Media experts lament popularity of fake news

Media experts have lamented the increasing trend of fake news because of the adverse effects it would eventually have on journalists and media houses.

Speaking at the 2018 edition of the annual Gold Medal Lecture of the Public Relations Consultants Association of Nigeria (PRCAN) in Lagos, they attributed the increasing trend to social media.

Emevwo Biakolo, pioneer dean of the School of Media and Communications, Pan Atlantic University, Lagos, made this call while delivering a paper on ‘Communicating Effectively in the Era of Fake News, Alternative Facts and Post-Truth’.

“With the growing increase of online and social media platforms acceptance, fake news has increased as everybody with a phone can be a reporter, editor and publisher all at the same time without the burden of social responsibility, standards or ethics,” Biakolo said.

“What the trained journalist considers the truth might be his own truth as a journalist, while the bearer of the fake news who is not trained might consider his own version of the truth as the real truth while he considers the trained journalist’s own version as the alternative truth. It’s about perspective and power dynamics.”

Frank Aigbogun, publisher of the BusinessDay newspapers, said: “In the past journalism was treated like an orphan, in the sense that it was seen like something incapable of taking care of itself and as a result, the burden of catering for journalism was placed on advertising. For journalism to be respected, it will have to pay for itself, which means it must stand on its own and not rely on advertising.”