With the increasing access to smartphones, Internet data and social networking sites, fake news, misinformation and disinformation remain key disruptors in sustainable information creation and sharing ecosystem across the world. From the global north to the global south, individuals, organisations and governments are battling the menace. In the course of finding sustainable solutions to the problem, stakeholders in various political and non-political institutions have developed and still working on the right approaches and strategies for taming the trends of FMD.
From fact-checking spread FMD to training of information creators and individuals, a number of organisations in West Africa have done well when one looks at the number of fact-checked stories and trainings held between 2015 and 2021, our analyst notes. Some individuals who believe that providing solutions to the menace should not be the sole responsibility of the practitioners in the media industry and political leaders have initiated and executed various programmes. Some people and organisations have written reports and popular articles, educating people on the danger and cost of FMD.
In West Africa being worried about FMD does not mean being ready for sustainable solutions. This was part of the outcomes of the ongoing FMD research in the sub-region earlier reported by our analyst. Despite believing existence of FMD, analysis of the views of hundreds of West Africans who participated in the research indicates that they are not ready for media literacy courses or training.
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Our analyst points out that this is really surprising when one considers the low severity of the participants who believe that they know the difference between truthful information and false one. This is also applicable to citizens’ ability to separate facts from opinions. Our analysis largely indicates that female citizens are finding it somewhat easy to separate facts from opinions and truthful information from false information, while it is being somewhat difficult for male citizens.
Exhibit 1: West Africans’ Recognition of Truthful Information and Facts
In other research, being carried out by our analyst in conjunction with other researchers in Nigeria, Russia and other countries in Europe, when Nigeria consumed and shared fake security and political news on Facebook and Twitter, they are not conscious of national unity. In terms of velocity [time of engaging with fake news, misinformation and disinformation], analysis reveals that Nigerians reacted to fake news that conformed with their readiness to spread information that could cause chaos and lead to disunity among ethnic groups, individuals and organisations.
As political leaders and non-governmental institutions, including individuals continue finding solutions to the menace, our analyst states that there is a need to consider critical thinking literacy as part of civic education subjects in primary and secondary schools. In higher education institutions [HEIs], stakeholders also need to consider it in the general studies courses. From the insights, it is obvious that West Africans need to be equipped with analysis, interpretation, inference, explanation, self-regulation, open-mindedness and problem-solving skills. These will help them in being conscious of what they read, watch, listen to and share.
Teaching critical thinking literacy, according to a number of experts in sociology and psychology, requires consideration of specific and general contexts in which FMD is being spread. Instead of teaching people the identified skills using general approach, tutors or trainers should take a critical look at the format of FMD. According to our analyst, if the FMD is mostly political or economic, teaching critical thinking in the context(s) requires specific consideration of the information in relation to the manifest and latent features that resonated with the political or economic environment of the people who spread the identified FMD.