How can we practice true journalism in this social media era; in this ‘soro soke’ generation? How can Nigerians identify fake news from the true stories? What do we need to do to ensure that fake news does not spread like wild fire? Nigerian Journalist and Media entrepreneur, Kadaria Ahmed joined us to answer these questions.
To set the conversation in motion, Kadaria emphasized that Journalism still matters, as it is a critical function required for any democratic country. Journalists are constitutionally necessary to hold the people in positions of authority, accountable.
While disinformation is a deliberate attempt to mislead people, misinformation is where you make mistakes. “The fact that these two exist, is not enough reason for people to say we should do away with journalism, that is what tyrants want so that nobody holds them accountable.”
Seeing as we are in a misinformation and disinformation age globally, Kadaria says the job of journalists is to follow process and ensure that whatever is taken to people is accurate and credible and when mistakes are made, they should quickly own up. “It is the media houses that cultivate and maintain the trust of audiences, that would do well.”
While emphasizing the need to verify and find out the sources of News received and disbursed, Kadaria Ahmed stated that many of the so-called Journalists on social media today are not journalists but Bloggers, social commentators and citizen journalists. Media houses have a lot to gain from investing in trained journalists and verified reports because you can’t differentiate yourself from the quality of what you give people.
“The percentage of authentic news on social media far outweighs the disinformation, misinformation and fake news, so you can’t throw away the baby with the bath water, the idea of trying to gag freedom and peoples’ ability to talk, is not acceptable!”
“If journalists follow through with the process of collating and verifying before reporting, it brings a check to the level of bias in information dispensation. The Industry must take responsibility, there’s no excuse for some of the errors we see. Collect, verify, speak to the people involved, go out, get facts, before reporting.”
