Bilkisu Abdullahi-Yahuza
About forty journalists have been trained by the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) and DUBAWA on modern technologies and skills on fact-checking.
The two-day training which was held in Benin, Edo State was in partnership with Google News Initiative, and was aimed at equipping journalists with necessary skills in checkmating misinformation and fake news.
Speaking on the ‘Elections, Fact-checking and Observer Networks: Leverage and Lessons for Upcoming Election’ as it relates to Edo election, Mr Mboho Eno of CJID, emphasised the need for collaboration between journalists, media organisations and civil society organisations in order to achieved the desired results in the election.
Mr Mboho urged journalists to intensify efforts at their fact-checking skills with relevant google tools in order to prevent the spread of misinformation during the election a free, fair and credible poll.
“If we do not give life to misinformation, it won’t spread and so, I urge you to give Edo State a good picture during the elections. We need journalists who are always on the look out for potential national threats during elections,” he said.
He also encouraged journalists to be open minded for collaboration and according to him, collaboration helps to achieve impacts faster.
‘Digital Verification Skills and Tools’ Silas Jonathan, while opening journalists’ eyes to modern technologies used to verify information before publication said this will differentiate them from untrained journalists, manipulative doctored videos, pictures and audios.
Lateef Sanni, teaching on the sub-topic: Digital Safety and Security for Journalists, urged them to always be at alert as they use the cyberspace for their job, just as he advised them to protect their gadgets from hackers.
Earlier, Temilade Onilede, while giving an overview of the programme, said CJID was concerned about how fake news is spreading faster, and how best to use journalists to checkmate spread of such fake news even as the Edo State governorship election draws nearer.
Other facilitators in the training included Lois Ugbede who gave a comprehensive lecture on understanding information disorder and Akintunde Babatunde who spoke on how to use Freedom of Information Act in fact-checking claims made by elected officials.
“CJID was incorporated in 2014 with the need to think about sustainability and accountability. Over the last few years, over 10,000 journalists have been trained by CJID.
Highlighting the achievements of the organisation, Mr Eno disclosed that CJID has trained over 10,000 journalists since it was established.
One of the participants, Habibat Barabara Ibrahim appreciated the organisers and described the training as an eye opener for her profession.
