By Uzairu Adam Imam
To combat fake news and safeguard society from its adverse effects, Nigerians have been advised to check for elements of credibility in reports and consult media platforms with proven integrity in sourcing for news and information.
A lecturer in the Department of Mass Communication, Kano State Polytechnic, Mallam Aisar Fagge, made the submission during a one-day workshop organized by the popular online newspaper The Daily Reality.
The lecture themed “Fake News on Nigerian Cyber Space: The Role of an Ideal Journalist” afforded young journalists the opportunity to understand the challenges of contemporary journalism practice.
Mallam Fagge said, “It is said ‘seeing is believing’ but not anymore. With Deepfake [and other apps], people can easily manipulate videos, pictures, etc. Thus, we need to dissect pieces of information before sharing them,” he stated.
He also called on the general public to examine stories critically before believing or sharing them with other people.
He further noted that fake news could be countered by applying the “technological, journalistic and pedagogical approaches among others.”
He noted that the nature of social media has made journalism more tasking and placed more responsibility on journalists, which behooves them to protect the image of journalism and not allow quacks to run them out of business.
Journalism educators, practitioners from conventional media and online newspapers as well as the students of Mass Communication from Kano State Polytechnic and Bayero University, Kano attended the event that took place on Sunday, 6th November, 2022 at the Centre for Research in Nigerian Languages, Translation and Folklore, BUK New Site.
This kind of workshop should be organize quarterly by The Daily Reality to pave ways for up coming journalists to under and prepare for work ahead of them in the field of journalism and Mass communication. Keep the good work, The Daily Reality Newspaper.
Well done sir,you have said it All👍May Almighty add more Grease to your elbow it is really a proud to have a capable lecturer in mass comm.dept like you .