Fawaz Adebisi & Taiwo Adeyemo
The Platform Times Investigative Journalism Foundation has organized a training on fact-checking and election reporting, as about a dozen of MAPOLY students were selected to attend the training.
The foundation held the training on Friday, at Platform Times office, Kay Plaza, Oke ilewo, Abeokuta, Ogun State.
The training had in attendance, Daud Olatunji; Ogun state Punch Correspondent, Ifedayo Ogunyemi; Nigerian Tribune Senior Reporter, Lekan Otunfodunrin; Executive Director Media Career Development Network, who were the program facilitators.
It also had in attendance students from other institutions in Ogun State.
Mr. Otunfodunrin, one of the facilitators discussed his journey into the world of journalism, highlighting the importance and challenges in the field of journalism.
He recounted his experience of the practice of journalism before the advent of the internet and how tedious it was back then to practice the profession.
He, therefore, encouraged young journalists to maximize and take advantage of the opportunities the new medium has brought to them.
Mr. Olatunji, who anchored the election reporting segment narrated his professional experience of being a journalist for over 12 years, reporting elections and the tactics he employed while in the field.
He said, "as a journalist, you must know what is expected of you during the pre-election, Election, and the post-election period, the do’s and don’t of election reporting, ethics of reporting election, and reference to past elections."
He also explained how journalism is a powerful profession, which could make or mar the success of a country while making references to the 2007, 2011, 2015, and 2019 general elections, stating their significance in the history of Nigeria.
Similarly, Mr. Ogunyemi who talked about how to fact-check news items for verification and to avoid errors gave out resources that could help facilitate fact-checking processes.
He also explained the history and what gave birth to investigative reporting, the process of investigation and steps (who, what, and how), what can be investigated,
He further explained how and ways a reporter can detect fake stories and also the way they can be examined.
During his lecture, he mentioned some organizations that can help in providing information during an investigation such as the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), UNICEF, ECOWAS, etc
He, therefore, recommended Software like INVID, YouTube data viewer, reverse image search, and word forensics to help journalists In fact-checking.
The Acting Director of the PTIJF, Sodiq Ojuroungbe appreciated the participants and facilitators for showing up at the training.
