By Rita Enemuru, Reporting
THE Executive Director of the International Press Centre (IPC), Dr Lanre Arogundade, on Thursday, said that failure to perform proper fact-checking of claims by journalists can lead to failed journalism.
He made the assertion on the second day of the Two-Day Media Capacity Building on Combatting Information Disorder workshop for 40 journalists drawn from the South South and South East of Nigeria held at Golden Tulip Hotel, Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Participants including resource persons and staff of IPC at the event
Stonix News had earlier reported that the workshop implemented by the International Press Centre under the EUSDGN II project was funded by the European Union.
During the training, Arogundade gave tips on how to identify deepfake videos, audio and images on different social media platforms, with a view to spotting what is genuine and what is fake.
He urged journalists to ask critical questions and seek evidence when presented with claims by public officials, especially politicians.
He gave a step-by-step questions to ask when fact-checking evidence to include the following:
“Whenever anyone in public life makes a claim, big or small, the first question you should ask once you have got past whether the claim is plausible and worth investigating is ‘Where’s the evidence? and if none is forthcoming you know there is, or may be, a problem with the claim.
“Secondly check if the evidence is verifiable. it should be the same in public debate. When a public figure, in any field, makes a claim they want to be believed, they should be asked to provide verifiable evidence. If they can’t, you can however take what they say on trust.
Insight Ink Media crew with the resource persons at the workshop
“Does the evidence sound?: As much as we have looked, there is no single fact-checking tips checklist that covers all the different types of evidence you might have to assess before you decide it is sound.
“Could they know what they claim to know? If the evidence is based on an eyewitness account, could the person know what they claim to know? Were they there? Is it credible to believe they would have access to this sort of information first- or second? Is it something they have heard and believed, is it something that could be known? If there is data, when was it gathered?
“Spotting fakes: What you want to verify may not, of course, be a spoken or written claim but material – photos, videos, blogs or other content – sent to you or published online. In the digital age, photographs, video footage, text documents, websites and X and other social media feeds can all be falsified,” he said.
He added: “First things first, before even you start to look for evidence, the most important thing to do when sent a material is to engage your brain. Do the Images or words ring true? Is the language or sentiment expressed the way the person would talk? Is it the sort of thing they might really have said? Has the person filed material elsewhere?
“Remember people often use the same username on various platforms, so if you are searching for similar material from one person, put their username into different platforms such as Google Search, Facebook, Flickr, X, YouTube, 123people.com, blogsearchgoogle.com, Technorati.com.
Moment during the day-two of the workshop
“Check the person who sent it, is where they say they are? If you have doubts about the source of some information, and have the numerical address-the IP code-of the computer it came from, you can check the country the computer is located in if you enter that into this address: www.domaintools.com/reverse-inf”
The media guru also implored journalists to be persistent in fact-checking stories, adding that Fact-checking takes time and persistence.
He also advised journalists to speak with experts, explain step-by-step evidence, identify sources, and verify content to avoid misleading the public with false claims.
With video and picture samples, the IPC director also taught journalists how to use different AI tools in fact-checking news stories, videos, audio and image sources and credibility on YouTube, Facebook, X and other Social Media platforms.
Speaking on the organization of the event, he said that journalists needed relevant tools and charged them to be catalyst of good governance and keeping government officials on their toes.
What's your reaction?
