A MEDIA scholar, Dr Tope Ojeme has appealed to African Artificial Intelligence (AI) developers to create media solution soft wares that detect misinformation and empower citizens to hold leaders accountable.
Delivering a keynote paper titled, “Beyond debunking: Building a Culture of Media Integrity in Africa’s Next Century,” at the closing ceremony of the second quarter courses of the West Africa Broadcast Media Academy (WABMA) and the celebration of the hundredth edition of its News Debunker Series, in Abuja on Thursday, Ojeme said that there was the urgent need to tackle misinformation and unethical media practices on the continent.
“We must empower African developers, engineers, and creators to build AI-driven fact-checking plugins for newsrooms, blockchain-based archives to protect journalistic work-tampering and open-data platforms that allow citizens to hold leaders accountable,” said the Baze University teacher.
He said that if the current trend of misinformation was not checked, there would be proliferation of dangerous myths that outstrip truth and science, adding “Fake cures go viral. Conspiracy theories take root in classrooms.
“Elections are swayed by bots. And public trust — the bedrock of any democratic society is eroded, pixel by pixel”.
He argued that although technology has spun the misinformation phenomenon, it also holds the power to protect truth through algorithms designed to prioritiseverified information sources, detect fakes and distortions faster that humans.
Ojeme warned that while many African countries grapple with development challenges, the fast-paced spread of misinformation and the use of deep fakes, doctored videos underscores the need to build systems of truth such as “ecosystems of integrity, legal protection for truth-telling journalists and media practitioners, and creating truth desks in media outfits” in the age of noise where the loudest microphones gain attention, speed trumps sense and volume drowns out value.
Rector of WABMA, Dr Ken Ike Okere, who was represented by Dean of Studies, Felix Okoro, said that the academy’s courses go beyond training media professionals to shaping media-enthusiastic citizens tounderstand the power and responsibilities of media communication.
Certificates were presented to successful participants the academy’s 2025 second quarter media and communication certification courses, while cash awards were announced for the first, second and third best entries in the winners of DebunkIt Challenge in commemoration of the 100th edition of the WABMA Fake News Debunker, which started running since April 2022.
Competitors in the online competition were assessed on a one-minute fact-checking video production debunking any widespread health, political, religious, gender myth or misinformation in West Africa.
