Dubawa invites applications for the second phase of its project: Fact-checking for Journalists in Non-urban Communities in Ghana.
We are looking for young and seasoned journalists working in non-urban communities in the Volta, Bono, and Western regions of Ghana to join the fight against misinformation and disinformation to promote accountability journalism in the Ghanaian media ecosystem.
Participating journalists will acquire knowledge and skills in fact-checking during a two-day residential training, followed by a three-month post-training mentorship for selected journalists.
To be considered for this training, the applicants should:
Be working with certified media organisations across communities within or around the following regions:
Volta
Bono
Western
Be willing to travel to designated central points within the listed regions for a two-day residential training.
Be willing to participate in a three-month post-training mentorship
To Apply:
Interested applicants should submit their applications by filling out this FORM by October 9th, 2023.
A copy of the applicant’s CV and ID will be required.
Note: Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted
Important dates:
Deadline for submission of application: 9th October, 2023
Selection and interview of shortlisted candidates: 16th October- 20th October, 2023
Training:
November 2023
For further information or clarification, contact Dubawa on 0542818189/ contact@dubawa.org or Roselena at roselena@thecjid.org.
The project is supported by the United States Embassy in Ghana.
DUBAWA (Ghana) has ended the first of three fact-checking training workshops for journalists in non-urban communities in Ghana.
The two-day training which took place in Tamale and ended on Thursday, October 13, 2022, brought together 20 journalists from the Northern and Upper Regions of Ghana.
It was organised by DUBAWA Ghana, the fact-checking arm of the Center for Journalism, Innovation and Development (CJID) and funded by the U.S Embassy in Ghana.
Rationale:
The project’s main objective is to train journalists outside the major cities of Ghana, who play a crucial role in the country’s development but are often neglected in media development efforts.
The project is in two parts: the first part is a fact-checking capacity-building workshop that will help 60 journalists (20 each from the Nothern, Middle, and Southern zones) in non-urban communities of Ghana acquire the needed skills to combat misinformation and disinformation.
With the Northern zone now over, the attention of the organisers and funders has shifted to the Middle and Southern zones for the remaining 40 journalists to be trained and to ensure that access to quality information for audiences across the country is enhanced. The two remaining workshops will take place in Kumasi and Accra and will draw participants from the Central and Southern zones of Ghana with the dates as follows:
October 19 and 20, 2022, at the Royal Lamerta Hotel, Kumasi.
October 24 and 25, 2022, at AG Hotels and Suites, Accra.
What next?
The second part of the training programme is a three-month-long mentorship program that will focus on nurturing the fact-checking skills of selected journalists and to assist them in establishing fact-checking desks in their media organisations.
With the Northern sector training over, the selection is underway for the mentorship programme.
Image: Facilitators, the U.S. Embassy team, and Dubawa Ghana Team
(From left, Dr Abena Yeboah-Banin, Department of Communication Studies, UG; Joyce Asiedu, Press and Media Affairs, U.S. Embassy Ghana; Kevin Brosnahan, Press Attache, U.S. Embassy Ghana; Caroline Anipah, Dubawa Ghana Country Lead, Nathan Gadugah, Editor Dubawa Ghana; and Roselena Ahiable, Programme Officer, Dubawa Ghana.)
While delivering the opening remarks for the Northern sector training, Kevin Brosnahan, Press Attache at the U.S. Embassy Ghana, said that fact-checking forms part of the foundation for democracy because people need truth and facts to make electoral decisions. He added that it is essential that people living in non-urban areas have access to verified information to enhance their ability to effect better community policies.
Photo: Kevin Brosnahan, Press Attache, U.S. Embassy in Ghana, giving his opening remarks.
Dr Tobi Oluwatola, Executive Director of the Center for Journalism Innovation and Development, welcomed participants, expressing his appreciation for their interest in learning and contributing to the fight against mis/disinformation in their organisations. He also underscored the need for journalists in non-urban areas to undertake this important project and incorporate fact-checking and verification desks in their newsrooms to ensure a sanitised information ecosystem.
Photo: Dr Oluwatola delivering his opening remarks to participants.
The participants were taken through topics including, Understanding information disorder, actors and techniques of mis/disinformation; Verification and fact-checking: skills and steps involved; “Fake news” and the law, fact-checking and the right to information law.
Photo: Some participants at the training in Tamale.
Dubawa (Ghana) invites applications for its fact-checking training and mentorship for journalists in community-based media in Ghana.
The project forms part of efforts to fight misinformation and disinformation and promote accountability journalism in the Ghanaian media ecosystem. It will also afford both young and seasoned journalists working in non-urban communities in Ghana the opportunity to acquire knowledge and skills in fact-checking.
The project will consist of a two-day residential training and a three-month post-training mentorship for selected journalists.
