BY UBON EKANEM, CALABAR – Worried by the raging hate speeches and false information dotting the social media space, the Cross River State Government is planning media literacy education and enlightenment campaign for youths with emphasis on social media management.
Cross River Commissioner for Information, Barrister (Mrs) Rosemary Archibong said plans are on to appoint Social Media Ambassadors (SMAs) who would carry government messages to schools across the state.
Speaking at an interactive session with social media practitioners in the state, Mrs Archibong, stated that the Ambassadors would be saddled with the task of engaging and enlightening youths who readily believe what they read and see on social media networks and online media blocs.
She appealed to online media publishers to shun hate speeches on their platforms through meticulous and careful editing of published materials, given that such publications are read globally and have lots of impact on youths who tend to believe in what they read online.
The Information Commissioner harped on the importance of facts being crossed checked to avoid sensational reportage, even as she urged caution on the part of practitioners to avoid causing division among Nigeria’s diverse ethnic due to lack of proper management of whatever information is available at their disposal.
According to her, aside giving speed to ordinary news reporting and providing direction for future journalism practice, online journalism is meant offer our teaming youths the opportunity to be active in the process of information dissemination.
However, most online media practitioners at the forum complained of being fenced off by unfriendly government officials and public officers in the process of gathering and verifying information from sources.
