Nigerian Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has said that the unregulated use of social media and other digital platforms has become a clear danger to global information flow and processes.
The Minister stated this on Monday in Abuja at the opening session of the 11th edition of the UNESCO Global Media and Information Literacy (MIL)Week billed for 24th-31st of October 2022.
The Minister said the theme of this year’s Global MIL week, which is “Nurturing Trust: A Media and Information Literacy Imperative”, was not only apt but also timely as the world and its leaders contend with the challenge of identifying what is true and what is false, in view of the use of media and information.
“As I ponder on the state of our world, the enormous challenge it faces, especially with unregulated use of social media and other digital platforms, I see the urgent need for every person to be equipped with the ability to critically evaluate and wisely use information at their disposal.
I am optimistic that, starting from the parallel sessions which commence immediately to the last plenary session on Friday morning, contributions and questions will all be geared toward finding the linkages to building trust among our societies and individuals through the use of media and Information literacy.”
Dr. Tawfik Jelassi, the Assistant Director General of UNESCO on Communication and Information, stated that citizens that take digital platforms as their primary source of information are liable to the danger of fake news, misinformation and hate speech.
Dr Jelassi said primary source of information in some countries are basically social media. Sighting that in a country of over 200 million people like Brazil, 78% of Brazilians take WhatsApp as a primary source of information.
“We don’t want the new digital platform for content for the media and information to be harmful to societies and to individuals,” he stressed.
According to him, statistic from UNESCO research and study shows that about 73% of Women Journalists are subjected to online harassment and 20% of them are being physically attack. In essence, what starts online moves to the physical world.
“So I guess you’ll use the statistics to say we cannot watch the world face such horrific events without taking action.
We have to do it on both sides of the supply sides. We have to look at the platform operators that puts the information on their platforms and also the ones receiving of information, thats the citizens.
How to make them media information literate so that they can be able to check out information and be able to verify the source”, he added.
UNESCO charged participants to be fully engaged in the parallel technical sessions going on as they look forward to the Abuja declaration on the importance of trust in media.
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