How Fake News Is Creating Alternative Realities: A New
Study Reveals Debunking Fake News Needs Innovative Strategies
A
debut study by Penplusbytes www.penplusbytes.org
on Fake News in Ghana has shown that the Ghanaian media landscape does not have
systems, budgets or trained personnel dedicated to combat the menace of Fake
News. The study; Media Perspectives on
Fake News in Ghana (www.penplusbytes.org/fakenews)
also establishes that in Ghana “bait and click” is the commonest form of fake
news; fabricated content and false headlines without connection to content.
Globally,
fake news or hoaxes, usually in the form of misinformation, spin, outright lies
and fabrications has been around for a long time. But in recent times, fake news
has seen rapid growth due to social media and other new digital tools which are
enablers with attendant adverse impact on citizens’ lack of trust not only in
the news media but also, key governance institutions. Naturally, the Ghanaian
media landscape is not excluded from this global epidemic.
Penplusbytes set out to undertake the “Media
Perspectives on Fake News in Ghana”
study in order to understand the prevalence of the fake news problem whiles assessing
the measures in place to combat this phenomenon. The study was based on the use
of a structured questionnaire administered to nearly 200 media organizations in
Ghana made up of print, online, media convergence and broadcast media spread
through the ten (10) regions of Ghana.
In terms of if the media in Ghana is
supporting public education on fake news, the survey results showed that 82.5%
do not have programmes or columns for educating the public on fake news. In
assessing the capacity of newsrooms to deal with fake news, it came out clearly
that most newsrooms (81.7%) did not assign staff to deal with fake news.
An overwhelming number of newsrooms
surveyed (92%) were of the view that, putting in place regulations and laws are
the best way of dealing with Fake News in Ghana.
This recommendation is problematic since literature points to the fact that
laws and regulations are not magic bullet to deal with fake news and
misinformation. Moreso such laws dealing with fake news could become tools to
harrass journalists and impinge on freedom of speech.
According to the Executive Director of
Penplusbytes and lead researcher, Kwami Ahiabenu II, “the issue of Fake news
and misinformation is here to stay; with the likelihood of it becoming a crisis
in due course. However, there is a dearth of knowledge about its manifestation
in Ghana and options available to deal with it. In light of this situation, we
are excited that we are able to contribute to the body of knowledge on this
subject while offering practical recommendations to deal with this problem.”
The “Media Perspectives On
Fake News In Ghana” study strongly
recommended a conscious and concerted effort by all stakeholders especially Government,
regulatory bodies such as the National Media Commission, National
Communications Authority, Academia, private sector and the Media houses to consolidate
their efforts to address the issue of fake news now and not wait till it gets
completely out of hand. This serves as a better approach of being proactive
rather than being restrictive with inefficient solutions when this crisis
becomes unmanageable.
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