Verify information on social media before publishing – NMC

Chairman of the National Media Commission, Mr Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafoh has advised the media to verify information on social media platforms before publishing.

Speaking on the maiden edition of eTV Ghana’s “Fact Sheet”, hosted by Samuel Eshun, he noted that non-factual information when being shared by random persons on social media is an easier situation to deal with as the people can just be dealt with individually.

However, “If a traditional media like eTV picks information on social media and rebroadcasts it on their platform, that is where there will be much concern so if the traditional media will not rush to publish anything they see on social media but cross-check the information to establish whether there is any fact or not, then we can reduce the impact of social media at that level”, he said.

According to him, the first step taken by the NMC to curb this is that they have an issued statement appealing with the traditional media never to use social media content unless the information has been cross-checked, verified and it has been established that the information they are carrying is authentic and factual.

Mr Ayeboafoh advised that to prevent the spread of non-factual information, it is imperative that the general public also make it a point to cross-check information over and over to make sure that it is factual, before putting it on social media or on any other platform.