As part of its core mandate of championing research-based factual and verifiable content online and offline, Dubawa, a transnational fact-checking project of the Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism (PTCIJ), is set to begin its annual Media and Information Literacy campaign for 2021.
The campaign, dubbed Week for Truth, is a week-long lineup of events and activities all advocating for accurate information to be upheld in public policy, public discourse, and journalistic practice.
Running for the second time since 2019, this year’s Week for Truth starts on Monday the 15th of November till Friday the 19th of November 2021 across all five Anglophone West African countries Dubawa operates in – Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and The Gambia.
Events and activities scheduled within the week include:
- A one-day nationwide senior high school outreach by over 90 Dubawa-trained volunteers, to educate students on Media and Information Literacy, and basic fact-checking and critical thinking skills.
- A one-day media and information quiz session across Dubawa’s social media pages, which promises prizes to winners.
- A two-day Information Disorder conference, which will engage professionals, academics, researchers, and the general public in analysing the consequences of information disorder, approaches, and experiences in tackling it; government and civic engagement; balancing and regulations; and fact-checking.
- A week-long mainstream and social media literacy campaign, on radio stations and Dubawa’s Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram page respectively.
Dubawa’s Programme Manager, Mr. Adedeji Adekunle, explains the purpose of Week for Truth and what it hopes to contribute to society.
“At Dubawa, we believe that the best way to counter the information disorder problem is to preempt it. That means the goal is to equip every citizen with the necessary knowledge to discern the veracity of the information they come across. This campaign, while imparting such skills, will also draw the attention of the public to the risks around the information they receive and share, and the consequences of enabling misinformation,” Mr. Adekunle said.
In a present age faced with diverse global digital and information challenges, the need for all media users to become media and information literate has become even more crucial. Dubawa, thus, calls on the entire public to participate in its week-long programme, Week for Truth, to further the agenda of amplifying the culture of truth in society.