EligibilityCriteria
Applicants should be working journalists across all communities in Ghana with the divisions as indicated below:
North: Northern region, Savanna region, Upper West region, North East region, and Upper East region
Central: Ashanti region, Bono region, Bono East region, Ahafo region, and Oti region.
South: Volta region, Eastern region, Western region, Western North region, Central region, and Greater Accra region.
Applicants should be practising journalists from a certified media organisation and must be working outside of the regional capitals of Ghana.
Applicants must be willing to travel to designated central points within their respective divisions for a two-day residential training.
How to Apply:
Interested applicants should submit their applications by filling out this FORM by September 25th, 2022.
A copy of the applicant’s CV and ID will be required.
Note: Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted
Application and Selection Timelines:
Deadline for submission of application: 25th September, 2022
Selection and interview of shortlisted candidates: 26th September – 7th October, 2022
Training:
North: 12th and 13th October 2022
Central: 19th and 20th October 2022
South: 26th and 27th October 2022
For further information or clarification, contact Dubawa on 0542818189 or Roselena on 0245070916.
The project is supported by the United States Embassy in Ghana.
Are you a student in a tertiary institution in Ghana? Are you passionate about fact-checking and journalism?
Then this is for you.
The Ghana office of Dubawa, an independent and non-partisan transnational fact-checking platform and a project of the Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism (PTCIJ), is accepting applications from students in tertiary institutions across Ghana to its Campus Fact-checking Project.
Dubawa’s Campus Fact-checking Project is inspired by the need to address some of the ethical lapses identified in journalism practice by offering students in tertiary schools aspiring to take up roles in the ecosystem, the opportunity to acquire real-world experience in the journalism profession through verification and fact-checking.
The maiden campus project also seeks to extend the culture of truth-telling in the information ecosystem to tertiary institutions by training and equipping journalism students with the necessary skills to contribute to fact-checking and promote a culture of truth and accuracy in public discourse.
Objectives of the Project
This project’s primary objective is to promote a culture of verification and fact-checking among journalism and other liberal arts students and offer them a platform to prepare them for their role in the media industry. Other objectives include:
To build a network of student fact-checkers who will lead the fight against misinformation and disinformation in their various schools in Ghana.
To create awareness and promote a culture of verification and fact-checking among communication and journalism students.
To offer students in tertiary institutions, especially those in the field of communications and journalism, insights into, and the practice of fact-checking journalism.
Benefits of the Project
Participants will gain hands-on experience in fact-checking and by extension, journalism
Selected students will have the opportunity to join Dubawa’s network of campus fact-checkers and also contribute fact-check reports to Dubawa’s platform with modest remuneration
Eligibility Criteria
The project’s primary target is students in Communications, Media or English departments in tertiary institutions. However, students in other fields of study interested in careers in journalism and fact-checking may also apply. Applicants should therefore be
Students in tertiary institutions (universities and polytechnics etc) in Ghana.
Students who exhibit good writing skills, analytical and critical thinking, and awareness of current issues will be highly encouraged.
How to Apply
Interested applicants should submit their applications by 26 April 2021.
Dubawa is officially a year old in Ghana and what an exciting and eventful year it has been!
Our primary goal in establishing a fact-checking platform in Ghana was to contribute to the fight against misinformation and disinformation, by ensuring access to accurate and truthful information, and in the spirit of our motto, to ‘amplify truth.’
Dubawa’s approach to addressing the problem of ‘fake news’ and increasing awareness of fact-checking has been multi-thronged: rigorous fact-checking, fact-checking training, and media and information literacy.
Media And Fact-checking Ecosystem in Ghana
By February 2020 when Dubawa was launched, Ghana’s media landscape was largely pluralised with a lot more Ghanaians able to access more information on mainstream and social media and on the internet than a decade ago. While this is good for the country’s growing democracy and especially for freedom of expression, it also raises concerns about the increasing spread of misinformation and disinformation, commonly referred to as ‘fake news’, in the country. This is in spite of the much-contested Electronic Communications Act (2008) which criminalises the dissemination of fake news in the country. Offenders are liable to a fine of GHS 36,000 (about $6,250) and up to five years imprisonment.
Through preliminary desk research and a Dubawa commissioned survey, we found that fact-checking as a response to addressing fake news was not mainstream although some media outlets engaged in ad hoc or occasional fact-checking. Coincidentally, by 2019 when the expansion of Dubawa to Ghana was conceived, GhanaFact, a full time fact-checking platform was launched and the Media Foundation for West Africa’s fact-checking project, Fact Check Ghana, which was vibrant in 2016 but became dormant sometime in 2017 was relaunched later in 2020. Dubawa was established to, alongside these existing organisations, deepen the culture of truth amplification in Ghana.
