The chairman of Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists(NUJ), Edo state council, Mrs. Nefishetu Yakubu, has said the nation’s media industry is under vicious attack, declaring that the “gullible society is bearing the brunt”.
This was just as Yakubu noted that the enemies of journalists are promoting fake news to undermine the profession.
She stated this during the maiden mandatory training programme for members of the Correspondents Chapel in Benin City, Edo state, with the theme: “Fake news as a menace to Nigeria’s democracy”.
Yakubu explained that “the training became necessary because members of the chapel are critical stakeholders in the media industry and the need to guard against fake news”.
The chapel chair decried the “subtle participation” of some professional media practitioners in the promotion of fake news.
According to her, “the consequence is that a very gullible society like ours bears the brunt of the calamity.
“A nation that is fed with fake news cannot survive for too long and fake news will thrive in an atmosphere where information meant for the public is clothed in secrecy and the public is left in the dark. That is undemocratic”, she said.
She, however, opined that Nigeria’s democracy and national development is presently at the mercy of fake information dissemination from unauthorised sources and at real time.
One of the lecturers, Felix Oriakhi, said fake news serves the selfish and self-centered desires of the promoters.
Oriakhi, a lecturer in the department of Political Science, Federal University, Otuoke, spoke on the topic, “Democracy and national development in Nigeria: The damage fake news can do”.
