By Tunde Omisola
Online publishers have been urged to ensure that their news items are verifiable, true and fair to all concerned.
The call was made by discussants at the Online Publishers Association of Nigeria (OPAN ) Annual New Media Conference held in Lagos on Tuesday.
In her submission at the conference sponsored by Aiteo, Adesuwa Onyenlkwe, talk show host on Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) noted that not all online publishers are journalists
Given the amorphous nature of the cyber space, she observed that it is easy to publish virtually anything without verifying it.
“People want to share virtually everything they can without verifying its authenticity and value, because they want to be the first to disseminate the news,” she said.
Publisher, Premium Times, Dapo Olorunyomi said due to the decline in volume of patronage, ethics of the profession is not upheld by many publishers.
Bolaji Abdullai, veteran journalist, a former Minister and National Spokesperson, All Progressives Congress (APC) also said politicians do not regard many news stories published by journalists because they have no trust in them.
According to him, the effect of fake news reporting is loss of credibility of both the media and writer, reduction in readership and ultimately a loss or decline in revenue for the media.
Bukky- Karibi Whyte, founder the Bobby Taylor, a public relations firm, advised Online media publishers to have a niche area of coverage for which they are known for, rather than publishing about everything, to make it easy for advertising agencies to recognise and patronise them.
