By Emmanuel Mensah-Abludo
Access to New Information and Communication Technologies (NICTs) has helped to break down the geographical barrier which hitherto constrained our interaction with one another across the globe.
Although NICTs and, for that matter, digital technologies have brought and continue to bring great changes across countries and in economies with each passing day in relation to the ease with which we generate and access information, the headache of misapplying them to churn out “unhealthy contents” is equally real.
In this era of information revolution, social media has/have become an enabler(s) shaping socio-political discourse, thereby offering new opportunities for socio-politico as well as economic advancement of the human person.
Potent digital technology
The potency of digital technologies serving as tools for social cohesion and mobilisation are not in doubt, but they have also increased the tendency for people to spread hate speech, propaganda, misinformation, disinformation, and fake news to pollute the public sphere with information that aligns with a specific motivation or agenda.
There are clear dangers if we do not build the “knowledge and resilience” to face the challenges of information disorder to which we are exposed.
Training and Support
In order to build the resilience needed for media practitioners to safely navigate the landmines of fake news, propaganda, manipulated contents, misinformation, and disinformation, the Media Foundation for West Africa (MfWA) has organised training workshops for selected journalists across the country.
The training sessions which were made possible with funding support from the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), enabled the participants to be trained on fact-checking and how to counter mis-disinformation in Ghana.
Objective of MfWA
This move is in keeping with one of the objectives of MfWA for the 2022-2024 strategic period, which reads: “Strengthened media capacity that enables participatory, responsive, transparent, and accountable governance.”
It also dovetails into MfWA’s objective of supporting the development of independent mass media in West Africa, as well as using networking to foster collaboration with other sectors of society around the issues of human rights, democracy, peace, security, and development.
Information literacy
A lecturer of the University of Media, Arts and Communication [Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ)], Stephen Tindi, shared a perspective at one of the two-day training sessions in Tamale.
He stressed the necessity for institutions to train journalists and communicators in mainstream media and information literacy, with specific emphasis on fact-checking.
Mr. Tindi equally called for systematic and sustained skills training for all citizens on how to effectively use media in accessing and analysing information critically for the good of society.
A staff of MfWA, Paul Kofi Gozo, indicated that we should do all within our power not to allow information and disinformation to fester, else it will negatively affect the country.
Mr. Gozo made reference to the Rwandan radio station, Radio Television Libre de Mille Collines (RTLM) which played a role in inciting the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, saying bad media content in any form should not be countenanced.
Honing fact-checking skills
One of the Resource Persons, Evans Aziamor Mensah who made a presentation on “Understanding Fact-checking and Tinkering with Fact-checking Tools” advised journalists to take advantage of fact-checking to sharpen their skills to become experts in the field, which is evolving as a new strand of journalism.
Social media blues
A participant, Nurudeen Gumah, averred that people are using social media to stoke the Bawku crisis, saying people have created fake Facebook accounts and are using them to put out false information, thereby escalating the tension in the Bawku area.
Mr Gumah was of the view that opinion leaders in Bawku should encourage the youth to use their Facebook accounts to promote peace and development in the area instead of putting false information into the public space.
He also hammered home the need for the media to continue preaching peace so that Bawku can return to its glorious state as a bustling commercial enclave.
Goebbels’ Legacy
According to the Nazi Minister of Propaganda and Public Enlightenment, Paul Joseph Goebbels “If you tell a lie long enough, it becomes the truth”.
Goebbels is also on record for saying, “This is the secret of propaganda: Those who are to be persuaded by it should be completely immersed in the ideas of the propaganda, without ever noticing that they are being immersed in it.”
Although Goebbels died in 1945, his perspectives and tactics on how to manipulate the minds of the people and shape public opinion to achieve a given objective are still upheld by many, so we should be guided when accessing information from every channel, knowing that individuals and groups are on the prowl to manipulate us for reasons best known to them.
Critical “consumption” of contents will help us to identify and counter mis-disinformation in Ghana as envisaged by MfWA and FCDO in their partnership to enhance the knowledge of 125 media practitioners in country.
Appreciation
On behalf of fellow media practitioners, I say “Akpega” [a big thanks] to Media Foundation for West Africa (MfWA) and the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) for the insightful and impactful learning sessions under their wings. We promise to continuously stoke the “fact-checking fire” to achieve the possible multiplier effect.
“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words but to live by them,” – John F. Kennedy
