The Minister of Information and Culture,
Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has urged the media to eschew disinformation and fake
news, saying the phenomenon, if left unchecked, could damage the credibility of
the media and endanger the country's peace and security.
The Minister made the call in Abuja on
Friday when he paid a courtesy visit to the headquarters of Daar Communications
Plc. owners of the African Independent Television (AIT) and Raypower radio
station.
“The country today is under the siege of
disinformation and fake news. Unfortunately this dangerous trend, if not
checked by the media - especially the traditional media - is capable of tearing
the fabric of the society and bringing the country to its knees,” he said.
Alhaji Mohammed said that to make
matters worse, a section of the traditional media often amplifies the
disinformation and the fake news being spread on the Social Media.
He noted that in spite of the incursion
of the Social Media, the traditional media remains the most credible platform,
hence it should not join forces with the purveyors of falsehood.
“My greatest problem is with the
traditional media, because most people will probably say Social Media is what
it is. But when the traditional media also latches on the same fake news and
the same disinformation, then I begin to get worried for many reasons. Number one,
it affects the credibility of the media itself and once the media is no longer
believed, once the media loses its credibility, then it has serious
consequences for the media and the society as a whole,” the Minister said.
Alhaji Mohammed recalled the role that
disinformation, fake news and hate speeches played in the 1994 genocide in
Rwanda in which over
800,000 people were killed, and urged
the media to draw some lessons from that unfortunate development.
He expressed concern that in the past
few weeks, the media was saturated with false news on the health of the President,
and that even when the government and the presidency promptly clarified that the
President is hale and hearty, some people did not believe them because of the
lies they have read in the Social Media.
“What happened in the last couple of
weeks is quite worrisome. Mr.
President left for a vacation. When he
was leaving, he transmitted the necessary letter to the National Assembly on
who was going to act. He said during his vacation, he will also use the
opportunity to carry out his routine medical check-up. Within 12 hours of
leaving the country, the news was that he had died, and when that was not sustainable,
they said he was critically ill.
''Some even went on to say that he was
actually flown out of the country in an ambulance, when the whole world saw
when he was leaving and it was televised. For a week or so all we heard was
this dangerous disinformation,” the Minister said.
In his remarks, the Executive Chairman
of Daar Communications Plc.
Chief Raymond Paul Dokpesi, said the
emergence of fake news is a global phenomenon, but noted that the Media Group
has been absolutely committed to upholding the highest standard of journalism.
Segun Adeyemi
SA to Hon Minister of Information and
Culture
Abuja
3rd Feb. 2017
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