Accra, 22 November, FSWA—On November 22, selected media practitioners from the southern zone of Ghana participated in a one-day Media Integrity and Fact-Checking training aimed at enhancing their ability to combat mis and disinformation ahead of the country’s crucial elections scheduled for December 7, 2024.
The training brought together journalists from the Greater Accra, Eastern, Oti, Volta, Eastern and Western regions of Ghana to build their capabilities to identify, verify and debunk election-related misinformation and in the long run help in ensuring credible, ethical, and balanced media coverage that promotes informed public discourse.
This initiative was sponsored by Google News Initiative, Africa Check and Fojo Media Institute. The training is part of the Ghana Fact-Checking Coalition’s (GFC) efforts to combat misinformation that could arise before, during and after the polls.
The workshop which was under the theme ‘Empowering journalists to combat misinformation for free, fair and transparent elections,’ took place at the Golden Key Hotel at East Legon in Accra.
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The Executive Director of FactSpace West Africa, Rabiu Alhassan said: “Fact-checkers and journalists serve as the gatekeepers of truth, particularly in an age overshadowed by rampant misinformation,” adding that when journalists adhere to the principles of cross-checking, re-checking, and fair reporting, they help safeguard media integrity and empower citizens to make well-informed decisions.
The Executive Secretary of the National Media Commission (NMC), lawyer George Sarpong conducted a session on election reporting and media ethics. He urged participants to uphold their integrity, stating that “truth exists independent of anyone’s reality.”
He emphasized that journalists must prioritize the public interest in all their endeavors, clarifying that “public interest is not simply what the public is interested in; it is a determination of what is important and beneficial to the public, judged by the journalist’s morals and principles.”
The NMC boss led participants to examine portions of the Ghana Journalists Association’s Code of Ethics, where he pointed out key aspects that journalists should keep in mind as they practice journalism in the country
As part of the training, Alfa Shaban Abdur Rahman and Gifty Tracy Aminu, the editor and sub-editor for GhanaFact, shared various tactics for identifying misinformation and disinformation. Gifty noted, “When covering the elections, we must pay attention to dates, errors, and analyze our sources.”
Participants were introduced to verification tools that could aid in combatting mis and disinformation during the elections. The tools they were exposed to included Google Reverse Image Search, InVID verification and how to archive sources.
About FactSpace West Africa
FactSpace West Africa (FSWA) is an independent, non-partisan organization working to tackle mis/disinformation and propaganda across the sub-region. We are currently leading fact-checking initiatives in 5 countries including The Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria, Liberia and Sierra Leone as one of few fact-checking organizations on the continent signatory to a globally recognized media metric standard – the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) Code of Principles.
By Julius Kofi Satsi
