A photo of journalists and staff of Dubawa after the fact-checking workshop
A fact-checking organization, Dubawa (Ghana), has organized a two-day residential fact-checking workshop for journalists in the central zone of Ghana in Kumasi. The training with funding from the US Embassy in Ghana brought together twenty journalists from non-urban communities in the Bono, Ashanti, Central and Oti Regions to equip them with the needed skills to combat misinformation and disinformation. Participants were taken through verification and fact-checking procedures, understanding information disorder, actors and techniques of misinformation and disinformation, “fake news” and the law and the Right to Information (RTI) Law. According to Caroline Anipah, Team Lead at Dubawa, the project is geared towards training and equipping journalists outside the major cities of Ghana to be able to discharge their crucial roles of helping in the country’s developmental drive. “We have brought this training to you to help you have access to some of the skills needed to make you better as journalists when it comes to verifying information and we are optimistic that this training will go a long way in boosting your skills in the media field to help develop the country,” she said. A Barrister at Law and lecturer at the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ), Zakaria Musah Tanko, admonished participants to be abreast with the provisions of the Right to Information (RTI) Law as it is an effective tool when it comes to accessing information from public officers. Lawrence Yeboah Gyan, a broadcast journalist with Sunyani-based Suncity Radio commended Dubawa for the training, especially in an era when “fake news” has become a canker and is thriving. “The training has come at the right time considering the fact the level of proliferation of fake news in the media landscape and looking at the things we have learnt, I am sure of a brighter future for media personnel as we are going to do our best to help fight fake news.” Dubawa is a West African independent verification and fact-checking project, initiated by the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) and supported by the most influential newsrooms and civic organisations in West Africa to help amplify the culture of truth in public discourse, public policy, and journalistic practice. It has a presence in Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia and The Gambia.
A fact-checking organization, Dubawa (Ghana), has organized a two-day residential fact-checking workshop for journalists in the central zone of Ghana in Kumasi. The training with funding from the US Embassy in Ghana brought together twenty journalists from non-urban communities in the Bono, Ashanti, Central and Oti Regions to equip them with the needed skills to combat misinformation and disinformation. Participants were taken through verification and fact-checking procedures, understanding information disorder, actors and techniques of misinformation and disinformation, “fake news” and the law and the Right to Information (RTI) Law. According to Caroline Anipah, Team Lead at Dubawa, the project is geared towards training and equipping journalists outside the major cities of Ghana to be able to discharge their crucial roles of helping in the country’s developmental drive. “We have brought this training to you to help you have access to some of the skills needed to make you better as journalists when it comes to verifying information and we are optimistic that this training will go a long way in boosting your skills in the media field to help develop the country,” she said. A Barrister at Law and lecturer at the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ), Zakaria Musah Tanko, admonished participants to be abreast with the provisions of the Right to Information (RTI) Law as it is an effective tool when it comes to accessing information from public officers. Lawrence Yeboah Gyan, a broadcast journalist with Sunyani-based Suncity Radio commended Dubawa for the training, especially in an era when “fake news” has become a canker and is thriving. “The training has come at the right time considering the fact the level of proliferation of fake news in the media landscape and looking at the things we have learnt, I am sure of a brighter future for media personnel as we are going to do our best to help fight fake news.” Dubawa is a West African independent verification and fact-checking project, initiated by the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) and supported by the most influential newsrooms and civic organisations in West Africa to help amplify the culture of truth in public discourse, public policy, and journalistic practice. It has a presence in Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia and The Gambia.
