Fake news merchants ‘distracting military’ in anti-Boko Haram war

The Centre for Social Justice, Equity and Transparency (CESJET) says certain individuals and groups are in the business of peddling falsehood and jeopardising the progress of the military in the fight against insurgency.

The Centre made this known in a special report to address the “impact of fake news on the war against terrorism and implication for national security”.

In the report signed by Isaac Ikpa, executive secretary of the organisation, the group frowned at those misleading the public.

According to the Centre, the “ use of social media and other media sources contributes in part to the premature categorisation of certain events and creating unnecessary hype.”

It said parts of its findings showed that “the use of language, labelling coupled with unsubstantiated or grossly inaccurate facts before an event can result in misinformation and heighten the public fear unnecessarily.”

It also recommended that: “Communicating accurate information and minimising the spread of rumours and conspiracy theories is vital to supporting the public during a time of crisis. News media outlets and social media platforms should play complementary roles in this process: news media must try to ensure that correct information is disseminated, and social media platforms should be more vigilant in preventing bots and propagandists from flooding online platforms with misinformation.

“The role of independent, nuanced and responsible journalism has never been more important—and yet there’s a growing distrust of mainstream media’s reporting on terror. This stems from Trumpian rhetoric and accusations of fake news, as well as from public perceptions of media bias when reporting on attacks.

“It is important for our security experts to remain vigilant. The reduction of misinformation and the accurate use of terrorist terminology relating to events, foiled plots and threats will not detract from the overall objective of public protection but rather will strengthen and focus this goal. Clear information and a common focus on ensuring accurate information is disseminated can be complemented by the accurate and honest acknowledgement of the real threat and the due recognition of the excellent job which the security industry has done to date to abate attacks and minimise the potential for any future events.

“Similarly, the general population, while rightfully expressing anguish and grief, must refrain from excessively circulating news in these times, given the possibility that even media channels do generate fake news. The presence of fact checkers, as third parties and separate teams within news channels, is important to ensure that such news is not peddled to an unsuspecting public. Ultimately, it must be noted then that fake news and rumours are frequently spread by various parties despite their intentions and that media and the general public must remain vigilant at this time. In this regard, politicians too have an added and urgent responsibility to prevent both rabble-rousing and circulation of rumours.

“States and non-state actors including terrorist groups use misleading information in order to try and influence values and the action of the populace. As such, protection against false information and hostile propaganda is to critically appraise the source.”