How The Eagle’s Correspondent Shone At One-Day Training For Journalists

In a digital age where seeing is no longer believing, how should Journalists, the custodian of information, deal with the menace of disinformation in the society?

This question and more, made the Nigerian Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) in collaboration with Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) organise an intensive one-day training for Journalists first week of December.

The training provided a platform for a correspondent of The Eagle to shine, which of course was attracted a prize.

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The event was held at NECA with the theme ” Combating Disinformation in a Digital Age- Fact Checking for Responsible Journalism had two notable facilitators who did Justice to the issue,.
The two, Mr Lekan Otunfodunri, Executive Director of Media Career Development Network, and Mr Lanre Arogundade, Execitive Director of the International Press Institute
In his presentation, Otunfodunri urged Journalists to embark on building fact- checking skills in order to promote the veracity and correctness of reporting.

He further said that the process of confirming the truth of an assertion in an era where social media is being used as a tool of Disinformation becomes important.

He said- knowing the effect of half truth and the possible danger of embracing a single story should make practicing Journalists accountable, for truth is the cornerstone of Journalism.

On the other hand, Arogundade- that false information was not necessarily new,
but that social had media it become the “Game changer” enabling people to generate misinformation easily, spreading it rapidly while doing so anonymously.

He therefore implored Journalists to embrace fact-checking in this digital age where a well crafted lie is more likely to get engagements than typical truthful content.

Mr Lanre further exposed the Journalist to some tools that could aid them in recognizing fake news.

Some of the tools include the -“reverse image search on Google and the deep face tool.
However, he stated in clearer terms that the first fact-checking tool for a good Journalist is his/ her Journalistic curiosity.

Meanwhile, Jimoh Elizabeth Oluwaseyi, a correspondent of The Eagle Newsmedia was rewarded in cash at the event.

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This was due to her activeness and ability to meticulously recognise some displayed fact-checking tools.

The event was graced by different practicing Journalists in both the private and public sector with a parting charge on journalists thus: the only claim that Journalists are better is to do things better!

And also, that this and this could be better still if Journalists continually hold on to their principle that says “When in doubt, leave out!”, as a way of reducing misinformation.