For the record: Outcome of a 25-man strategic team of Penpushing Media on curbing the spread and consequences of fake news on society.

The strategic committee comprising cerebral personalities such as former Governor, academic, journalists, lawyers, political office holders, media managers and activists among others after a one week virtual session came up with the following:-

INTRODUCTION:-

If “News” is defined as a factual report of an event, there cannot be “fake news”. However, there are promoters of ‘alternative truths’ and falsehoods.  UNESCO in a publication, Ireton and Posetti (2018) posited that the deployment of ‘fake news’ as a term was to discredit journalism, and set out an alternative framework.

* What we call fake news is thus a broad term to refer to several things including: Disinformation – Information that is false and deliberately created to harm a person, social group, organisation or country.

Misinformation -Information that is false but not created with the intention of causing harm; and

Mal-information – Information that is based on reality, used to inflict harm on a person, social group, organisation or country. There is also a reluctance or refusal to accept reality – a la Trump and sundry officials shouting fake news at any information they don’t like, no matter its genuineness.

* Items packaged as fake news come  in various forms. These include: Satire/parody; Clickbaits; Propaganda; Deepfakes and visual deception; Hoax; Imposter content and Bots.

* Fake news can be initiated, fabricated or packaged in form of message and be driven through any form of communication on platforms including, Interpersonal, Group, legacy and media which include traditional, online and social media.

* Fake news has indeed created a disorder, which is to the detriment of not only the media industry and its practitioners but also societies including Nigeria. The confidence reposed in the media and media professionals is fast being eroded, because of the unfortunate fake news syndrome.

* Fake news’ is not a new phenomena, after all the snake tricked Eve and Adam with a disinformation campaign after all. It is also not going to disappear,, so the concern should be what can we do to  limit its spread and impact.

* In addressing fake news, however, we need to avoid reinforcing narratives that promote authoritarianism and we must not support efforts to stifle political party opposition and media independence.

HOW IT WORKS

The push and pull factor: Why are people attracted to certain kinds of news – even if it is demonstrably laced with conspiracies and why do purveyors of fake news do it? Some of the reasons are:

* “Fake news” has been weaponised by politicians to discredit the media and their opponents as a way of covering up their misdeeds

* Interest groups, including ethno-religious and cultural ones, also deploy fake news to aide their cause

* Business organisations also sometimes concoct fake news to demarket their competitors.

* People seek out and spread fake news because it suits their prejudices or simply because they don’t have better information.

* The originator(s) and purveyor(s) of fake news sometimes are unaware of the possible dire consequences of their actions.

* Fake news that are most dangerous to Africa, include those created and spewed out by western media to portray the black as inferior species.

POSSIBLE RESPONSES 

The Penpushing Strategic committee came up with the following recommendations on how to fight the  spread of fake news. These are:

* Media organisations are urged  to sign on to the global “Verified” campaign initiated by the United Nations to counter widespread misinformation and disinformation heightened by coronavirus, including having people “pause before you share” content.

* Media organizations are also encouraged to incorporate fact-checking into their reporting by not just publishing factual stories, but also debunking “fake news” published in other channels through diligent fact checking.

* Introduction of Media and Information Literacy (MIL) programme in the educational system, targeting secondary schools and higher institutions to spread awareness about the danger , effect and implications of fake news on the populace .

*Urge relevant government agencies and professional bodies to apply legal sanctions against individuals or organizations ( professionals or nonprofessionals ) who promote fake news, especially where this leads to  grievous consequences on society.

*It advocated continuous  training and retraining of media workers – journalists, bloggers and online publishers – on the need to uphold  and promote the sanctity of the profession ‘as facts are sacred ‘

*Urge the society to encourage and celebrate individuals and organizations who adhere strictly to ethical norms by celebrating them through annual awards of Excellence, eg factchecking honours

*The strategic committee  also identified the need for investment in appropriate  technology for the  detection, prevention, adjustment and redress where and when necessary.

*It suggested that Penpushing and other credible media could act as ‘fake news killers’ by seeking out such materials and posting them on their platforms with ‘This is Fake’ tags. This will help others to spread information about such materials and stop its spread

*It canvassed the floating of a campaign to name and shame platforms/groups known to promote ‘fake news’ to  degrade their appeal to genuine information seekers

*The team sought for the development  of a body of codes or guidelines on how to identify and avoid the mistake of circulating fake news inadvertently.

*It urged partnership among local and international organisations to protect the populace against the effect of fake news.

Penpushing Media in endorsing these recommendations will on its part draw up a plan of action to implement some of the recommendations to achieve a cleaner and healthy society capable of tackling the spread of fake news and its impact. Penpushing Media commended the team for its thoroughness.

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