With Ghana’s December 2020 elections, expected to be keenly contested considering the key contenders were a former and a sitting president, on the horizon, the problem of ‘fake news’ was expected to take centre stage. Taking into account the havoc wrought by misinformation and disinformation even on developed democracies like the United States of America, a quick and strategic response was needed.
Dubawa’s Interventions
The key thing we did in furtherance of our objectives was to raise awareness about the dangers of misinformation and disinformation and the need for fact-checking in Ghana. This message was first sold to stakeholders at Dubawa’s official launch which was chaired by the Chairperson of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Ms Josephine Oppong and had the former Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, as the keynote speaker. The Ministry of Information was later instrumental in our Covid-19 misinformation fight as it served as a pathway to reach Ghanaians with verified Covid-19 information and fact-checking tips.
Over the period, Dubawa organised fact-checking training for members of the media and blogging community and other stakeholders. Participants in our training sessions did not only share the knowledge and skills gained with colleagues but also incorporated them into their work. They were also instrumental in supporting Dubawa’s effort at countering misinformation during the December 7, 2020 elections.
Further inspired by the need to address the menace of misinformation and disinformation in the country, a six-month fact-checking fellowship, which commenced in August 2020 was organised. The fellowship was open to practising journalists in new media platforms (online blogs), newspaper, radio and TV stations, and researchers with the aim of providing an opportunity for journalists to acquire skills and knowledge in fact-checking; contribute to countering misinformation and disinformation by writing truth-based and factual stories; and also to institute a culture of fact-checking in newsrooms.
From the onset, we realised the importance of collaboration. We worked with the knowledge that misinformation is widespread and needed to be tackled collectively by all stakeholders. And we were right. Our partnership with the media, Alliance for African Women Initiative (AFAWI), the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), and the Coalition for Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) achieved major results.
Within the period, Dubawa as signatories to the International Fact-checking Network (IFCN) contributed to the CoronavirusFacts Alliance which has brought together fact-checkers from over 70 countries, publishes fact-check reports in over 40 languages, and has produced over 9,000 fact-checks since the Alliance started in March 2020. Also, as a partner to Facebook and its Third-Party Fact-checking Programme, Dubawa contributed to fighting misinformation on the platform.
We are grateful to the numerous partners who have been with us on this journey. We invite you to join us if you are yet to.
Missed our fact-checks last year?
Here are some of our top-performing fact-check reports of 2020:
Hibiscus tea otherwise called Sobolo, sobo/zobo, according to a viral video, has been used by China to cure the novel coronavirus, Covid-19. The claimant, Nana Okogyedom Ntim-Barimah, Executive Director for Soul Health and Wellness Center, claimed the Chinese used ‘sobolo’ to cure the COVID-19 and called on Ghanaians to do the same.
In the video, Nana Ntim-Berimah refers to two articles that he suggests have information on the use of the flower as a cure for the coronavirus in China. Click here for full fact-check.
A few days to the 2020 elections, a viral video with accompanying narratives suggesting the President of the country and New Patriotic Party (NPP) candidate, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, was caught on video receiving a bribe. This was discussed extensively on mainstream media and social media by the opposition party NDC with the narrative purporting that Akufo-Addo took a USD40,000 bribe in 2017 in his capacity as president, in order not to sack Alhaji Abbas who is the director of Urban Roads. Click here for full fact-check
Ghana’s Electoral Commission (EC) came under criticism from a section of the public following the official declaration of the 2020 election results. Most of the criticisms have been about how the Commission has not been able to effectively undertake its clerical functions for the purposes of updating the public. One of such was an artwork announcing the result of the Essikado-Ketan parliamentary elections. Many pro-opposition Facebook groups including NDC TV and some commentators shared images to claim that the Commission published results for six parliamentary candidates for the Essikado-Ketan seat when in fact, only three people contested for the seat.
The role of the media in informing and educating its audiences has not only been achieved through traditional reporting but more recently through fact-checking claims that have dubitable character and may have the propensity to misinform and mislead. This study, through interviews, established the critical role fact-checking is playing in sanitizing the information ecosystem of polluted information in Ghana. While on one hand these media houses seek to ensure that the general public is served with factual information, there are challenges they are confronted with on the other hand – easy access to information, funding and political ownership of some of the media organisations – being some of them. The study recommends that the media should, in the face of the highlighted challenges, make fact-checking an integral part of the newsroom architecture separate from investigative journalism and other genres of reporting.
Introduction
The information ecosystem has become convoluted with an avalanche of messages shaped and contorted along the lines of propaganda, fabrications, satires, and memes. Digital media has become the dumping site for predators who share information that baits readers but are bereft of facts and sometimes lacking authenticity (Pangrazio, 2018).
