Era of fake news

On April 5, 2019, a Nigerian media outfit had on its online metro page the headline: ‘Businessman jailed for issuing dud cheque”. According to the report by one Adelani Adepegba, the high court judge who passed the sentence considered the plea bargain agreement, as well as the plea of the convict’s counsel, and sentenced him […]

On April 5, 2019, a Nigerian media outfit had on its online metro page the headline: ‘Businessman jailed for issuing dud cheque”. According to the report by one Adelani Adepegba, the high court judge who passed the sentence considered the plea bargain agreement, as well as the plea of the convict’s counsel, and sentenced him to two years imprisonment with an option of fine.

However, counsel to the convict, Nicholas Cletus Oche, Esq said, “…that information is a false and malicious representation of what transpired in court. In brief fact of what happened, in consideration of a plea bargain agreement by the EFCC and my client, he was convicted of the offence and ordered to pay fine, not jailed or sentenced to two years as erroneously reported.”

Sometime in March, the social media went viral with the news of an elected governor involved in a ghastly motor accident. The report said the governor lost his driver and was in a near death situation. This led to word trading between camps, as the governor considered the rumour as a smear campaign by the opposition party in the state. To my surprise, even the media houses could not verify or enlighten the public to the real situation. Indigenes of the state were left to facebook and twitter for information.

In another situation, the Minister of Information was reported to have said that Nigeria was being denied foreign loans due to fake news.  Therefore, I ask the question, “What is fake news and who is responsible for checking and sanctioning it? To make matters worse, it is the social media that is closest to the Nigerian masses than any of the news outlets.

According to Wikipedia, “Fake news or junk news or pseudo-news is a type of yellow journalism or propaganda that consists of deliberate disinformation or hoaxes spread via traditional print and broadcast news media or online social media.” Simply put, fake news is the spreading of unverified information to the public.

Due to the emergence of the new media (online social media), a test has been placed on the traditional media to remain at the pinnacle of trustworthy news. Sadly, some of the big names in the media industry fall prey to fake news in an attempt to break a news story. It is trite in journalism that the first reporter of a story is of utmost value, but then, why get accolades in a hurry, only to be debunked few hours after breaking the news?

Most Nigerians respond to information as it breaks as it is a Nigerian culture; that news generally affects our behaviours, conversations and attitude to one another. It was in Nigeria that we drank salt at midnight to cure ebola. It was in Nigeria that a girl named Success became famous because they “go flog tire”. It is in Nigeria that when a president opens his bottled water, it is an issue of discussion.

If you ask me, the era of fake news has gained dominance in our country not because the people spreading it have increased tremendously, but rather, the attention of Nigerians on everything that happens has grown exponentially. We now see teenage Nigerians using Instagram, Twitter and Facebook to get attention by showcasing something new.

It is for this reason that our media outfits and news agencies ought to shift focus to investigative journalism. The traditional media ought to distinguish itself from the many journalists that every Nigerian has turned to by feeding the people with true happenings without. Agenda setting should be focused on showing the world the true position of things in Nigeria.

Are we the seventh most miserable people on earth? We should know better. Are we the capital of poverty? Our news houses should bring the true story to television screens and radio waves in Nigeria.

Therefore, we can eradicate the era of fake news if we focus on sharing verified and confirmed information only, while journalists reporting legal events in the country ought to use the records of proceedings.

God speed!

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