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In order to check quackery and the spate of fake news in the practice of journalism, as well as provide eligible journalists with the latest technological tools with which they can carry out their jobs professionally and be at par with international best practices, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has given a nod to the proposed partnership sought by the national body of the fourth estate of the realm, the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
This was during a courtesy visit by members of the union, led by its national president, Chris Isiguzo.
Director-general of NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa , while emphasizing the relevance of emerging technologies in journalism, decried the adverse effects of fake news, which he described as unimaginable and huge threats to the profession.
“Today, anybody can be a journalist without knowing the journalistic ethics. So, how can we address that? We can only do that through this kind of engagement; by training and retraining, because journalists need to understand that it is now about digital journalism. And for you to engage in that, one needs to understand the technology and be able to verify information and its source before publishing or broadcasting.”
Although saddled with the mandate of regulating the use of information technology (IT) in the country, the DG noted that, in recent times, the responsibility has gone beyond establishing the dos and don’ts due to the dynamic nature of technology which he said has further necessitated the need to up the ante in making journalists acclimatized with requisite skills and ‘technology know how’.
“We need to always reskill, update our knowledge and understand how the technology works in order to harness the potentials and use it for better things because technology can be used as either a tool or a weapon; so it is left for the user to decide what should drive the purpose…so everyone has a part to play in ensuring that unscrupulous elements don’t misuse the tech to mislead people.”
