected journalists from Ashanti, Bono, Ahafo Bono East, and Western North Regions have benefitted from a day’s training on media integrity and fact-checking held at Fumesua in the Ejisu Municipality.
Organised by FactSpace West Africa in collaboration with the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), the training sought to equip participants with digital tools and skills to identify, verify and debunk election-related misinformation, promote accurate reporting and informed public discourse.
The goal was to empower journalists to combat misinformation and disinformation for free, fair, and transparent elections.
Participants were taken through topics such as fact-checking fundamentals, identifying AI-generated and manipulated contents, the role of journalists in combating election misinformation, and cyber security and online safety.
Mr. Rabiu Alhassan, Executive Director, FactSpace West Africa, said the target at the end of the training was to be able to equip participants with at least five to 10 fact-checking tools.
“Our target is to have mainstream journalists working in their newsroom to leave our training programmes with a skillset to be able to use between five and 10 digital tools to verify information online,” he stated.
He said his outfit was also looking forward to working closely with the journalists in helping identify viral claims on social media, offline and local areas to work collaboratively to verify the information.
The idea, he said, was to encourage the beneficiaries to publish fact-checked contents on their platforms in local languages as part of efforts to sanitise the information ecosystem.
He said with the tense nature of the upcoming election, journalists must be up to the task of verifying information and ensuring that there was no weaponisation of misinformation on mainstream media.
According to him, social media had become a major tool for connectivity and many newsrooms were relying on social media for breaking news hence the need to build the capacity of journalists to be able to use basic digital tools to verify information they come across on social media.
Mr. Alhassan opined that misinformation often thrived on information gap, saying that when stakeholders delay in releasing information, it creates room for misinformation merchants to fill the vacuum.
He therefore urged officialdom to be proactive and prompt in releasing accurate information before unauthorised people pollute the information ecosystem with false information.
Madam Sharon Willis Brown-Acquah, Programmes Officer, CDD-Ghana, said the traditional media remained a key source of information for many citizens hence any information coming from the media must be accurate and verified.
She said misleading narratives had significantly influenced voter perception and behaviour in previous elections and often led to increased polarisation and conflicts.
“Fact-checking is very crucial not only for maintaining the integrity of news reporting but also for fostering public trust in the media especially during elections,” she pointed out.
GNA