Accra, Ghana, August 27 – FactSpace West Africa (FSWA) has conducted a two-day training on fact-checking and combating information disorder for the Ghana News Agency (GNA).
The August 26 and 27 training took place at the premises of the Information Services Department (ISD), bringing together reporters and the leadership of the editorial team of Ghana’s only wire service.
Facilitators from FactSpace took participants through concepts of information disorder, information integrity, the practical use of digital verification tools, fact-checking methodologies and best practices for newsrooms.
“Misinformation can cause people to die. It has actually caused people to die, practically.
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When you get the wrong information, you could end up in a place where you should not be, and you could become the victim of whatever circumstance there is,” Alfa Shaban, editor at FactSpace West Africa, said while stressing the importance of the training.
The training is also a strategic step toward strengthening GNA’s capacity to combat misinformation and ensure the dissemination of credible information in Ghana.
The collaboration is expected to set a benchmark for the integration of fact-checking in the workflow of the agency, ultimately contributing to a more informed and fact-driven society.
Albert Kofi Owusu, the General Manager of the GNA, said the training is relevant for his team of journalists in the age of widespread misinformation.
“Knowing FactSpace West Africa, the work that they do, there was a need to get you on board, to train our reporters to get to know how to use the AI tools and to check the spate of fake news we have all over the country.
“It’s a very important thing for us, that is why we need to polish our skills, be sure that we’re able to fact-check stories, and we do not let slip stories that are not based on factual information to our customers,” he said.
On her part, Beatrice Asamani-Savage, the editorial head of GNA, said: “For us in the news agency space, the responsibility is even greater. Our stories are often the primary source for media outlets, meaning that any error that we can make, or we make can multiply across the entire information chain.
“Accuracy here is not optional for any journalist, especially for a news agency journalist. This training is therefore a chance to seek deeper knowledge, refine our skills, and stay humble before the truth.”
She added that GNA will set up a fact-checking desk with assistance from FactSpace West Africa following the training.
“At the end of the program, we expect that we will establish our fact-check desk. The professional one. You know, we do fact-checking across the news processing chain, but there’s a professional way to do fact-checking,” she emphasized.
Participants in their post-training interviews generally agreed that the training was timely stressing that they would ensure that they put both the theoretical perspectives and the digital tools that they had come into contact with to good use in their daily tasks.
About FactSpace West Africa
FactSpace West Africa is an independent, non-partisan organisation working to tackle mis/disinformation and propaganda across West Africa.
The organisation is a signatory to the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) Code of Principles. It has focal persons across Anglophone West Africa – The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria.
