On the 4th of June, 2021, Network of Youth for Sustainable Initiative organized a Media and Information Literacy workshop for fifteen (15) youth led and youth serving civil society organizations in Enugu, Lagos. The workshop with the topic The Power of Words with funding from LightUp Africa Development Initiative focused on how youth led and youth serving organizations can understand how to use social media to combat fake news and misinformation. The workshop focused on fighting hate speech and finding solutions to prevent, reduce and combat hate speech among young people.
The facilitators Tracy Iyemene and Florence Ugwu used guidebook for media and information trainers developed by DW Akademie and UNESCO to share the concept of media and information litercy and how the participants can use it to combat fake news and misinformation. This is because of the increasing rate of misinformation and disinformation in Nigeria which is fuelling ethnic tensions that are dangerous to the fibre of our shared humanity.
The facilitators showed participants how they can identify fake news online which is only possible by going beyond the headline to reading the content of every messaging. This is because media messages help amplify our bias which can be fuelled by misinformation. Participants learned how to use critical thinking to analyse every media message while learning to evaluate media messages based on personal experiences, beliefs and values.
