To verify fallacy is almost as difficult as upholding the facts. The penetration of fake news and malicious statements has evaded media scrutiny such that the hardship makes it almost impossible to believe every piece of information released from their stable. It is even more difficult with political invasion in most media houses.
Affiliates of some of these political parties take turns to release propaganda for the unsuspected masses to react to. These fallible stories have become penchants that most individuals are unaware of the reality. The pendulum is swinging so fast that we almost do not know the time and season to acknowledge.
Stakeholders are almost complicit because they are as quiet as not being involved: the essence of publicity is to make the illusion clear without sentiments. However, the level of influence politics now has on our publishing system is gradually increasing to the point of damnation. The danger is as strong as libelous speculation that the masses may find it difficult to believe the truth. The advent of social media, justice, and reforms has created a culture that will make people feel unsafe to believe the media. The reason will be that the news published will always speak the mind of an affiliate to the present government. Whether the relationship is cordial or not, the information may be biased.
There have been serious allegations of abuse of the public belief in the system through journalism. A veteran journalist may not have built institutions void of tyranny or that the civilisation degraded the standard. Movements of funds around the corridors of publication have been said to be true with some unscrupulous media men and women. They would peddle fake information and stories and will continue to emphasise on these issues until the masses are bought over. Investigative journalism to unearth the facts is almost moribund. This act of deception may not be delectable to our democracy and the people’s interest in the system.
If a country must thrive, the media system should cultivate pure and core journalism. If the media must know, the populace is confused at what you churn out as facts. The system may permit an oath of secrecy for some national interest in information but not to mislead the public with lies. If the government or the constitution is making a case secret, the course should be left at that and not a reverse intellectual directive. A more productive economy may have to learn from the past and realise that fake news can destroy what we plan to preserve as a nation.
Incongruent beliefs in culture and tradition have taken this situation a step further: to a distance far from beckoning on peace and stability. Information may be maligned between a group of people in the society where the leaders’ mode of dissemination is almost inappropriate and the followers may pick the wrong deductions from the prickled information. It becomes more serious when the group begins to react based on the information at their disposal. Some disgruntled individuals may act so rashly based on their swift response to the wrong information. Care must be taken to verify the correct information before actions are taken.
To verify may be as dangerous as peddling the wrong information. The members of the press may have the ability to provide information but should also raise awareness on how best to check out the authenticity of the data provided. Integrity with some media houses will make the people trust the facts coming out from same. On-Air Personalities (OAPs) should equally endeavour to distinguish themselves from those that are partisans. Partisanship will brew contempt with every word uttered by any person who has the privilege to influence the public.
Due diligence and transparency will always prevail over any attempt to manipulate the system. Humans are inevitably political but the interest of the system in tandem with objectivity would likely lead to the fairness of your responsibilities. The infiltration of rumours that will rise to become reality is a result of false assumptions made by people who are just too lazy to verify. If the events mean so much to us, we will try to establish the truth surrounding the news. If what the information is suggesting is something to go by, the response will probably be to confirm the source and affirm the facts.
There are damages and unprecedented destruction that have been inflicted by this unverified evidence that has been proven by others to be false information. The libel may go as far as the author still finds a place of covering from the light of truth. If such unverified claims are left at that, others may join the bandwagon and the fallacy may appear as the truth but it can never be confirmed. Some outcomes of these false claims are found in some warring countries as the reasons for some of these altercations are founded in the wrong dissemination of beliefs and practices.
All image makers at the corridor of power should tread softly and not be ridden by the affluence of position, as this may trigger the anger of the people when you report favouring your interest. Employing special advisers and personal aids to redeem images of your past should require diligence and adequate fact-finding that may appeal to the current situation of the system. There is a seat for power and there is a seat for community service. If your position is to make the people believe in your dreams and aspirations, make your position be among your people with proper news that wouldn’t require manipulations. Credibility is found in genuine and truthful statements which will preach peace.
Olusegun Fashakin, a seasoned educator and Fellow of Fulbright Teaching Excellence and Achievement, write him via olusegunfashakin@gmail.com
