Ghanaian Journalists receive advanced training in fact-checking and digital verification

The Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), through its fact-checking initiative, DUBAWA, in partnership with the Google News Initiative, has launched a two-day capacity-building program for journalists in non-urban areas of Nigeria, Ghana and Liberia.

The training aimed to enhance digital journalism skills, verification techniques, and fact-checking practices.

In Ghana, the training kicked off on March 25, 2024 and ended on March 26, 2024, at the Baca Hotel in Koforidua. Day 1 featured sessions led by experts like Nathaniel Kyere Bekoe, a Fact-Checker at Dubawa, and Nathan Gadugah, editor at Dubawa, covering topics such as "Understanding Information Disorder" and "Fact-Checking: steps and Methodology" respectively. Dr. Aurelia Ayisi, a Lecturer at the University of Ghana, addressed digital safety and security for journalists.

Day 2 continued with sessions on digital verification skills and tools, and Google tools and fact-checking led by Dubawa Fact-checker, Augustine Brako and Roselena Ahiable, Programme Officer, Dubawa, along with using the Right to Information Act in fact-checking by Tanko Zakaria Musah, Legal practitioner and lecturer at University of Media Arts and Communication-Institute of Journalism. Nathaniel Gadugah concluded with insights into election reporting, fact-checking and observer networks: leveraging lessons for the upcoming election.

In an interview, a journalist at Radio 1, Paulina Armah, praised its value, emphasizing the importance of fact-checking before publication. She stated, "The workshop training has met my expectations, and I am looking forward to more. I have met more than my expectations. I am very impressed with the sessions as well. I have learned that as a journalist, you have to fact-check and cross-check before you publish anything or come out to say anything because as journalists, we are educating the public."

Eastern regional editor for Daily Graphic, Haruna Wunpini, highlighted the workshop's significance, expressing, "This particular workshop, if I had not had the opportunity to attend it, I would have lost a lot of opportunities because I wanted to come and also learn. In fact, whatever I have learned here, I will practice them and make sure that whatever I learn becomes useful to me."

Wunpini underscored the importance of accurate reporting, noting, "All of us, in our offices, use the term fake news for information that is not authentic, although we have not done any background check on it. Now, due to this workshop, I have been told not to describe news like that as fake, especially when you have not done any background check because there are a lot of processes you have to go through to detect if a particular news is 'fake,' and even with that, it is termed as information disorder, not fake news. We should not use the term "fake news" as a Fact-Checker."