By Ijeoma UKAZU
With the rate of fake news and cybercrime in the social media space, experts have said this has created an atmosphere for misinformation and disinformation, stating that the media is critical to fighting the menace in Nigeria.
Making this known during a virtual media training organized for some selected journalists and sponsored by Stanbic IBTC bank, an ace journalist with the BBC, Peter Okwoche who is one of the facilitators said “In today’s media systems people may be more likely to encounter false and misleading information on a daily basis.
“The difference between trustworthy and untrustworthy news on public forums has become a frequently discussed and occasionally volatile topic over the last few years. Today, social media is an almost unavoidable part of our society –can it be a trusted news source? Not always.”
Okwoche, an award-winning Senior Presenter for BBC World News advised that people should learn how to evaluate the motives behind online posts and learn how to distinguish false content from real information.
He listed some markers for spotting fake news on any website, including: “A website with no review process, easy to access, it can change every day, it is easy to reference, anyone can contribute and edit the article,” he adds.
Okwoche called on journalists to be critical in their reports, verify stories and ensure to have substantive evidence as well as resources that are credible and verifiable to combat fake news in Nigeria.
While giving her presentation on “The Cybercrime Act and the Media Practitioner: Understanding the Legal Minefield” faculty member, of The Training Room Lagos and an award-winning writer, Kaine Agary, said although there is no single definition of cybercrime, law enforcement agencies have made a distinction between two main types of internet-related crime, namely: Advanced cybercrime (For high-tech crimes) and Cyber–enabled crime which includes “traditional” crimes which has taken a new turn with the advent of the internet and involves crimes against children, financial crimes and even terrorism.
She said under traditional crimes include; defamation and sedition crimes, stating that the Criminal Code, Section 50-52 – “Words or publications with a seditious intention is an offense,” calling for proper crutiny of reports before publication.
Agary further explianed that “Defamation crime is the publication of an untrue statement which reflects on a person’s reputation and tends to lower him in the estimation of right thinking members of the society or makes them shun or avoid him.”
She advised journalists not to be in a rush to release breaking news as they have a duty to verify the information; always get their tone right; run their story by someone who is afraid of everything; understand their purpose –are you a tabloid, gossip or news as well as making sure to evaluate their resources before publication.
Giving his view, a co-founder and faculty member of TMTR Training Room -a skills-based, practice-led certificate-awarding institute, Mr Toni Kan said during his presentation on; “News reporting in the time of elections: Keeping facts sacred” stressed the need for journalists to always follow the five characteristics of news which includes: accuracy, balance, objectivity, concise and clear as well as being current on issues as they break”.
Kan adds that news must have these attributes; must be factual, correct, informative, true, and verifiable, adding that some areas in news reporting during election that every journalist must avoid includes; unconscious bias which is the tendency to research for, interpret, favour and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one’s prior beliefs or values, pointing out that people display this bias when they select information supporting their views ignoring contrary information.
Another area of concern is; confirmation bias which has to do with the tendency of people to act in ways that are prompted by a range of assumptions and biases that the individual is not aware of.
Kan advised journalists to continue to be the mirror of the society by putting the right information to the public for better consumption.