Over 4.9 billion people now access the internet globally, generating and consuming 2.5 quadrillion bytes of data daily and this poses a danger to containing misinformation, disinformation, and mal-information, a university tutor, Dr Suemo Jacob, has warned.
  
Jacob, who is the Head of the Department of Mass Communication at Nile University of Nigeria, Abuja, said the danger was obvious in today’s media environment, particularly in shaping public opinion and influencing democracy. 
  
He stated this, yesterday, at the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) headquarters, Abuja, during this year’s Global Media and Information Literacy Week workshop.
  
The one-day workshop was organised by the International Media and Information Literacy Institute (IMILI), in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation, UNESCO and NOUN, with the theme, ‘New Digital Frontier of Information Media and Information Literacy for Public Interest Information’.  
 
Jacob, who was the guest speaker at the event, stated that social media served as the primary news source for 74 per cent of adults and that while the democratisation of information had benefits, it had created significant challenges in distinguishing credible information from falsehoods. He cited past misinformation crises, such as the Ebola salt-water hoax in Nigeria, to illustrate the real-world impact of misinformation. 
  
While addressing questions from the audience, the speaker urged journalists to cultivate accurate sources of information, provide fact-based reporting, and only editorialise when appropriate, such as through official commentaries.
  
Earlier in his welcome address, the Vice-Chancellor, NOUN, Prof Olufemi Peters, highlighted the unique role of the university in fostering digital education, stating that the teaching model is different, with facilitators delivering education electronically, reflecting the shift towards digital frontiers in information dissemination.