A non-governmental organization, Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) has urged journalists to ensure proper coverage of the off-circle elections in Ondo and Edo states by fact-checking their reports.
CAPPA said the process would reduce violent elections and improve citizens’ confidence in the electoral process.
The NGO made the submission during a webinar organised for journalists on the topic: ‘Safeguarding Democracy: The Media and Role of Fact Checking in Peaceful Election’ with funding from the European Union.
It said that it is important for people to read the right information during and after an election.
In his welcome address, the Executive Director of the Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), Mr Akinbode Oluwafemi, urged journalists to ensure they report elections from the point of view of promoting peace and non-violent elections in the country.
Oluwafemi said: “For us, the media plays a critical role in how people perceive and react to elections. This conversation is coming at a time that two or three states are warming up for the governorship election and Ondo specifically is getting a little bit warmer on issues of election at a time that people begin to manipulate public communication through digital and social media.
“Sometimes some of those materials do find their way into the mainstream traditional media, causing serious back traps in our society. Again we have to look at our role in terms of journalists in ensuring that what we push out is authentic, factual and reliable.
“And most importantly, promote peaceful election in our country. How do we fact check, cross-check and as we say in journalism, when you are in doubt, you leave out and to be able to ensure that we get the right leaders into the political spaces in our country.”
One of the facilitators at the webinar, Blessing Oladunjoye, said social media plays a critical role during elections in informing voters. She noted that social media also influences public opinion on the election and that politicians also use it to mobilize support for their preferred candidates.
Oladunjoye said the media played its role effectively during the 2023 general election but not without the challenges of misinformation by different actors. She noted that social media influencers, politicians and political parties used ethnicity, religion and political interest to spread misinformation during last year’s election.
She said: “Oftentimes, misinformation has gone far ahead before we can fact check it and it is difficult for people who have already consumed misinformation to change their mind or perception. For us to have a free, fair and peaceful election there must be information to enable a voter to decide on whom he or she would want to vote for.
“So, whenever there is incorrect information it will influence the way an individual will vote. We are saying that sometimes, there could be elements of truth in misinformation but there is always an agenda behind every misinformation and disinformation which the people are not aware of at that particular point in time.”
According to Oladunjoye, there is a need for journalists to undergo fact-checking training. She said journalists should collaborate on fact-checking because one person cannot do it alone. “Check before you spread because you don’t have to be a paddler of disinformation or misinformation as a journalist. And remember that misinformation thrives on our sentiments and biases.”
Another facilitator, Adesola Ikulajolu, said when it comes to elections, there must be fake news and when it comes to fact-checking, there must be elections because they are almost the same. He said one would have to help the other.
Ikulajolu said: “For our democracy to grow an election must take place and not just an ordinary election but a peaceful election. If the election is not peaceful then it is not democracy. If violence has to be the order of the day, where ballot boxes have to be smashed, it is no longer a peaceful election.”