By Dada Ahmed in Abuja.
The Editor -in-Chief, Leadership Newspapers,Mr Azu Ishiekwene, has urged Editors in Nigeria to fact-check stories at their disposal to avoid publishing fake news that would land them and their organisations in trouble with the law.
He gave the advice on Saturday in Abuja at the Three-Day Capacity Building Workshop for Editors with the theme “Ageda Setting for Sustainable Democratic Culture.”
According to him, the tendency among the editors could be to break the news, adding that in doing that, they must fact-check all the sources regarding the story to authenticate the truth or otherwise of the story before publication.
Ishiekwene,who spoke on “Tools for Editors to Fact Check and Manage More Efficiently”, said that rather than rushing to publish stories,editors must pause and take a critical look at the content before them as well as verify its source.
The media expert,who noted that editors had limitless resources to fact-check information, advised them to explore and exploit their media skills, with emphasy on research, to achieve that aim.
He also called on the editors to acquire fact check skills such as verifying stories verifiable sources,cross check with reliable colleagues shun regarding information before them as the gospel truth and ensure that the fact check technique used has International standard.
The Editor in Chief said the use of fact-check mechanism would help editors to properly conceptualise the news content of an information before publishing to safe them from stories that might reduce their reputation and that of their organisations.
He said that “every editor needs an editor” to make sure all the “ts” and “ls” of the news were checked for sent to public domain.
Our Correspondent reports that at least, 50 editors attended the workshop, organised by the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) and supported by US Governnent.
In his vote of thanks,the President of the Guild, Mustapha Isah, commended participants for the quality inputs and interaction displayed that ensured the success of the workshop.
He disclosed that the next workshop would come up, soon,in Enugu and Portharcourt.
