TMr Asante counting from right, third, Mr Henry Afrifa(PHD),next, facilitators and personnel from MFWA in grouo photograph with journalists at the workshop

The Programmes Officer, Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), Kwaku Krobea Asante has cautioned journalists and the public to be circumspect on sharing of information on traditional or social media as many information shared could disinform the public.

He indicated that due to advancement in technology, and the availability and easy access to information on the internet and social media, “almost everyone has the opportunity to put out information in any shape or form and this has created what is called Information Disorder, where there is Mis-information, Dis-Information and Mal-information.”

He stated that information was necessary in driving the society and mis-information or dis-information could be a threat to the country’s peace and security, and hence advised the media and public to ensure that they verified information by using the fact-checking tools such as Yandex, Google, Tineye, among others to check the authenticity of information before they shared.

Mr Krobea Asante who presented on fact-checking was speaking at a two-day workshop organised by the MFWA, with funding support from the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), for some Journalists working in the broadcast, online and print media across the country.

The workshop, themed “Fact-checking and Countering Mis-disinformation in Ghana” was aimed at training journalists on the phenomenon of mis and disinformation, as well as eimprove their skills for analyzing content and producing fact-check reports.

15 Journalists were exposed to some fact-checking and verification tools that could be used to identify and counter misinformation as well as fact-checking standards and ethics.

Mr Asante noted that the journalistic profession was a professional one of verification and called on them to ensure that they fact-check and verify stories thoroughly before they publish them

“I advise that as journalists, we read beyond headlines, check our biases, supporting sources and dates as well. Sometimes people repost old stories as if they were current. Let us check whether a story posted is a meme, joke or satire, parodic content before we put them out there.”

He revealed that various fact-checking tools available on the internet and could be employed for reverse image search and fact-checking.

Mr Asante also noted that beyond the media, the public played a critical role in the information eco-system, by contributing to sharing information and cautioned them to fact-check with the media or appropriate fact-checking institutions to verify information before they put it out.

He indicated that an information unchecked could cause the public to be misinformed, dis-informed or mal-informed and could be a recipe for disaster in the country, “especially as we are heading towards an election year in 2024.”

For his part, a facilitator at the workshop. Mr Stephen Tindi, a Lecturer from the University of Media Arts and Communication (UniMAC) noted that some persons were cashing on the information disorder on social media, through clicks on websites, advertisements on blogs among others.

He cautioned the media and public to beware of such websites and desist from patronizing them, adding that their patronage made such persons rich and encouraged the spread of false news, fear and panic.

The Programmes Manager of MFWA, Abigail Larbi said 

the phenomenon of fake news, disinformation and misinformation have the ability to pollute the public sphere and damage the country’s democracy.  

She added that the workshop was part of series of workshops organised to train 125 journalists to empower them to help solve such challenges.

By Ama Tekyiwaa Ampadu Agyeman

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