Their discussion centred on “Information Disorder in Election:Role of the Media,Political Parties and National Institute for Policy and Strategy Studies (NIPSS)”.
Ms Ngozi Alaegbu, from Arise News TV warned that media houses should beware of being used as tools to drive propaganda and information that distort the process.
Alaegbu also said, ”false information not only discourages the electorate, but aggravate the rising cases of insecurity.
“The media are reflections of the general society and apart from setting agenda,we need to set better standards for ourselves, with enhanced political education.”
Dr Theophilus Abba, from Daily Trust, was of the opinion that the media cannot ignore false information, rather should deploy tools to fact-check.
Abba said, ”we need more media literacy for newsrooms to track any piece of information.
“Going into 2023 elections, we need to guard against false information, as well as check press releases by political parties and politicians.
“Journalists should not accept all that comes to them.”
Mrs Ebere Agozie, Head,Fact-Checking Desk of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN),said media organisations should be allowed to operate freely without external influences.
Agozie further said that carriers of false information should be tracked, re-orientation of the populace and possibly extend the training on how to check information to the informal sector.
Prof. Sola Adeyanju,Head,Public Affairs Department,NIPSS, said the media could serve as a tool to disrupt election process and to preserve it as well.
Adeyanju urged the media to uphold the values of decent information dissemination during the election periods and always.
Prof. AbdulGaniy Raji, Department of Agricultural and Environmental Engineering,University of Ibadan, sought for more political literacy.
The dialogue was organised by the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development(CJID) and funded by the National Endowment Fund (NEF).
The event was part of CJID’s effort, through its Media in National Elections (MiNE) and fact-checking (DUBAWA) projects to ensure the provision of accurate information to Nigerians before, during and after the 2023 elections.