Dr. Aurelia Ayisi, a Lecturer in the Communication Studies Department at the University of Ghana, has raised serious concerns about the growing prevalence of misinformation and disinformation in Ghana, particularly during the election season.
Speaking at Africa Media Bureau’s Media Executives Breakfast Meeting, on Thursday, November 28 at the Coconut Groove Hotel in Accra, Dr. Ayisi highlighted the alarming trend of misusing news cards from reputable media organizations to spread false information.
She emphasized that the surge in misleading content has made it increasingly difficult to distinguish truth from falsehood. Dr. Ayisi’s research reveals a significant gap between information literacy and digital literacy, leaving many individuals susceptible to accepting inaccurate information without scrutiny.
She called on media organizations to prioritize verifying the accuracy of information before sharing it with the public, stressing their critical role in combating the spread of misinformation.
“All over social media, you will see news cards of a credible media house, but some political actors have taken the media cards and have re-written what they want on them. If you are not media and information literate you will take it for it. And so it brings into question the credibility of what we have always known as the truth.
“And again the idea about how fast or how quickly should we be releasing news, right? Journalism has also prioritised the idea of pushing news first, breaking the news. But because of the ecosystem we find ourselves in, getting it right first has become more paramount, yes there are fact checkers who are in the ecosystem who are trying to make sure that the system is sanitised.
“Although the truth is there, it’s buried by an avalanche of misinformation/disinformation and malformation.”
She proposed more practical approaches to system sanitation.
“It has made journalism extremely difficult and it now requires a stakeholder approach where policymakers and journalists can come together to work from different angles so that we are more progressive efforts that we are making to sanitise and make sure that the information that we are getting is credible.”
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