Niger Journalists Get Training on Curbing Fake News, Others
Some journalists have received training Programmes on how to overcome the threat of fake news, misinformation, and disinformation to journalism practice in Nigeria and the need to curb the menace in the country.
The Executive Director of the Glowing Minds Initiatives for Human Development, Shamsudeen Abdulrazak, made this known during an inaugural one-day training held at American Corner in FUT Minna, Niger state capital.
Shamsudeen explained the
negative impact and consequences of the new trending issue in which journalists have followed the trap due to their curiosity to break the news to the public without proper verification.
He lamented over the negative implications to journalistic integrity, hence the need to reverse the trend and change the narrative through training professionals on how to identify fake news, verify sources, and fact check, as well as the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to ensure credibility and reliability.
Another resource person, Dr. Sa’adat Adetoro Salau of the Federal University of Technology FUT, Minna, further highlighted how to verify videos on social media, YouTube Data viewer, and sources of fact-checking tools for journalists, among others.
Speaking, one of the participants, Comrade Yakubu Mustapha Bina, appreciated the organization for the opportunity and assured to make judicious use of the knowledge gained from the training exercise, describing it as worthy while calling on other relevant authorities to take a queue from this.
Other participants in their separate interviews thanked Glowing Minds Initiatives for the opportunity, especially as it concerns misinformation, disinformation, and fake news, as well as fact-checking of news and video to authenticate them accordingly.
