Introduction
The emergency of the new media technologies which includes the different kinds of social media has brought about a significant change in our society today, where everyone can easily exchange their ideas, share their feelings and opinions without necessarily been together physically. These new media has helped in the dissemination of information in a higher speed rate order than the previously exiting mediums ( newspapers, radio and television).
The spread of misinformation in these digitalized era has been a rampant issues overall the world and in Nigeria particularly. The emergency of these new media has paved way for easier spread or speculation of fake news in Nigeria which has a significant impact in shaping the opinions of the public and influencing decisions including political decisions.
Nigeria, as a nation, has been making concerted efforts towards self-governance since the end of the colonial era. Like a toddler learning to walk, falls and rises, Nigeria has been falling and raising in this long walk. (Evaristus, 2021). This act of falling and rising has touched every aspect of it's governance including the publication of news.
With the diversities in Nigeria and the numerous numbers of people in Nigeria, the proliferation of fake news in Nigeria has become more worrisome and threatening to the integrity of Nigeria’s democracy. Many fabricated information has been published about the government, institutions, organizations, churches and individuals and in some cases infringing the right of the citizens of Nigeria. Therefore in this context, we will be examining the impact of fake news in Nigeria and possible ways to combat this growing concern.
Keywords: News, Fake news, media, new media and Nigeria
News
News can be seen as the factual account of an event. It can come in two ways; hard news and soft news. Hard news which implies, the factual account of event. It could is ongoing or as it is happening. It is just like breaking news. While soft news can be seen as feature stories. Feature stories here does not mean it is been fabricated but it lacks that element of just happening or immediacy. It can come up as a story to illustrate an event and why the event took place.
Asemah (2011) defines news as “the account of a timely and unusual event in the society” (p.135). This definition seems limiting because as observed by Fry (2017) the current digital environment as characterized by proliferating social media has changed the traditional notion of news as an account of an unusual event. McQuail (2011) sees news as “the main form in which current information about public events are carried by media of all kinds” (p.564). Although, it is obvious through the definitions given here that one of the distinctive features of news is currency, the latter definition captures the fact that news is information conveyed on different kinds of media. Suffice to say then that news is information about events that are currently happening or that have happened recently. It is any information that helps the comprehension of important happenings in society. Fry (2017) suggests that the traditional notion of news is doomed going by the impositions of new media technologies on the news processes, for example the collapse of gatekeepers, the blurring lines of distinction between news, advertisement and entertainment.
The lack of gate keeping in the current news processes is what brings about fake news in Nigeria because there is no checkmentation of the contents being published especially in online or new media or social media platform. Keep in mind that the effectiveness of these acts of gate keeping is only effective in traditional media such as newspaper, radio and television.
Fake news
Fake news is one of the trending words not only in the field of journalism/communication, but across other professions. Nigeria, like every other countries of the world is suffering from the effects of fake news. Fake news does not only come in words alone but sometimes are accompanied by sounds, videos, graphics and pictures to make it more real and for people to believe in.
The origin of fake can traced to as far back as the beginning of industrial. Standage (2017) believes that “fake news has been known since the earliest days of printing. In the 16th and 17th centuries, printers would crank out pamphlets, or news books, offering detailed accounts of monstrous beasts or unusual occurrences”
Fake news is not a new phenomenon. It has been in existence for a very long time. Notwithstanding, it has become more intense in recent times as a result of widespread internet use and low-cost access to social media channels, competitive politics and intensifying poverty, and ethno-religious rivalry.
Fake news is the deliberate fabrication of information to deceive people with the aim of misleading others into believing falsehood and doubting confirmable actualities (White 2017). According to McGonagle (2017), fake news is information that has been deliberately fabricated and disseminated with the intention to deceive and mislead others into believing falsehoods or doubting verifiable facts.
In Nigeria, fake news be it intentionally or unintentionally sent out to the people is never a good news. For instance, in November 1989, the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) announced the death of the first Governor General and President of Nigeria, Dr Nnamdi Azikwe. By the next morning, the news was on the front pages of most of the country’s newspapers. It took two days before Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe cleared the air about the state of his health and informed the world that he was still alive and the false claim was relatively contained. Imagine waking up one morning and opening your WhatsApp handle and seeing a message that contains free 200 million free grant by the government and you keep sharing. The new media has been the major agents fueling the spread of fake news in Nigeria today due to it's rampent use in recent days as everyone is now a journalist.
The new media.
The new media has a significant impact on our lives together as one can hardly do without them. It has transformed various aspects of our lives including in commerce, transport, medical centers, education and entertainment.
Aduloju (2017) defines new media as "any form of media that came out towards the end of the 20th century or in 21st century. Specially, new media can be regarded as a 21st century catchall term used to describe all that is not connected to the internet and the interaction aimd technology, image, and sound" (P.100). According to her most of the technologies portrayed as new media are digital, frequently possessing features of being controlled, intense compactable, interactive and networkable. (Manovich, 2003 and Konieezy, 2009, as cited in Aduloju, 2017).
Itsueli (2017) also defines new media as "an interactive, digital and time space independent communication medium that enables any kind of content sharing on cyberspace" (p.152). Linking this to the contest of this work, the digital and time space features of these new media has made it possible for one to share information at any time and any where.
