Dubawa launched in Ghana to fact-check misinformation and fake news

February 25, 2020 1:37 PM

Dubawa, an independent verification and fact-checking platform has been launched in Ghana.

Dubawa launched in Ghana to fact-check misinformation and fake news

The goal is to empower the general public with tools and resources required for informed and rational decision making in an era where information disorder (popularly known as fake news) is on the rise.

As chairperson of the event, Ms. Josephine Nkrumah of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) highlighted role media has to play in battling fake news.

Honourable Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, Ghana’s Minister of Information also challenged the media, Dubawa and the general public to aid in curbing the rise of misinformation. He cited an example of how false news about the minority in parliament returning for their packs of jollof rice after boycotting the State of the Nations Address spread quickly, needing attention from both the majority and minority in Ghana’s parliament to debunk the story.

Honourable Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, Ghana’s Minister of Information Pulse Ghana

The Minister also acknowledged that a fact-checking platform was a welcomed project in a year where Ghana goes to the polls to decide who the next president of the country is.

In a research presented at the launch, findings indicated that majority of Ghanaians use social media as a source of news despite indicating they feel the key players in misinformation spread are social media influencers (22.3%).

On misinformation spread, politicians came in second at 21.8% with media outlets taking the third position with 18.8%.

Dubawa is non-partisan, accepting only to uphold values of accuracy, balance, transparency, verification, independence and accountability in all its operations. Guided by the principles of International Fact Checking Network (IFCN), Dubawa is also a third-party partner of Facebook in a goal to tackle misinformation.

Professor Kwame Karikari who is a former Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa and also a board member of Dubawa officially launched the fact-checking platform in Ghana.