Fake News,Hate Speech And the roles of the new media in Information Dissemination

  

Nigeria is experiencing tense and difficult times – multiple conflicts, heightened political horse-trading, war against systemic and widespread corruption, debilitating poverty, weak institutions, threats of secession, etc. despite that, these are also times of free flow of information courtesy of the revolution in information and communication technologies (ICT) that have tremendously democratized and sim-plified access and dissemination of information across boundaries and in real time.

Furthermore, it is during these times that Nigeria, like many other countries, is battling with the rise in populism politics, radicalization, extremism, terrorism, drug and human trafficking, ethnic nationalism, hate and dangerous speech, fake news and willful rewriting of the country’s history, among others. Indeed, these are critical times for the media, the electoral process and the country.

 There is a wider lack of understanding of the concept of fake news and hate speech despite recent scandals (e.g., those involving the 2016 election that brought the United States’ President, Donald Trump to power), of how media platforms (especially internet media or social media, aid the spread of fake news and hate speech, and what steps could or should be taken to make political communication and advertising accountable, by political parties and actors . 

The worst part of the whole thing is that the current breed of ‘yellow journalism’ and ‘character assassination’ known as ‘fake news’ and ‘hate speech’ respectively are largely modern technology-dependent (e.g., social media platforms and the internet) than traditional technologies such as radio, Tv, newspaper or magazine.

Moreover, among the traditional media outlets that peddle fake news and hate speech, broadcast media (radio and Tv) are worse at it because of the media’s strategic position and influential status in the lives of ordinary Nigerians. Broadcasting/publishing fake news can confer legitimacy. This has led to growing waves of concern about the shape of and any gaps in the current technology use regulatory regime vis-à-vis the rising tides of online fake news and hate speech bedeviling political democratic processes even in mighty nations such as the United Sates (US), especially regarding technology developers such as Facebook and Google companies (because large chunks of fake news are peddled online nowadays),

Those concerns could have real consequences for Nigeria’s democratic process, more so (as at the time of this writing), with the 2019 elections just weeks ahead.Fake news, which is often accompanied with hate speech not only has the capability to generate specific items of misleading information, it also has the capacity to undermine faith and sincerity in political messaging in general thus, leading to hiccups in Nigeria’s democratic develop-ment and sustainability. 

 These platforms offer new ways for citizens to engage in political and electoral processes. 

 However, some Nigerians are fearful that, if not used responsibly, these platforms could become vehicles for disinformation and hate speech. disinformation (sometimes called fake news) is the deliberate generation and dissemination of false information to manipulate public opinion and perceptions 

The spread of fake news hate speech and utter provocation to violence and social destabilization have never been so easy to be made. Although fake news can be disseminated via any type of medium, the recent category of fake news (e.g., e-mails, web portals and social media), rather than the traditional media.

 However, this is without bias to the fact that fake news can also actively spread over the broadcast media (radio and Tv) especially in the less-technologically developed nations.

The term ‘fake news’, may sound new, but it is not new. Being an emerging field of research, there is no single standard definition of fake news.

 However, the term can simply be defined as “false, often sensational, information disseminated under the guise of news reporting.

 An incident occurred in the 18th century that changed news reporting forever. This was the birth of ‘fake news’, globally, the issue of fake news has become a popular concern because of its unprecedented impact in the 2016 US presidential campaign and Brexit referendum.

 “Talking the issues of fake news are of fundamental importance to democracy. The greatest enemy of democracy is disinformation, which is even worse than a pure lack of information

Fake news is false information, and often comprises photos or videos purposefully created and spread to confuse or misinform and manipulate or deceive others. 

Fake news also involves satire or parody, which means no harm but can fool people (BBC News,)

 Fake news is often embellished, sensationalized and made alarmingly attractive by its peddlers.

 Fake news can be difficult to detect except through critical examination of embedded evaluative, judgmental, or emotive words mostly designed to capture and retain the attention of listeners or readers in an uncommon way Fake news is subtly factually incorrect with most often unverifiable sources or claims. 

It often violates contextual and multicultural realities 

Hate Speech has been defined as “any speech act aimed at inciting the audience to denigrate other people on the basis of ethnicity, religion, gender, geography and other socially conceived parameter or discriminate feature for the purpose of marginalizing them or placing them at some disadvantage that is contrary to the provisions of the universal declaration on human rights, international covenants on rights of the people and the Nigerian Constitution”.

 However, hate speech does not include joking relations that exist in some communities or ethnic/linguistic groups across the country that historically serve as conflict resolution mechanism, e.g., such traditional ethnic banters exist between Fulani and Kanuri ethnic groups in the north-east of the country and between the Hausa people of Kano and their counterparts of Zaria. 

There is a rising wave of discourses that embody hate and dangerous speech about the country in the social media with gradual permeation in the print and broadcast media. Because of the reach, perception and potential of provoking reactions almost instantaneously, hate, fake and dangerous speech in the mass media can be hazardous in a polarized and diverse Nigeria,some key factors of hate speech as follows:

 Insulting others because of their religion.

  Abusing others because of their ethnic or linguistic affiliations.

Expressing contempt against others because of their places of origin.

  Disparaging or intimidating women or girls because of their gender, acts capable of leading to gender-based violence.

 Condoning discriminatory assertions against group(s) of people.

 Abusing or desecrating symbols of cultural or religious significance

In view of the preceding discourse, Nigeria appears to be getting scot-free get so much as it continues to toy with dangerous disasters of fake news and hate speech, especially given the fragile social settings, loose democratic culture, poverty, illiteracy, increasing urban slums, inflation, weak economy, intolerance and high tendencies for disunity among the peoples of the country .

 Nigeria needs to rise to the pernicious dangers of fake news and hate speech right now, or else it will consume the nation and its nascent democracy. In principle, technology always has a way of clearing up its own mess.

The following steps can help toward curbing the spread of fake news in the society.

Check sources: encourage people and stations to fall back on most trusted news brands they could rely on for their news.

  Look at multiple sources

Use verification tools

Check metadata 

Think before broadcasting/publishing

Media literacy: Increase the standard of education and media literacy particularly for young people on what is trustworthy and what is fake.

 As people continuously develop, share and promote contents that emphasize those fault lines, it would be nearly impossible to form a sense of national cohesion for the country.

NNADI COLLINS CHINECHEREM

Geophysics 

OS/20B/1932