SOSG, Fact Checking Media Firm, Organize A Two-Day Workshop For Islamic Clerics
SOSG, Fact Checking Media Firm, Organize A Two-Day Workshop For Islamic Clerics
A fact-checking media firm, Alkalanci, in collaboration with the Sokoto State Ministry of Religious Affairs, has organized a two-day workshop for Islamic clerics on building resilient communities against falsehood.
The workshop, with title, “Combatting False Narratives and Promoting Media Literary” and theme, “Building Resilient Communities Through Fact-Checking”, has in attendance highly respected clerics from across Sokoto State.
In his opening remarks, Sokoto State Commissioner for Religious Affairs, Associate Professor Jabir Maihula, appealed to Islamic clerics not only in the Sokoto but entire country to always make objectivity and truth their watchwords.
Truth, according to Prof. Maihula, brings out untainted intergrity, command respect and creates safer society for all.
Making presentation on, “Recognizing Biased and Manipulative Content: Sensationalism, Political Manipulation, Misinformation and Hate Speech”, Sokoto State Chairman, Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Comrade Usman Mohammed Binji submitted that information disorder has emerged as one of the most serious social challenges confronting the contemporary Nigerian society.
“The rapid expansion of social media, combined with declining trust in traditional gatekeepers of information, has created fertile ground for sensationalism, political manipulation, misinformation, disinformation, and hate speech,” he said.
On the likely negative consequences of the above, Binji said, “These phenomena have contributed to social tension, electoral violence, religious misunderstanding, and, in extreme cases, loss of lives”.
Binji, however, maintained that, the mosques and Islamic clerics can serve as effective centers of verification, guidance, and crisis prevention by promoting media literacy, ethical communication, and community resilience.
