The Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), Ebonyi State Chapter, has empowered female journalists in the state with digital fact-checking skills aimed at strengthening ethical journalism and combating the growing menace of disinformation, misinformation and hate speech.
The capacity-building workshop, organised in collaboration with the Manager of News, Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Abakaliki, Mrs. Fortunate Ozo, was held at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Press Centre in Abakaliki.
The training focused on equipping women journalists with practical tools and techniques for verifying information and producing accurate, balanced and credible reports in an era of rapidly evolving digital communication.
Speaking during the workshop, Mrs. Ozo said the initiative became necessary due to the increasing migration of news and information to digital platforms, a trend she said has heightened the need for journalists to continuously improve their professional competence.
She urged female journalists to embrace lifelong learning and remain committed to the core values of journalism by producing truthful news reports and responsible social media content.
"As female journalists, we need to step up our game. We must continue to produce truthful news reports and responsible social media content because information is now moving rapidly to digital platforms. That is why I deemed it necessary to share knowledge with my colleagues and ensure they are up to date with current journalism practices," she said.
Ozo explained that the workshop was organised in partnership with NAWOJ after the state Chairperson, Ms. Nkechinyere Oginyi, welcomed the proposal to build the capacity of women journalists across the state.
She described misinformation, disinformation, fake news and hate speech as major threats to public trust, democracy and peaceful coexistence, stressing that journalists have a responsibility to uphold truth, fairness and objectivity regardless of personal or institutional interests.
"I want to challenge my fellow journalists in Ebonyi State to embrace the principle of truth. Objectivity should come above whatever we stand to gain. The truth is the truth; it is not relative and cannot be watered down. When we tell ourselves the truth, we can also tell society the truth about what is happening," she added.
As part of the practical session, the NTA News Manager introduced participants to digital verification tools, including Google Lens for reverse image searches, TinEye and other fact-checking platforms designed to help journalists authenticate online content before publication.
She assured participants that additional advanced training sessions would be organised to further strengthen their capacity in digital journalism and information verification.
In her remarks, the Chairperson of NAWOJ, Ebonyi State Chapter, Ms. Nkechinyere Oginyi, commended Mrs. Ozo for facilitating the workshop and for her commitment to improving professional standards among women journalists in the state.
Oginyi described the training as timely in view of the growing spread of false information and hate speech across digital platforms and urged participants to put the knowledge acquired into practice in their daily news gathering, reporting and programme production.
She reaffirmed the association's commitment to promoting ethical journalism and encouraged members to remain steadfast in upholding accuracy, fairness and professionalism in the discharge of their duties.