Often, information shared on digital media platforms travel far and wide across the globe and media audiences rarely consume such messages by first subjecting them to a second check to ascertain their truth or falsity. Coupled with the ease of access to such media platforms, users find new media as a safe haven for propagating misinformation and fake content; and eventually, the site has become a breeding ground for fake news.
The advantages of using digital media – unrestricted access, low cost of entry, and the advantage of ‘multi-mediality’ – make it user-friendly, thus eliminating all potential barriers that will preclude a user from sharing information at any time and anywhere. While digital media provides these positives, the challenges associated with it, particularly the preponderance of fake news in the ecosystem, is often a worry to many, such as consumers of media messages, policy makers and even governments. Indeed, the prevalence of polluted information and fake news on digital media has implications on governance, human security, businesses, the environment and more recently the health sector.
For example, with the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the fatalities that have been recorded and ones being recorded in the second wave of the pandemic have made everyone edgy and willing, without often questioning, to latch on any drug or herbs that portend to fight the virus, all in an effort not to be killed by the disease. From the origin of the virus, through to the behavior of the virus and the debate about its mode of transmission to the point of a medication to treat the virus are all riddled in fake information, thus making many people feel their faith to be hanging in the balance and struggling to determine what information is worth believing.
In a recent presidential and parliamentary elections held in Ghana, social media platforms – WhatsApp, Twitter and Facebook – went buzzing from one allegation to another from the camps of the two main political parties jostling for power – New Patriotic Party (NPP) and Nation Democratic Congress (NDC). Committed to ensuring that the voters are well informed on policies, projects and programmes being promised by the political parties, the media, popularly referred to as the fourth estate of the realm, took up the responsibility of not only reporting the news as it breaks but went further to defuse fake information in the public sphere by fact-checking statements made by political party officials on campaign platforms and political talk shows in the media.
To enhance understanding on the role the media played in battling the fake news canker, this report places the spotlight on the media organisations that were at the forefront of combating fake news especially during the election period. A profile of the media organisations, mode of fact-checking, rating scales used, tools for fact-checking, impact of their work, challenges they encounter, and the sustainability plan for the fact-checking exercise are the key outlines that this report seeks to highlight.
Focal persons in the selected media organisations were interviewed on the thematic areas that the report seeks to address. In all, five media houses – Citi FM, Joy FM, Starr FM, 3FM and Ghanaweb – were selected for the interview. The selected media houses were at the frontline of combating misinformation and fake news where fact-checking was either part of the station’s programming or of a project initiated to be executed within a specified time frame.
Profile of the Media Organisations
Citi FM
Citi FM is a private radio station based in Accra-Ghana, which commenced commercial broadcasting in November 2004. The station employs English as its medium of communication and offers a blend of adult contemporary music, news, and talk programmes. The station has a dominant presence in Greater Accra, Eastern, Central and parts of Volta and Western Regions in Ghana and aims at a global reach as online radio. In 2006, the station was also adjudged the New Radio Station of the year at the BBC Africa Radio Awards for West Africa in August 2016.
Joy FM
Joy FM is a radio station based in Accra. It was Ghana’s first English-speaking private radio station, established in 1995 as the country’s news and entertainment hub. Many private radio outlets followed after. Joy FM targets the middle to upper income group of listeners. The station’s format consists of news and talk programming interspersed with entertaining music programs.
Joy FM is one of the country’s most patronised radio stations. It is part of the Multimedia Broadcasting Limited, one of Ghana’s biggest private media groups that cover radio, digital TV & Online
Starr FM
Starr 103.5 FM is an urban, lifestyle radio station, which focuses on the delivery of compelling programmes through good music, entertainment/lifestyle – led talk programmes and sports for its target audience. In respect of News and Current affairs, it seeks to deliver accurate, factual, relevant and newsworthy stories to its listeners. It seeks to entertain and educate the target listeners through music and talk content that it puts on air, through its events and promotions. Starr is part of the Excellence in Broadcasting media group that has TV and online presence. (https://e4impact.org/partners/starr-103-5-fm/).
3FM
3FM is a privately owned radio station in Accra, the capital of Ghana. The radio station is owned by Media General Radio Limited which forms part of Media General, a media and Communications Company which owns several television and radio stations in Ghana (https://onlineradiobox.com/gh/3/).
Ghanaweb
GhanaWeb is a comprehensive resource about Ghana. It’s a website on information, news and entertaining content. In 1999 the website was renamed as GhanaWeb from formerly being known as GhanaHomePage. The owning company of the website is Bellaart Investments B.V., a privately owned company that is operating from The Netherlands.
In the last decade, GhanaWeb’s profile has risen in Ghana. Initially, the webpage consisted of some pages with information about Ghana but it quickly has evolved and expanded into a platform which is used by thousands of contributors to publish their content.
In a survey by Goodman AMC, GhanaWeb was mentioned as a media news source that Ghanaians would trust to provide first-hand and reliable information in the 2016 presidential election (http://ghana.mom-rsf.org/en/media/detail/outlet/ghanaweb/).
