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The Voice of Nigeria (VON) has gone viral for its report that claimed victory for Morocco over Nigeria in the final match of the just-concluded Women’s African Cup of Nations (WAFCON).
The viral news article, which claimed Morocco defeated Nigeria 2-0 was headlined: “Morocco defeats Nigeria to win first-ever WAFCON title.”
Although it has now been removed, DUBAWA tracked the full details of the news story and archived them here.
The claim also gained traction online as the open-source tool used to archive the post shows that about 9,000 readers viewed the report.
Before the report was brought down, it spread to different social media networks. For instance, an X user, @Colin Udoh, posted a screenshot of the report and queried whether it was fake.
Other social media users posted either the article or a screenshot, criticising the writer and their media outlet for the inaccurate report. Others said the report was AI-generated. See here, here, here, and here. A clickbait blog also republished it.
VON is a radio station that covers news from Nigeria, Africa, and worldwide. It broadcasts its programmes in at least eight different languages, including English, French, Arabic, Igbo and Yoruba.
It was established in 1961 as the external service of the then Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (now Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria).
The government-owned station, which dubbed itself ‘the authoritative choice,’ was commissioned by former Nigerian prime minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa.
Setting the record straight
Our research established that the story was published before the match’s conclusion and was still live on the outlet’s website even 30 minutes after the match had concluded.
Contrary to what VON reported, Nigeria emerged as the tournament’s winner after a “stunning comeback.” The Super Falcons made it their 10th championship out of the 13 editions of the tournament.
When we subjected the report’s texts to an AI-detector tool, Quilbot, 51 per cent of the text was derived from artificial intelligence. We also noticed the use of bullet points, highlighted words, and unnecessarily reemphasised statements.
Not the first time
Speaking with DUBAWA, Jeremiah Omoniyi, a sports journalist, said that this is not the first time that journalists who cover sports have made such false reports, thereby creating confusion for their audience.
He said that most reporters prepare drafts of sports news without proper verification and publish them because they want to be “first to break the news.”
“This is a bad way of doing ethical journalism. The VON reporter must have written the story when Morocco scored their first goal, and you know it was late, so he might be trying to pack up; such reportage is wrong,” the journalist said.
Mr Omoniyi noted that both local and international reporters are guilty of the conduct, calling on the Nigerian government, media organisations and other stakeholders to ensure that swift measures are taken to prevent such incidents.
VON admits error
Jibrin Baba Ndace, the director-general of the VON, described the report as “regrettable, inaccurate and deeply unfortunate,” adding that it was falsely published even before the conclusion of the match.
“We sincerely apologise for the misinformation and the confusion it caused. The integrity of our journalism is paramount, and we take this incident seriously. While initial reviews pointed to an internal lapse, we are also investigating the possibility of a security breach or identity theft through hacking, which may have contributed to this disturbing development.
“As a public institution, we cannot rule out such cyber threats and are taking appropriate steps to enhance the security of our digital platforms,” parts of the statement posted on its official Facebook wall on Sunday stated.
