The Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Press Council, Dr. Dili Ezughah, has stressed the importance of fact-checking in today’s information management.

Dr. Ezughah, who was interacting with some editors in Abuja, said the menace of fake news, misinformation, disinformation and even blackmail journalism could only be contained through fact-checking.

The Executive Secretary observed that the new media had made reporting an all comers affair, as anyone with their handsets could send out any information, without regards for objectivity, accuracy, fairness, or balance.

He also said Artificial Intelligence (AI) could be used to generate falsehood and spread misinformation.

“Those who are not aware take it as the truth and consequently take decisions that harm people’s reputation”, he lamented.

Dr. Ezughah argued that the era of taking everything published in the media as true, or saying that pictures could not lie, was gone, as some pictures were only tissues of lies these days.

He observed that this unfortunate trend in information dissemination called for a robust and adequately empowered Press Council to sanitize the whole gamut of information management system.

“It’s against this backdrop that the Nigerian Press Council is developing a fact-checking app to contain misinformation and disinformation on the social media”, the Executive Secretary disclosed.