Fact-checking: Processes adopted by the media
The resources for fact-checking are usually claims or statements made in public spaces that lend themselves to verification. Often, such statements may have gone viral, thus dividing opinion and creating doubts in the minds of media consumers about the authenticity of the claim. Explaining the processes his media organisation adopted in fact-checking a claim, the first respondent (R1) interviewed asserted that identification of a claim that is worth fact-checking is the first step in the process.
‘The process starts by first identifying a claim, then we conduct research on what we have by speaking to experts where expert advice is needed so we get proper and professional insight into the issues that have engaged public attention,’ R1 said.
Having done fact-checking for six years, respondent one affirmed that the initial process of identifying what claim ought to be fact-checked is the first hurdle that must be crossed after thorough investigations are done on the statements to ascertain the factual basis of the claim.
‘Identifying the claim is one step of the process but beyond this step, I do a thorough investigation by consulting other resources mostly online to help me establish the facts that support or debunk the claim’.
The processes as highlighted by the respondents align with the processes for fact-checking as outlined by Dubawa, one of only two full-time fact-checking organisations in Ghana. According to Dubawa, fact-checking involves a five-step process: (a) Choosing the claim(s) (b) Assigning to a team of independent researchers (c) Researching the claim (d) Writing the report (e) Editing with skepticism and then (f) Publishing. These processes ultimately drive and guide researchers and fact-checkers in conducting their investigations.
On his part, respondent 4 (R4) argues that in as much as most of the claims are already being discussed in the public domain, which he calls demand driven, claims can also be supply- driven, where the researcher finds information worth being fact-checked and then shares its findings with the public.
‘For me, identification of a claim is either demand-driven or supply-driven. If the issues are topical and have engaged a lot of public discussions, often with no clear lines as to where the truth lies, I pick the story and conduct my own investigations. I speak to experts, if the issues will need experts to explain it better for the understanding of all. In this case, the issues are already in the public domain so the public may be craving to know what the truth is. Instances of such nature in the fact checking process is what I call demand-driven.
However, there are instances where the issues may not have necessarily been a highly debated issue in the public domain, but what I do is that I bring up the issues I consider worth informing the public about, by providing additional information through my research. Sometimes I pick the budget and I dissect the issues and supply the public with additional information in order for them to have an enhanced understanding of it,’ R4.
Respondent four (R4) however has a different approach in identifying his claims as compared to other respondents. The processes involved in investigating a claim according to this respondent are similar to what is outlined by Dubawa as a standard process to follow in fact-checking.
Again, according to Politifact, an organisation that fact-checks political claims, researchers must ask themselves the following questions in arriving at a claim they are convinced it is worth fact-checking:
Is the statement rooted in a fact that is verifiable?
Is the statement leaving a particular impression that may be misleading?
Is the statement significant?
Is the statement likely to be passed on and repeated by others?
Would a typical person hear or read the statement and wonder if it is true?
Is the statement newsworthy
And sometimes, driven by curiosity, we pick a statement to fact check.
These processes appear generally standardized in the two fact-checking organisations actively involved in fact-checking claims and the processes adopted by the media organisations at the forefront of fact-checking in Ghana are not at variance to what is considered to be standard.
Fact-checking: Resources for Researchers
Fact-checkers decide the available tools to deploy to help them achieve their goal and which best will serve their purpose. Often, the internet has been a major resource for these fact-checkers. Online software applications have assisted these fact-checkers to interrogate, analyse, and verify images, videos and statements of facts, and expose misleading ones all in an effort to present reliable information for the consumption of the public.
Respondent three (R3) holds the opinion that ‘for most of the information we fact-check, we rely on the internet to gather additional information to confirm or debunk a claim being subjected to verification. Some of the tools we use are just to check whether an image used to tell a story is a true representation of what it purports to communicate or rather it tends to mislead the public instead’.
Corroborating the position of respondent three (R3), respondent one (R1) alludes to the use of other manual resources such as reports and hard copy documents to facilitate their work.He makes the point that ‘often, getting information to verify a claim is a very tedious exercise and one will have to scan through voluminous documents in search of facts and figures sometimes’.
While many of the resources have been the use of documentary evidence to authenticate the veracity of a claim or otherwise, opinions of professionals in a particular field of study or a specialized sector in governance and administration have also been relied on by fact-checkers to get expert opinion on a claim under scrutiny.
‘Where necessary, we speak to professionals who have expert knowledge on a claim we are investigating. In issues like health, we speak to professionals who share insightful thoughts that informs our decisions in rating our claims’, says respondent 2.
