By Foday Moriba Conteh
The Minister of Information and Communications, Mohamed Rahman Swaray, has on Tuesday 13th July, 2021 officially launched the Dubawa Sierra Leone, which is a Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism (PTCIJ) Project, with a core mandate to restore the eroding trust in newsrooms.
The launching, which took place at The Country Lodge Hotel on Hill Station in Freetown, will be followed by three (3) days residential training for selected journalists and bloggers from different media houses across the country in fact-checking skills, digital tools, right to information laws and data journalism on the theme: “Stemming the Spread of Misinformation to Advance Good Governance and Democracy in Sierra Leone” slated to commence from the 14th –Friday 16th July 2021 at The Country Lodge Hotel in Freetown.
In his welcome remarks, the Executive Director of Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism (PTCIJ), Dapo Olorunyomi, disclosed that they are super excited for such a development, which he continued, is one element in the broad mission of Premium Times’ strategy to help deepen the primacy of ethics in governance, in policy making and in journalism within the ECOWAS sub-region.
He further revealed that as part of their lined up activities , Dubawa will train selected journalists and bloggers from different media houses in fact-checking skills, digital tools, right to information laws and data journalism which he said will equip those participants with skills in fact-checking and verification in order to combat the widespread regime of misinformation in the West African sub-region and to also contribute to knowledge around information disorder in the country.
Delivering his chairperson opening remarks, President of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists, Ahmed Sahid Nasralla, applauded Dubawa Sierra Leone for organizing the three (3) days residential training for selected journalists and bloggers from different media houses across the country in fact-checking skills, digital tools, right to information laws and data journalism describing it as a move in the right direction.
He said the media has been overwhelmed by technological advancement or is being consumed by a rapidly growing digital environment with no control.
Ahmed Sahid Nasralla maintained that in this age of growing information crisis, which he said, is a much more devastating pandemic than COVID-19, coupled with the digital revolution, the media has become a victim of circumstance furthering that fact-checking organizations like Dubawa are the rescuers.
He furthered that the least presentation of facts, political propaganda, political appetizing falsehood, distorted news, conspiracy theories and many more can spread quickly unless fact checking organizations like Dubawa step in to help limit the negative impacts of such type of information in the country.
Speaking on the Story So Far about PTCIJ (DUBAWA) Programme Officer of Dubawa Ghana, Caroline Anipah revealed that Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism (PTCIJ) is a media and innovation organization founded in 2014 to promote a genuinely independent media landscape in West Africa through investigative journalism, fact-checking, open data and civic technology, adding that over the years, PTCIJ has rolled out various projects and programmes to achieve its vision of an independent media landscape One of such projects is Dubawa.
She also pointed out that Dubawa is a fact-checking and verification platform that PTCIJ has promoted for over three years also intimating how Dubawa is a Hausa word meaning ‘to check’, and it operates in Nigeria, Ghana, and has finally been launched in Sierra Leone furthering that Dubawa seeks to counter the upsurge of misinformation and disinformation, commonly called fake news, by influential persons, groups and organizations across the West African region.
Caroline Anipah maintained that Dubawa remains a signatory to the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) Codes and Principles which guides their practice and is also a member of the Facebook third-party fact-checking programme.
She revealed that they have trained over three hundred (300) journalists and have held training sessions in Nigerian and Ghanaian universities with journalism programmes.
“Dubawa’s journey would not have been possible without its funders, the MacArthur Foundation, Heinrich Boll Stiftung Foundation (HBS), National Endowment for Democracy (NED), Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) etc,” she also informed.
The Programme Officer of Dubawa Ghana said that Dubawa’s mission is to institute a culture of truth and verification in public discourse and journalism through strategic partnerships between the media, Government, civil society organizations, technology giants and the public.
Delivering the keynote address, the Honourable Minister of Information and Communications, Mohamed Rahman Swarray, expressed appreciation to Dubawa for the laudable venture it is taking to empower journalists on fact-checking skills, digital tools, right to information laws and data journalism which he described as very important towards the development of the media landscape in the country.
He said that the administration of President Bio has committed to improve the media landscape in the country and the launch of the Dubawa platform in Sierra Leone is in line with the President’s vision of having a productive media space.
The Minister stated that misinformation and fake news have had negative effects on society especially in an age where technology has grown exponentially adding how one cannot deny the necessity of such a platform which enhances fact checking of information.
On behalf of the Government of Sierra Leone, the Minister welcomed Dubawa to Sierra Leone and also looks forward to a sustainable partnership with the Ministry.
He further assured them of his relentless support furthering that he is with the strong conviction that other stakeholders in the media landscape in the country will extend the same support to them.
Climaxing the event was the official launching of Dubawa Sierra Leone by the Honourable Minister of Information and Communications, Mohamed Rahman Swarray.
