Awareness And Use Of Dubawa Fact-Checkers Among Ebonyi Journalists

Abstract

The reality of post-truth media era has created a demand on professional journalists to get equipped against fake news and mis/disinformation. This survey researched sought to find the rate of awareness and use of Dubawa Fact-checkers by practicing journalists in Ebonyi state, Nigeria. Employed a census sampling, the work surveyed 226 NUJ registered journalists in Ebonyi state. Anchored on the tenets of diffusion of innovation theory by Everet Rogers, the work found that there is high rate of awareness of Dubawa among the Ebonyi journalists but with low knowledge of Dubawa fact-checking process. The research found that only 16% of Ebonyi journalists have been trained by Dubawa Nigeria. Also, the work discovered that the Dubawa objectives of trained journalists to train their colleagues have not be executed in Ebonyi state and this affects the rate of impact of Dubawa Fact-checkers in journalism practice in Ebonyi state, Nigeria. The work therefore recommends that NUJ should create avenue for the attainment of Dubawa target. Dubawa Fact-checkers should use virtual class where there would be unrestricted participation of journalism on fact-checking trainings.