Journalists operating in the five regions in northern Ghana have undertaken capacity building and skills development training on fact-checking journalism.
The two-day workshop was organized by Dubawa Ghana, a non-partisan transnational verification and fact-checking organization with support from the United States Embassy in Ghana.
Participants were schooled on how to Understand Information Disorder, Verification and Fact-checking Skills and Steps involved, Fact-checking standards and ethics as well as Digital Verification Tools to propel journalists in their line of duty.
In addition to this, the training also highlighted on “Fake news” and the Law and how to explore the Right to Information Law in doing critical journalism and fact-checking.
The capacity building workshop conforms to the sustainable development goals sixteen (16) which highlights on Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions as the participants can efficiently ensure leadership account to the people.
The Country Lead of Dubawa, Ms Caroline Anipah in an interview told THE CUSTODIAN the training has become necessary to extend this opportunity to Journalists working outside large cities of Ghana or in rural communities to acquire the skills and techniques of doing fact-checking on issues of importance.
She underscored the importance of fact-checking in modern-day Journalism, stating the scale at which misinformation and disinformation is circulating is totally different and so it needs a lot of attention since the world interconnected.
“…So our journalists and the general public needs to be abreast with the change and what is happening and develop their skills so that when they come across misinformation or disinformation, they are able to deal with it on their individual and personal levels” Ms Caroline added.
Meanwhile, Mr. Kevin J. Brosnahan, Press Attaché at the US Embassy in Ghana, for his part stated fact-checking is the foundation for democracy so as to allow the people make informed electoral decisions and decisions in the interest of their communities.
“An informed public is really important part of democracy but informed public needs facts, solid facts that are reported by professional journalists, so when professional journalists can fact-check stories; perhaps what governments are saying and politicians are saying or community leaders – when they can base them on facts, it benefits the communities to make better decisions” he pointed out.
Mr. Kevin mentioned similar capacity building training will be organized for other Journalists in the middle belt and southern zone in the coming days.
