HARARE, May 21 (NewsDayLive)- The Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF) has expressed concern over the rising number of unverified stories published by journalists capitalising on the introduction of social media platforms.
The birth of social media has spawned competition for breaking stories among scribes, forcing rumour mongers masquerading as journalists to rush into publishing without verifying their facts.
Speaking during a factchecking training session in Harare, FactCheckZw director Lifaqane Nare implored journalists to verify information publication so as to guard against spreading misinformation.
"What separates a journalists and a rumour monger is the ability to verify information they share.
“Everyone can get information but it takes a journalists to get facts. If you do not conduct research and verify the information you disseminate, you are not a journalist but a reporter", Nare said.
The training focused on the understanding of the landscape of misinformation, and fact checking tools and the participants did exercises on verification tools and shared the challenges they encountered during the exercise.
Fungisai Sithole from FNF highlighted the need for journalists to defend the truth.
" With the high rate of misinformation, disinformation and propaganda shared on digital platforms, journalists have a role to play in the fight against information disorders.
“Journalists have a role to defend the truth and protect democracy", Sithole said.
One of the participants Farai Magada, a broadcaster highlighted that the factchecking training helped her understand the importance of checking facts before sharing stories.