On his own, Egere (2019) sees the new media as an unending conversation on the Internet, with new conversations begining every time. This shows or indicates why the new media should not be underrated but paid more attention to. Therefore, in this contest, there is a great need to focus more on the new media because the skillful application and knowledge about the media and technological messages is very vital to enable individuals, government, organizations or churchs know how to select relevant information in order not to mislead people..
These new media is mostly found among the younger people of today who uses it to pass across I formation. Just as Ojemen (2019) notes that the acquisition and use of new media are too readily found among younger generation, who easily uses it as a means of reaching out to, to form new friends and search for new ideals.
Nigeria
Nigeria, officially known as the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa and has been a home to many indigenous people since their amalgamation in 1914 by the British colonial masters. Although they become an independent country in 1960 and fully in 1963. Nigeria is a multinational state that has over 250 ethnic groups with the major ethnic groups been igbo, hause and yourba. Nigeria has been experiencing a whole lots of ups and downs, just as Evaristus (2021) sees Nigeria as a to toddler learning to walk, falls and rises. He further stated that " Nigeria has been falling and raising in this long walk towards self-governance as a sovereign nation. But oftentimes, she falls and remains fallen instead of raising" (p.1).
Nigeria practices democracy has a form of government. The term democracy is taken from two Greek origins: demos which means ordinary people; and kratos which means rule; thus, when used together demos-kratos means "the rule of the common people" (Evaristus,2021).
In order words, democracy implies the government of the people, by the people and for the people. But we are truly practicing democracy? Nigeria practice of democracy has put forth strength to the media carry out their job of covering and checkmating the different arms of government. And the media also to stand alone with out been influenced. These act of the media to serve as a watchdog to the government and a mediator between the government and the people has made it possible for them to be seen and describe as tge fourth estate of the realm.
The media been the agents of news some times are been influenced in their job of giving out accurate information to the public making the news to be fake but appearing real.
Causes of fake News in Nigeria
Reasons attributed for the proliferation of fake news in Nigeria are numerous but few will be mentioned and briefly discussed here
Information overload: information overload is of the cause of fake news in Nigeria today. For instance, when you wake up in the morning, open all your social media handle, you will get over a thousands of messages to read and reply to. News is as well published on a daily basis in the major news mediums such as the newspaper, radio and television. All these leave one in a state of confusion where he or she finds it difficult to know and differentiate between fake news and real news. This is why Rose & Kiss (2007) observes the blurring of news, entertainment and politics and submits that “the problem is not that we need greater access to information but arguably that we have access to much information” (p.605). This information overload is basically found more on the social media.
Non professional service: most of the fake news been published as been published by those who are not professional journalist, example the citizen journalists. They don't know the ethics of news publication, the just capture the moment and send out to the public without verification or consultation. Their major aim is to be the first to publish the most or recently happening. And this is a very big problem that the social media and other new media has made possible because with ones phone or gadget and Internet connection, you can spread the message across the country. This act has been putting Nigeria citizens in pains, distress and in an uncomfortable situation. For example, imagine been at the market and you open your social media just to see a blog or website post on the demise of your loved ones just like that. How would you feel?. Also, Riley (2017), has observed this in her work, where she stated that "the complacency of genuine communication professionals has led to the proliferation of “lies and garbage” (p.16).
Low level of media trust: Nigeria citizens have a very low trust in the publications of the major news media such as newspapers, radio and television. They hardly believe in what these mediums publish rather they hope on getting legit information from the bloggers who do not know the ethics of news.
Government interference/Economy: economy is one of the greatest factors the brings about fake news publication. The governments overseeing and controlling the media in Nigeria is a very big problem in publishing the factual account of an event. It is popularly said that who pays the piper detects the tune. Therefore the government funding these media house makes impossible for these media houses to publish ill facts about the government because they depend on the government for survival of their stations.
Non gate keeping policy: this is more on the aspect of social media and other websites. There is no process of checkmentation of the contents they post and no rules or guidelines are given to them and this has been a problem and lead to the proliferation of fake news in Nigeria.
Keep in mind that the advent digitalization has both positive and negative impact on news publication on Nigeria system.
Conclusion
The menace of fake news is contributing to the escalation of the security woes to our beloved country Nigeria. Fake news has lead to various problems in Nigeria today such as hatred, ethno-religious conflicts, political violence, leadership mistrust, economic instability, inter-tribal anxiety, character assassination and many other cases which has been a threat to the development of Nigeria.
The spread of fake news in Nigeria which was given impetus by the emergency and dominance of internet and social media has indeed changed the mindset of many Nigerians. But it's negative implications can be controlled and manage to a certain point or level.
Recommendations
Fake news in Nigeria has been a long worrisome discussion among the citizens of Nigeria. To eliminate or eradicate fake news totally will be very difficult if at all it would be possible at all. But it can be reduced and managed to some extent. Therefore I recommend the following;
1. People should be educated by the government and as well non governmental organizations through various medium on media literacy in order to help them differentiate between fake news and real news. The knowledge of media will enable them to filters what the take in as news and as well give out as news because as a media literate you have to be a prosumer. This implies that you should have the ability to create messages and read or recieve messages not only passive or been at the receiving end, you have to proactive. .
2. The government should find a possible means to ensure that gatekeeping process or possible ways of monitoring and regulating the contents that are been published in different social media platforms.
3. Press freedom should be encourage. This will enable the media houses to act on their own and control their affairs without governmental or external force. This will help in reducing rate of fake news in Nigeria.
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