Fight fake news with verification, says Africa Check
It might be fake news or it could be misinformation, but either way, the media needs to question and establish ‘facts’ as much as it can
A number of speakers from the media and civil society met in Pretoria on Thursday to decide on ways to fight the spread of fake news‚ which they described as having a debilitating effect on society. One of the main points made at the seminar‚ hosted at the Institute for Security Studies on Thursday‚ was that there was a need to ensure information that goes to the public is verified. Africa Check senior researcher Kate Wilkinson said there were a lot of people around the world‚ especially in Africa‚ who made very important decisions about their health based on the information they found online. She said in Nigeria during 2003‚ some religious leaders started to spread rumours, without any medical support that the polio vaccine was designed to sterilise their children. "These rumours were not only spread informally but were published in the press without verification." This saw the spread of polio in Nigeria. "Nigeria‚ to this day‚ is battling to reverse that damage." Wilkinson said th...
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