Adesina urges media to reject fake news, hate speech

The Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina has reminded the media that its role will determine the success or otherwise of the 2019 elections.

In a lecture he delivered at the closing ceremony of the Nigeria Union Journalists (NUJ) Press Week in Lokoja, Kogi state, titled: “Media and news reporting in an election year,” Adesina advised media practitioners to adhere to and conform to the media code of practice before, during and after the conduct of elections.

He said that less than 200 days to the general elections, fake news, fiction and misinformation have pervaded the country.

The president’s spokesman also decried what he called hate speeches by Nigerians and appealed to the media to avoid being used by desperate people who are bent on disintegrating the country because of their selfish desires.

According to the special adviser, purveyors of fake news are determined to destroy the integrity of the media by pumping made up information into the polity, using it as the tool to destroy the nation.

He explained that there is synergy between the fake news peddlers and hate speech makers whose sole objective is to cause disaffection among citizens using ethnicity, religion and regional dichotomy.

Adesina, who counselled journalists to effectively and efficiently abide by the code of conduct, however cautioned that what the media does or refuses to do can cause unimaginable damage to the country..

He enjoined journalists to be saviours of the nation as selfishness and desperation by politicians now pervades the nation’s political space.