2024 Election: MFWA to deploy media monitors and fact-checkers to combat misinformation

The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) will deploy 30 trained media monitors and 20 regional fact-checkers to combat misinformation and disinformation during the 2024 elections.

Supported by over 100 radio and TV station partnerships, the initiative aims to track and counter fake news across the country, particularly in rural areas where misinformation often thrives.

Speaking at the opening of the 2024 Media Situation Room in Accra on Wednesday, December 4, 2024, Senior Programs Officer of MFWA, Kwaku Krobea Asante, stressed the importance of the initiative.

“We have monitors stationed across the country, listening to known troublesome radio and TV stations. When necessary, they provide specific recordings, saying, 'This is what is happening here," he noted.

He explained that the MFWA has equipped its media monitors with the necessary tools and gadgets to track conversations on known problematic stations across the country.

"The Situation Room will also address the rise of AI-generated fake content targeting political figures. You (media monitors) listen to all of them, and you realize that this has AI. This has been reproduced, and this will continue from now until December 7.

“Currently, we have 30 media monitors who have been trained to listen to radio and TV stations. They have been assigned to troublesome stations, and when necessary, they provide us with specific recordings to document what is happening,” he stated.

Watch the video below:



JKB/MA