FactSpace West Africa Empowers Journalists with Fact-Checking Tools for Election Integrity.

Accra: Selected journalists from the Ashanti, Bono, Ahafo Bono East, and Western North Regions have benefitted from a day's training on media integrity and fact-checking held at Fumesua in the Ejisu Municipality. Organised by FactSpace West Africa in collaboration with the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), the training aimed to equip participants with digital tools and skills to identify, verify, and debunk election-related misinformation, thereby promoting accurate reporting and informed public discourse. The overarching goal was to empower journalists to combat misinformation and disinformation to ensure free, fair, and transparent elections.According to Ghana News Agency, participants were taken through topics such as fact-checking fundamentals, identifying AI-generated and manipulated content, the role of journalists in combating election misinformation, and cybersecurity and online safety. Mr. Rabiu Alhassan, Executive Director of FactSpace West Africa, emphasized the importance of e quipping participants with at least five to ten fact-checking tools. "Our target is to have mainstream journalists working in their newsroom leave our training programs with a skillset to be able to use between five and ten digital tools to verify information online," he stated.Mr. Alhassan further explained that FactSpace West Africa looks forward to collaborating closely with journalists to identify viral claims on social media and in offline and local areas, working collaboratively to verify information. He highlighted the importance of publishing fact-checked content in local languages as part of efforts to sanitize the information ecosystem, especially with the tense nature of the upcoming election. Journalists must be adept at verifying information to prevent the weaponization of misinformation in mainstream media.He also noted that social media had become a major tool for connectivity, with many newsrooms relying on it for breaking news. This underscores the need to build the capacity of journalist s to use basic digital tools to verify information encountered on social media. Mr. Alhassan pointed out that misinformation often thrived on information gaps, urging official entities to promptly release accurate information to prevent unauthorized individuals from polluting the information ecosystem with false data.Madam Sharon Willis Brown-Acquah, Programmes Officer at CDD-Ghana, emphasized the crucial role of traditional media as a key source of information for many citizens. She stressed that any information disseminated by the media must be accurate and verified, noting that misleading narratives had significantly influenced voter perception and behavior in previous elections, often leading to increased polarization and conflicts. "Fact-checking is very crucial not only for maintaining the integrity of news reporting but also for fostering public trust in the media, especially during elections," she pointed out.