By correspondent in Ilorin.
A lecturer at the University of Ilorin, Dr. Ademola Bakare,has urged media practitioners in Nigeria to shun spreading fake and unverified news.
He gave the advice on Tuesday
at 1-Day Media Personnel Advocacy Roundtable, organised by the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.
Our correspondent reports that the roundtable was organized in partnership with Albarka 89.9 FM, Ganmo, Kwara State and funded by the MacArthur Foundation with the theme, ” The Imperativeness of Online News and its Influence in Facilitating Good Governance.”
The don further urged the professionals concerned to be careful when reposting what other people had posted, adding that they should verify the source of the information they want to post before transmitting it for public consumption.
“As journalists, we have to be careful of whatever we put out, we have to verify the source of information we are pushing out; and we have to be careful of reposting what some people have posted.
” Be careful, and don’t put yourself inside something that will eat you. Verify whatever you want to post; make sure it is correct,” he said.
Dr.Bakare said that his advice became imperative in view of the evil effects of fake or unverified news to the people and the society, stressing the development could lead to conflict and translate to misconception of power.
Speaking on use of Artificial Intelligence, AI, for investigative journalism, another quest lecturer,Ibilola Akahome, said AI had the capacity to shape the future of journalism and enhance the quality of stories when not abused.
According to him, when used properly in journalism,AI can also make significant positive impact on various tools used in journalism such as automatic fact-checking, automated translation,localization, social media monitoring, and trend analysis, amongst others.
Edited by Dawud Ahmed.
