In an era marked by the increasing spread of extremist ideologies and the consequential rise of hate crimes across the globe, the role of journalists in countering these narratives has never been more crucial.
Recognizing this pressing need, journalists from the five regions in the north: Upper East, Upper West, North East, Northern, and Savannah, were taken through a capacity-building training to combat extremism using modern digital tools that will help them disseminate factual information to their listeners without inflaming passions.
The training, which was organized by Factspace West Africa with funding from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), sought to provide media professionals with valuable insights, tools, and strategies to effectively tackle the challenges posed by extremism.
The Tamale Field Officer of UNICEF in charge of the northern regions, Mr. Bhanu Pathak, in his presentation at the Modern City Hotel in Tamale, identified political, religious, social, and tribal issues as challenging factors fueling extremism in neighboring countries.
Hence, journalists should be more circumspect in reporting such issues in order not to create disaffection among their audiences.
Touching on some community members’ unwillingness to accommodate refugees, Mr. Bhanu made a passionate plea to community leaders to wholeheartedly accept refugees into their communities since they have no place to live.
He further encouraged community members who fear their land and property may one day be taken away by refugees to sign an undertaking with them [refugees] so that they [refugees] don’t rise up one day to claim ownership of what is not theirs.
The country director for Factspace Ghana, Mr. Rabiu Alhassan, admonished journalists to fact-check any circulating social media information before reporting to reduce the prevalence of fake news in the system.
Source: A1Radioonline.com|101.1Mhz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
