Liberia: Journalists Urged to Prioritize Fact-Checking

The Project Director of the Liberia Media Empowerment Project (LMEP), Samuka Konneh, has called on journalists to emphasize fact-checking in their work to ensure accurate information is delivered to the public.

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By Perry B. Zordyu, contributing writer

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Konneh stated during a fact-checking training that it is a moral era that information must be verified and scrutinized to enhance your capacity as journalists.

Samuka Konneh highlighted that journalists bears the full responsibility for the information they publish and its impact in the society and will enhance skills and improve services to the larger community.

He stressed that fact-checking is

the newer way of strengthening the capacity of Liberian journalists to deliver credible, well-researched news to the public and as such journalists must be well efficient to basic information.

He maintained that journalists in the 21st century must be knowledgeable to a simple fact-checking including the principles and objectives of fact-checking, the difference between fact-checking and journalism, and how to differentiate facts from opinions and misinformation something he said can better enable media practitioners be more

robust and proactive in navigating the current affairs of daily happenings across the country.

“You can’t be a journalist, and you are not upgrading yourself through training. The profession is about everyday learning and learning. You can’t be a journalist and choose not to be a fact-checker,” he noted.

Director Konneh said journalism is a creative endeavor that demands innovation daily, as he urged Journalists to remain vigilant and avoid complacency in the execution of their reportorial duties.

He was speaking recently during a fact-checking training for journalists held in Monrovia.