Fact-Checking: Rating of Claims
Fact-checking is aimed at confirming a claim as true or otherwise. In doing so, fact-checkers are guided by some form of indicators to pass a verdict after a thorough investigation of a claim. Generally, respondents make the point that a claim may be false or true, ‘however, there are instances where the claim may not be wholly true nor false and it is in that instance that we may say it is either partly true or even sometimes misleading, depending on what we find out’, says respondent five (R5).
To assist fact-checkers arrive at a conclusion and pass a verdict on their searches, Dubawa has a documentary guide which is often relied on by its researchers as a guide in making a conclusive statement upon interrogation of a claim. The scale as designed by Dubawa and often adopted by the media organisations has five (5) categories:
True – A fact-check is deemed true when all elements of such a claim pertain to factual information.
False – A fact-check is deemed false when all elements of such a claim do not pertain to factual information at the time of assertion. In essence, manipulated and fabricated content will be considered false.
Mostly True – A fact-check is deemed mostly true when some elements of such claim pertain to factual information. Usually, this rating will be assigned to fact-checks with three or more claims.
Mostly False – A fact-check is deemed mostly false when some elements of such claim do not pertain to factual information at the time of assertion, while an element may be true. Usually, this rating will be assigned to fact-checks with three or more claims.
Misleading – A fact-check is deemed misleading when elements of a claim are too complex to be termed true or false. This could mean two things:
More Context Needed/ Wrong Context – when the claim(s) oversimplifies complex issues. On a surface level, these may seem correct but they are either used out-of-context or depict an unintended meaning
Insufficient Evidence – when the claim(s) is unverifiable; usually pertaining to urban myths or unquantifiable data
These scales of measurement are amply manifested in the claims published by the media organisations. Ultimately, combating fake news involves taking a stance on a statement one is investigating based on the facts that speak to the claim. Unlike mainstream journalism, the reporter is restrained from expressing their opinions, except in opinion editorials. It is again instructive to observe that in fact-checking, as against mainstream reporting, verification of claims is a posteriori, where statements and claims become subject of verification after publication.
Fact-Checking: Impact on Society
Respondents allude to three main indicators that point to the impact of fact-checking on media audiences:
Public’s interest in fact-checking
Consciousness of political actors in making public statements
Media discussions on fact-checked information
Public’s interest in fact-checking
Respondents allude to incidents of members of the general public calling newsrooms to put forward claims they have come across to be fact-checked for them. According to R1, who has worked as a fact-checker and researcher in his media organisation for the past five years, this phenomenon was unknown in the past.
‘Sometimes, you get a call and someone tells you he/she has seen a statement on another media platform and they will want you to verify the authenticity of the claim in the statement. In the 2016 elections especially, though I was doing some form of fact checking, I never had calls from the public requesting I fact-check a claim they have come across with. This I view as a milestone and a recognition of the work we are doing as a media house in informing the public with accurate information,’ R1 said.
The assertion made by R1 is corroborated by R3 who says ‘we get attacked by the public for some of the verdicts we make after our findings. Especially with party followers, they insult you and attack your level of objectivity. The keenness with which the public follow our work and even criticize us show the level of enthusiasm with which they follow this exercise’.
Media content, has in recent times been taken with doubt by media audiences (UNESCO, 2018). The growing interest in fact-checking by the general public shows a level of interest by audiences in media messages that are factual and accurate. Given that the preponderance of fake news in media spaces was chipping away the confidence of audiences in the media, the growing interest in fact-checking points to a revival of interest in media content.
Consciousness of political actors in making public statements
The apparent consciousness being exercised by politicians in their public utterances during the 2020 presidential and parliamentary elections especially was a positive indication, according to R4 of the impact fact-checking is having in the political arena. He asserts that ‘somehow, politicians were careful with their choice of words and they will often remark that they need to speak well before they are taken on by the media’.
This assertion by R4 is re-echoed by R1 and R3 who share similar observations of how one hardly finds political party officials and key leaders of a political group making statements that they may not be able to substantiate when subjected to strict scrutiny. R3 however observed that though politicians exercised some caution in their public utterances, such responses were not reflected on online platforms where some of the political parties have followers or individuals aligned to a political party and its ideologies.
The assertion by R3 confirms the widely held view by scholars that fake news is most prevalent in echo-chambers (Yusuf, Al-Banawi & Al-Imam, 2014) where members who share the same political ideologies re-echo claims by other members of the group. The members in this group or chamber believe in and hold on to statements that align with their biases and any other information contrary to their beliefs is discounted.
According to extant literature (Flaxman, Goel & Rao, 2016), echo-chambers have become a breeding ground for fake news and members are so loyal to one another such that information that stands at variance to their beliefs are treated with contempt.
Media discussions on fact-checked information
According to R4 ‘our ratings on a claim based on the findings we make were sometimes used as content for political talk programmes on radio especially and on other media platforms. Even on social media, shares we have for our fact-checked stories indicate that people do not just read but rebroadcast our findings for others to know about the truth or the falsity of a viral claim’.
