Disinformation

By Anwar Usman

The Flag Officer Commanding Western Naval Command, Rear Adm. Michael Oamen, has called on the media to help mitigate disinformation capable of misleading the public.

Oamen made the request during an end-of-year media engagement held at the Western Naval Command in Lagos.

According to him, the speed at which information is generated and transmitted today is such that you must keep pace with it to manage it and ensure national security.

“Misinformation and all forms of hindrances that will make just a simple incident become out of proportion must be managed.” He further added that “The Western Naval Command is aware of such reality and we have decided that we must engage with the media within our sphere to have a platform to close that gap”.

The FOC said that once there was such a gap, it would be exploited; therefore, having a platform to constantly engage with the media would help iron out issues.

“Such a platform will help to reinvigorate any misconception or misinformation and that way we all will be contributing our quota to the attainment of our national security objective,” according to him.

He reiterated that “We try as much as possible to let every stakeholder in the society play their part in ensuring national security” “Nobody really gained from strategies that were attributable to disinformation or wrong use of the information spectrum” Oamen said.The FOC said that the year 2024 was quite eventful for the command and appreciated the role that the media played in informing the public of all its activities.

“As we look forward to 2025, the Western Naval Command, being the premier operational command of the Navy. we will be engaging in so many exercises and activities.

“Therefore, we are going to count on your support to inform the public of all our efforts, so that at the end of the day, the nation, is better for it,” Oamen said

By Aisar Fagge

Isah Nasidi, a young Nigerian PhD student of Mass Communication and a research fellow at the Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism, developed a new model called SAMCAV. First of its kind, the model aims to combat disinformation and discover the fourth typology of information disorder, which he called dil-information.

A statement sent to The Daily Reality reveals that Nasidi’s discovery was the outcome of the six-month research fellowship of the Kwame Kari-Kari Fact-checking and Research Fellowship, which selected 17 researchers from four West African countries to research information disorder.

The SAMCAV model links six elements of information disorder; Source, Agent, Message, Channel, Audience and Victim. These elements are involved in the production, distribution and consumption of information disorder.

According to the researcher, the model will help researchers and policymakers to know how disordered information flows and the effects it causes in society.

Moreover, the work discovers the concept of ‘dil-information’ as the fourth type of information disorder, which has never been considered as an independent typology separate from disinformation, misinformation, and malinformation.

Dil-information is defined as genuine information diluted with false information, misinterpreted or misrepresented with or without intent to harm. Terms like mostly true, half-true, mostly false and misleading are used to classify claims of this nature.

The research aims to set a research agenda for scholars working in this virgin area and help in policy making and developing mechanisms for solving the problem.

Isah Nasidi, an independent researcher and media consultant, is an indigene of Kano state. He bagged his first and second degrees in Mass Communication at Bayero University, Kano. He is currently a PhD student of Mass Communication, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), and the Secretary of Communication History Division of International Communication Association (USA).