The Association of Communication Scholars and Professionals of Nigeria (ACSPN) on Thursday held its first empowerment series to address the emergence of fake news.
The conference, which was organised in collaboration with Premium Times and the African Centre for Media and Information (AFRICMIL), had as its theme: ‘Fake News and the Demands of Evolving Journalism in the Post-Truth Era’.
Journalists (print, radio, TV., online), public relations and advertising practitioners, students, media and communication researchers and members of the public attended the programme.
The keynote address was delivered by Manny Aniebonam, CEO of AfriHub LLC/Global Distance Learning Institute, Abuja.
The lead discussants were Yakubu Ibn Mohammed, director-general, Nigerian Television Authority (NTA); Dapo Olorunyomi, CEO of Premium Times; Segun Adeleye, executive secretary, Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON); Olushola Macaulay, national professional officer (Communications), UNESCO; Emman Shehu, director, International Institute for Journalism and Lara Owoeye-Wise, a broadcaster.
“The purpose of this intervention is to equip and create a platform for participants to contribute to the emerging debate about ‘fake news’ as well as the fabrication of news to capture ‘popular’ mood, and how media organisations and journalists should respond to news/information and outright lies from politicians and other influencers in the post-truth era,” Chido Onumah, vice president ACSPN, north-central, said in a statement.
“To deal with this phenomenon, it is important to reinforce capacities such as critical thinking, communication competence, comprehension, coding and decoding different types of languages, political knowledge, participation, and general understanding of social phenomena.”
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