The selected media for this study were at the forefront of combating fake news with verifiable facts. The media houses devoted a considerable number of hours in their programming schedule for airing of fact-checked materials to the general public. The premium placed on this exercise was again manifested by the publication of fact-checked information on all media platforms – online, radio and television – managed by the media organisation.
‘My works are often published on our online portal but beyond that, it is sometimes used as part of content in our political programmes during the elections as well as television programmes on our networks. Other media houses even call to interview me on a particular findings I have come up with during a key political show or get published on online spaces’, says R1.
As a key actor in the development process, the media’s role in informing and educating largely strengthens efforts of the government in achieving its developmental goals. More so, the role it is playing in combating fake news in the information ecosystem will contribute to ensuring that messages that are circulated in public spaces are sacrosanct and devoid of falsehood. This will be a rallying point in engaging the citizenry in all developmental and decision making activities at all levels of the governance structure.
Fact-Checking: Challenges of Media Organisations
Challenges as encountered by the media organisations included difficulty in accessing information from official sources, unwillingness of public officials to speak on a subject, lack of adequate funding, and lack of interest by editors to publish stories and political ownership of media houses.
‘One of the challenges I have doing this work has come from within. Sometimes editors will drop a story for fear of the media house being aligned to one political party or the other. Sometimes your story is not published at all and no explanations come even when you follow up. Though this was a challenge for a long time, gradually my works on fact-checking are being published on our platform,’ R1 recounted.
Corroborating this assertion, R4 also indicates that ‘sometimes you belong to a media house where the owner of the business is aligned to one political party. Often, such a media house does not take kindly to doing works that tend to undermine their course.’
This revelation brings to the fore the impact of media ownership on programming in media organisations. Media ownership and control has often been cited as a development that undermines the independence of the media. According to Petković (2004), media owners are in a position to influence media content, and the mere possibility that they would choose to exert such influence justifies the need for restrictions in the exercise of their authority on the media they control. Petković argues that their motives may be political, ideological, personal or commercial, but the outcome is the same – influence on content.
In Ghana, it is a common phenomenon that media organisations that are known to be aligned to major political parties broadcast news content that re-echo the position of the party and any other information that tends to put the political party in a bad light is often not given air space on their platforms.
Again, other challenges such as access to information and the willingness of government officials to speak on an issue being fact-checked has been a common hurdle that media organisations are confronted with on a daily basis. Respondent 5 recounts the frustrations they have to go through to get information from official sources to do professional work. ‘The nature of the work requires that you counter false information with the truth. In situations where you cannot get the supporting document to debunk a claim for instance, you are forced to drop the story rather than repeating what will turn out to be a lie instead’.
Fact-Checking: Sustainability Plan by Media Organisations
For the media houses, there are no policies by way of documentation on the sustainability plan for integrating fact-checking into the main scheme of work of the organisations. Fact-checking was most prominent an exercise during the election period and most of the media houses though have not abandoned the exercise, much attention has been shifted to mainstream reporting.
According to R2, his media house has not set up a desk dedicated to fact-checking as against other genres such as sports, entertainment, politics etc. Though this is non-existent, fact-checking has been accepted as one of the tasks the newsroom performs and fact-checked stories are published once work is completed on the verification of a claim.
Respondent 2 further asserts that ‘the media organisation has not set up any desk purposely focusing on fact-checking. After some training, I enrolled as a trainee fact-checker, I took up the challenge and has since been doing fact-checking for the organisation. In order to ensure that my absence does not spell the end of fact-checking in my organisation, I have started training one junior reporter to build his capacity to take up the work in future. The institution has not as a matter of policy, set up a specialized desk that is solely dedicated to fact checking’.
Respondent one alludes to the fact that his media organisation had no place for fact-checking until he took it up in addition to his daily routine reporting duties. He argues that the lack of specialized desks as in the case of other genres of reporting in the newsroom tends to jeopardize the existence of fact-checking in the media.
‘I took up the challenge of fact-checking as a journalist and initially it was not well embraced within my media set up perhaps it is something new there. However, overtime with the kind of tractions we get when we publish such stories, my organisation has made it a core part of reporting. Though there is no special desk like a fact checking desk, the recognition of fact-checking is for me a commitment by the organisation to see it as part of our portfolio of reporting,’ R1 said.
Though the evidence points to lack of a clear sustainability plan by the media organisations to maintain fact-checking as a specialized desk in the newsroom, its integration into news reporting shows a level of commitment by the media organisations to maintain the exercise as part of mainstream reporting.
Conclusion
The media and media messages are critical in shaping opinions of media audiences. As a conduit for informing and educating, the role of fact-checking aimed at authenticating claims in order to inform and educate the populace is a step that is believed to advance the cause of democracy and development of a country.
