Media Veterans, Scholars Unite Against Fake News, Urge Reforms
Experts call for ethical reawakening, digital literacy, and institutional collaboration to combat misinformation
Godswill Michael
Media veterans, scholars, and regulators have united to confront the growing threat of fake news in Nigeria, calling for sweeping reforms, ethical journalism, and enhanced digital literacy to protect democracy and national cohesion.
This resolution emerged during a high-level forum titled “Strategic Deliberations on Mitigating Fake News and Unethical Journalism,” held on Tuesday, at the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Auditorium in Abuja.
The event was convened by the Association of Bloggers and Journalists Against Fake News, FCT Chapter, and brought together experts who examined the rising wave of misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation in Nigeria’s media landscape.
The gathering featured keynote addresses and paper presentations from leading figures, including Dr. Theophilus Abbah, former Managing Editor of Daily Trust (represented by Mr. Daniel Adaji), and Alhaji Danjuma Abdullahi of Press TV International, a former managerial officer at the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA).
It was chaired by Dr. Bayo Atoyebi, former Director-General of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) and one-time Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Press Council.
In his opening remarks, the FCT Coordinator of the Association, Comrade Obiora Orji described fake news as a product of decaying ethics and declining professionalism in modern journalism.
Citing the 1986 assassination of Dele Giwa as a reminder of journalism’s moral cost, he lamented that “professional journalism today faces existential threats of balance, accuracy, fairness, and objectivity.”
Orji warned that untrained content creators and “free content creators” now dominate the media space, spreading “offensive bile in sights and sounds.”
He urged collaboration among bloggers, journalists, and regulatory bodies such as the NBC, the Nigerian Press Council (NPC), and the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), as well as government agencies like the NHRC, National Orientation Agency (NOA), and the Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation. “Today’s sacrifice will never be taken for granted,” he said, commending participants for defending truth and professionalism in the media space.
Declaring the event open, Atoyebi praised the organisers but cautioned that achieving professional recognition would not be easy.
He emphasised that citizen journalists must adhere to the same ethical standards guiding conventional media, noting that “those citizens who have the privilege of having a phone and post any information, whether true or false, on social media and call themselves journalists, are not journalists.”
Quoting Professor Ralph Akinfeleye, he added that much of what happens online is “not journalism, but mere broadcasting without regulation.”
Atoyebi urged digital content creators to align with regulators. “The Nigerian Press Council, the NBC, and the Nigerian Communications Commission have the purview of anyone who uses the Internet to transmit information. By the time you associate with these three key institutions, your challenge will be half surmounted,” he stated.
Delivering the keynote address on behalf of Dr. Abbah, Adaji unpacked the concept of information disorder — encompassing misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation — describing it as “an infodemic,” a term adopted by the United Nations to denote the epidemic of false information spreading globally. Abbah explained that the digital era has triggered information overload, making it difficult for people to “distinguish fact from fiction.”
He observed that fake news creators exploit human emotions and biases to distort public perception.
“Information disorder thrives on emotion and bias,” he stated. “People often believe falsehoods because they confirm existing prejudices or come from sources they already trust.”
He outlined the categories of disinformation, including fabricated content, manipulated visuals, false context, and conspiracy theories, noting that each undermines democratic accountability.
“Deepfakes,” he warned, “pose one of the gravest threats to journalism because they can make people appear to say or do things they never did.” His paper concluded that “education and awareness are the strongest tools for citizens to resist manipulation.”
Abdullahi, in his presentation titled “Ethics of Reporting in the Digital Age: Can Journalists and Bloggers Balance Free Speech with Responsibility?”, stressed that accuracy, fairness, and objectivity remain the soul of journalism.
“When in doubt, leave out,” he said, quoting Pulitzer, urging journalists to report “clearly so they will appreciate it, picturesquely so they will remember it, and above all accurately so they will be guided by its light.”
He highlighted the erosion of journalistic standards due to political influence, commercial pressures, and the influx of unregulated citizen reporters. “Unlimited access to transmit uncensored material by untrained content creators raises very serious social and security issues,” he warned.
While acknowledging the constitutional guarantee of free speech under Section 39 of the 1999 Constitution, Abdullahi cautioned that “no responsible government will allow unrestricted flow of damaging information capable of threatening national security, public safety, or public order.”
He also referenced the Cybercrimes Act 2025 as a necessary, though controversial, framework for curbing online abuses. “Be cautious and be professional,” he advised. “The government can get you whenever it wants to get you.”
The forum ended with a collective agreement that fake news and unethical journalism pose existential threats to Nigeria’s democracy, unity, and peace. Participants resolved that the fight against misinformation must focus on ethical reawakening, media literacy, and collaboration among journalists, regulators, and citizens — not censorship.
As one participant aptly summed it up, “The war against fake news is not just a media fight — it is a fight for the soul of our democracy.”
Fake news, often defined as deliberately fabricated information disguised as authentic journalism, has become a major challenge in Nigeria’s democratic and social development. The spread of misinformation gained traction during the 2015, 2019 and 2023 general elections, where manipulated photos, doctored videos, and false political claims circulated widely on social media.
Research by institutions such as the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) and Africa Check has shown that fake news in Nigeria often exploits ethnic, religious, and political divides, fueling hate speech, electoral violence, and public distrust in institutions.
The Federal Government, in response, introduced measures such as the National Orientation Agency’s (NOA) “Fake News and Hate Speech” campaign and the 2025 Cybercrimes Act, which criminalises online falsehoods that threaten national security or incite violence. However, critics argue that regulation must balance security interests with freedom of expression, warning against the misuse of such laws to silence dissent.
Amid this tension, experts insist that the path forward lies in ethical reform, digital literacy, and responsible journalism, not suppression.
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