Media practitioners have been charged not to be a pivotal of fake news.
A lecturer at the University of Ilorin, Dr. Ademola Bakare, gave the charge in Ilorin at A 1-Day Media Personnel Advocacy Roundtable, organised by the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism, in partnership with Albarka 89.9 FM, Ganmo, Kwara State, funded by the MacArthur Foundation, held at City-In-Hotel, G.R.A. Ilorin on Tuesday.
Dr Bakare who spoke on "The Imperativeness of Online News and its Influence in Facilitating Good Governance.” urged media practitioners to be careful when reposting what other people have posted and to verify the source of the information they want to post.
“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. Never be a convener of fake news,” he said.
He added that fake and unverified news could lead to conflict and a misconception of power.
Speaking virtually on the use of Artificial Intelligence, AI, for investigative journalism, another guest 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 Akahome, 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.