By TOM CHIAHEMEN, Abuja –
Communication specialists in the country have been admonished to be innovative and refrain from a one-size-fits all approach in mitigating the damage wrought by adversarial report as well as managing information in a way that will promote the public good.
Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Ali Muhammad Ali, gave the advice in Abuja on Tuesday while speaking at the First National Roundtable on ” Asymmetrical National Security Challenges, the Army and National Development” organised by Nigerian Army Resources Centre (NARC), in collaboration with Development Specs Academy (DSA).
Ali, who said it was essential for communication specialists to critically evaluate information and sources in order to mitigate damage done as well as promote a safer and more informed public discourse, noted that in an increasingly shrinking global space marked by exponential growth in media convergence and artificial intelligence, the dampners of infomedics, misinformation and fake news had all but assumed lives of their own.
“Artificial intelligence technologies for example, with their capability to generate convincing fake texts, images, audio and videos (often referred to as ‘deepfakes’), present significant difficulties in distinguishing authentic content from synthetic creations. This capability lets wrongdoers automate and expand disinformation,” he noted.
He identified some grave consequences of misinformation to include: “fueling social unrest, violence, and even genocide, as people are misled into believing harmful stereotypes or conspiracy theories” and “spreading harmful beliefs and behaviors such as anti-vaccination sentiments or unsafe health practices.(Current insidious campaign against the HPV vaccine in some quarters in the false belief that it causes infertility).”
* Eroding trust in institutions, media, and experts, leading to a breakdown in social cohesion and the rise of conspiracy theories.( Attempts for example to impugn on the integrity of the election management body, INEC, by politicians and their social media goons in the aftermath of the 2023 general elections;
* Deepening political polarisation by reinforcing biases and prejudices, making it difficult to find common ground.( Exploiting the country’s faut lines of religion and ethnicity to further stratify the nation);
* Causing financial losses, as people make investment decisions or purchase products based on false information. (Multilevel marketing, network marketing or pyramid selling which have seen many people’s life savings go up in smoke)and;
* Damaging one’s reputation and credibility, making it harder to be taken seriously in the future.( The multitudes of defamation cases speak to this.)
He regretted that with the advent of social media, fake news had blossomed while disinformation and propaganda have received new impetus, adding that “all these are used to alter, shape and manipulate people to promote sectarian and political interests, attempt to entrench and exploit attitudes and conflicts as well as to elevate divisive politics.”
According to the NAN chief executive, the media, in many instances, had exploited ethnicity and religion to undermine Nigeria’s democracy and even threaten national security. Today, Nigeria is worse for it, especially in our country where gullibility is so high.
Insisting that the consequences of fake news in the light of our contemporary history have been tragic, Ali mentioned the October 2020 #EndSARS violence which raged in parts of the country as a case study, recalling that by the time the dust settled, about N20 billion had been lost to the orgy in just 14 days.
He also recalled that Rwandan genocide of 1994 in which between 500,000 and 800,000 people were killed in just 100 days.)
Giving so tips on the management of news in the face of the onslaught by the triple evils of infodemics, misinformation and fake news, Ali said in order to build trust with the public, communication specialists must uphold truthfulness and accuracy in combating infodemics, misinformation and fake news, pointing out that the authenticity of a message reinforces that copy or communication, and that when people perceive the message to be authentic, they tend to believe it the more and show understanding.
He also called for timeliness in countering misinformation by striking a balance between speedily responding and the volume of information available, saying “a burning issue should not be allowed to fester before we react although there are times when silence is said to be golden until an auspicious time when a valid response would be desirable.”
“ Because misinformation and fake news are crafted to be sensational, we must also craft our responses in an interesting manner that would attract attention given the crowded media space and the competition for attention.
“We must also work with friendly media influencers who are credible and have the capacity to push out copies which grab media attention,” he added.
Emphasized the need to be proactive rather than reactive in communication, Ali said that regular communication through constant engagements was critical, especially for institutions of state and as such, information managers must always talk to the people and not the people begging them to react to issues as they break.
“Institutions of state in particular must promote digital literacy among their communications professionals, especially now that the media landscape is constantly in a state of flux,” he said.
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