Media practitioners across West Africa have been urged to strengthen professional relationships to improve collaboration, enhance communication, combat disinformation and support regional development.
Ms Maria Sanchez, Coordinator, Foundation for the Internationalisation of Public Administrations (FIAP), made the call on Tuesday in Lagos at a capacity-building workshop for journalists on countering misinformation, disinformation and malinformation.
The workshop was organised by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in collaboration with FIAP, a Spanish public-sector organisation that supports improved public systems and democratic governance globally.
Sanchez stressed the importance of grassroots engagement, describing the media and civil society organisations as critical links between government institutions and citizens.
She said their roles were particularly important in communities outside national capitals, where access to government information and public institutions could be limited.
Also speaking, Ms Olafusi Ebunoluwa, Editor of CableCheck, urged journalists to adopt issue-based reporting and use digital tools responsibly.
Ebunoluwa advised journalists to scrutinise claims, sources, websites, photographs, videos and social media content before publication.
She said journalists should approach information with healthy suspicion and assess whether a claim required fact-checking based on its potential impact on the public.
The media expert expressed concern over the growing use of deepfakes, synthetic media and AI-generated images, audio and videos to deceive audiences.
She urged journalists to strengthen their digital verification skills to identify manipulated and fabricated content.
Ebunoluwa also advised journalists to use artificial intelligence as an assistant rather than a replacement for professional judgement.
According to her, journalists must retain editorial control, exercise sound judgement and ensure that technology does not compromise accuracy, credibility and professional ethics.
She said responsible journalism remained essential to protecting the public from false and misleading information, particularly in the digital age.
