CAMP Says Fake News, Misinformation, Infodemics Hindering Fight Against Covid-19


By Raymond Dingana

The national president of the Cameroon Association of Media Professionals CAMP, Solomon Agborem says, fake news, misinformation, and infordemics are on the neck of the fight against the covid-19 pandemic.

He explains that, fake news is information which is not true that is crafted to appear real, misinformation is information that is not accurate and deliberately intended to deceive and infordemics is toomuch information that is partening to a particular subject that has to do with health.

He furthers that, if all these are put together, it will be difficult for the population to be informed appropriately.

Solomon Agborem was speaking in Bamenda after a one day work shop aimed at arming media men and women with the necessary tools and skills needed to fact check Covid-19 related information,



Participants At The Work Shop Organized By CAMP in Bamenda



"Misinformation, fake news and infodemics all play a big role to deter the population from adhering to positive actions that can prevent them from contracting the virus and also bar the way to covid-19," he indicated.
Agborem said, when people are not able to have the right information, they are manipulated thereby changing the way they would have wanted to react against the virus.

He furthered that, the training workshop was also aimed at impacting those he described as "mid term carrier journalists" with the skills to be able to identify fake news and misinformation and also how to counteract infodemics.



CAMP Nation President, Agborem Solomon Addressing Participant At The Workshop In Bamenda


This he said will empower them to be able to feed the public with the right information to protect themselves from being infected thereby haulting the spreed of the pandemic.
 
As indicated by the main facilitator of the day, Pedmia Shatu Tita, before going out to fact check a story, it is very important to remove  the cap of emotions else the fact checker may end up being fact checked.

She said stories to be fact checked should be those that are pregnant with information that can harm the community, but stories that have a direct impact on the society whether positive or nagative. 
"We could affirm a claim and give details," Pedmia added.

She also introduced TinEye, RevEye Reverse Image Search among others as some of the tools that can be used to fact check information.



Main Facilitator At The Workshop, Pedmia Shatu Tita Arming Participants On Fact Checking Tools




Worth noting is the fact that, the one day workshop organized in Bamenda by the Cameroon Association of Media Professionals was done  with the assistance of the European Union and UNESCO.


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