To the extent that fake news has brought about many individuals being misled and losing confidence in media messages, fact-checking statements in the public domain and reporting accordingly will not only purge the media of the tag of a machinery being exploited to propagate falsehood and other misleading claims but rather as a trustworthy agent for development.
Consensus keeps building between the media and the general public that the way to ensuring that the information ecosystem is devoid of fake news is by adopting fact-checking as a needed intervention for not only addressing the challenges that fake news poses but to serve as a discouragement for individuals who may want to use fake information to prosecute their agenda.
Again, the gradual shifting of fact-checking into the arena of journalistic practice in Ghana is a response to advocacy by stakeholders for the media to take the lead in removing the canker of fake news in public discourse. The evidence of fact-checking being embraced by media organisations largely signifies steps being taken to address the challenge head on.
Recommendations
The study recommends the following as steps to ensuring that the media is empowered to continue combating fake information circulating in public spaces:
There is the need for the media and civil society organisations to demand full implementation in compliance of the information law in Ghana. This will help address challenges researchers encounter in their effort to access public documents to assist in their work;
The media must create special and adequately resourced desks for fact-checking as part of their commitment to combating fake news in the information ecosystem.
Regulatory bodies like the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) must regularly engage media owners and editors to sensitize them to the need to commit to ensuring the independence of journalists plying their trade in a media organisation.
Ghana heads to the polls for its eighth democratic elections in the 4th Republic on December 7, 2020.
Over 17 million eligible voters are expected to participate in this exercise in 33,367 polling stations across the country.
Unlike previous elections, many have been awakened to the dangers of false information especially from the political class on the country’s democracy.
Previous elections have witnessed a number of false information including vile propaganda, malicious claims, and wild rumours, many of which spread so fast and likely influenced the polls.
With fact-checking steadily gaining roots in Ghana’s democratic space, there are great expectations that false information will be aggressively tackled during the electioneering period.
Dubawa Ghana has already formed important partnerships with the Coalition of Election Observers (CODEO), and the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) to police public discourse and ensure that the elections are conducted in a manner devoid of falsehoods, exaggerations and concocted stories.
Other fact-checkers, like Dubawa Ghana, have already produced many fact checks that have revealed the truth behind several public claims made by political actors.
This development must be highly appreciated as a necessity for the media in a growing democracy such as Ghana’s.
That notwithstanding, the work of fact-checkers will be put to serious test during the upcoming polls which, based on past experiences, will be characterized by a number of incidents that could make false information thrive.
This is a test because rigorous fact-checking is less than barely fours years old in Ghana and this is the first electioneering period being keenly followed by independent fact-checkers.
Considering some of the common incidents that have characterized election days in Ghana in the past, below are some of the common claims fact-checkers may have to deal with on December 7.
The ballot box that got snatched: The thought of a ballot box being snatched at a polling station will not be strange to the ears of any Ghanaian political watcher. It is among the common incidents claimed to have happened during the country’s major elections. Due to high levels of mistrust for political opponents, such reports are easily believed by people who will not suffer themselves to verify, perhaps because it is very possible. Fact-checkers will be needed to look into such claims.
Violent clashes near or at a polling station: Ghana’s security agencies have identified some 6,178 communities as flashpoints for violence for this election. This was based on crime trends and incidents during previous elections. It, therefore, wouldn’t be hard to take in that violent clashes have occurred at a polling station within the identified areas. The fact that an area is noted for violence does not necessarily mean any claim of violence there is true.
Discovery of hidden ballot papers: Often you’ll hear of claims about the discovery some thumb-printed ballot papers hidden somewhere. This may come up in making allegations of election fraud and has the potential discrediting the country’s polls. Fact-checkers can help to bring out the truth. Indeed, through the work of fact-checkers on such issues, followers could be better informed about relevant context, if any, and if the claim is even accurate or exaggerated.
‘Unofficial’ results: As the world becomes more sophisticated, it has become easy to fake documents to prove anything. One can easily fall for this if due diligence, as done in the case by fact-checkers is not prioritized. People with malicious intents can manipulate photos of voter result sheets, known as pink sheets to give wrong results.
The ‘recycled’ throwbacks: One of the common claims that will likely be seen will be the use of old images or videos and materials from other countries to make a case for something that is alleged to have happened at a polling station in real-time during the elections. Adding visual materials whether unrelated or old makes claims believable but not necessarily true. Fact-checkers again will help prove true or false such multimedia claims.
There are many other potential claims fact-checkers will encounter in covering the upcoming polls and they will need to diligently work their way to get the truth to an expectant audience.
In the end, fact-checkers will greatly help to make the 2020 polls more credible and also further solidify their place in helping to instil truth in public discourse.
