The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has urged journalists across the region to intensify efforts to counter electoral disinformation and promote credible information through responsible reporting.
The ECOWAS Director of Communication, Mr Joel Ahofodji, made the call on Tuesday at a two-day capacity-building workshop for journalists in Lagos.
Represented by Mr Francis Chukwu-Emeka of the Communication Directorate, Ahofodji said credible information was critical to strengthening democracy, public trust, peace and security in West Africa.
He said misinformation, disinformation and manipulated digital content were increasingly threatening democratic institutions and public confidence, particularly during elections.
According to him, the emergence of generative artificial intelligence has made it easier to produce convincing fake images, videos, audio recordings and narratives capable of misleading the public.
Ahofodji said ECOWAS was strengthening its response through its disinformation working group, capacity-building programmes and national misinformation response mechanisms.
He said the commission had trained more than 500 journalists across 12 member states in fact-checking, open-source intelligence, digital verification and media literacy.
The ECOWAS communication director urged journalists to make verification an uncompromising professional standard, especially when reporting elections, political transitions and security developments.
He also stressed the importance of collaboration among journalists, fact-checkers, Wikipedia editors and information integrity practitioners in strengthening democracy, peace and regional stability.
The workshop was held under the theme, “Strengthening Electoral Information Integrity through Responsible Journalism, Fact-Checking and Wikipedia.”
It was organised by ECOWAS in collaboration with the Foundation for the Internationalisation of Public Administrations (FIAP), a Spanish public-sector organisation working to strengthen public systems and democratic governance globally.
