Don’t be conveyors of fake news- Lecturer cautions media practitioners

Dr. Ademola Bakare, a lecturer of political science at the University of Ilorin, has cautioned media practitioners against conveying fake news and reposting unverified stories.

Bakare made the call on Tuesday at a one-day Media Personnel Advocacy Roundtable, organised by The Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism, in partnership with Albarka 89.9 FM, Ganmo in Kwara.

The advocacy, which was held at City-In-Hotel, G.R.A., Ilorin, was funded by the MacArthur Foundation with the theme “The Imperativeness of Online News and its Influence in Facilitating Good Governance.”.

The don urged media practitioners to be careful when reposting what other people have posted, urging them to verify the source of the information they posted on social media.

“As journalists, we have to be careful of whatever we put out; we have to verify the source of information we are pushing out. We must also be careful while reposting what some people have posted.

“Be careful and verify whatever you want to post to the public. Never be the conveyor of fake news,” he said.

He added that fake and unverified news could lead to conflict and a misconception of power.

A resource person, Mrs. Ibilola Akahome, said that artificial intelligence (AI) had shaped the future of journalism and also enhanced news writing and journalism.

Akahome said that AI had had an impact through various tools, which included automatic fact-checking, automated translation and localization, social media monitoring, and trend analysis, among others.