Journalists have been urged to leverage digital tools to verify fake news, Artificial Intelligence generated videos, photographs and other information before publication ahead of 2027 General Elections.
The Editor-in-Chief of Solacebase Online Media, Mr Abdulateef Abubakar-Jos, made the call on Saturday in Kaduna while presenting a paper titled: “Misinformation in Electioneering and Digital Tools to Fact-Check Pictures, Videos and Information.”
The presentation was part of activities at the 2026 Kaduna Retreat organised by the Kano Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
Newsmen report that the theme of the retreat is: “2027 General Elections: Navigating Legal, Security and Ethical Challenges in the Media.”
Abubakar-Jos said the need for verification had become imperative because modern election journalism required more than speed.
“Speed is important in journalism, but accuracy is more important. It requires verification, scepticism, context and responsibility,” he said.
He stressed the need for journalists to combine traditional journalistic methods with digital verification tools to ensure accuracy in their reportage.
Abubakar-Jos said Google Lens and reverse image search could be used to verify photographs.
“It can help to discover earlier versions of an image, identify the origin of the source and find different captions attached to the same image.
“TinEye can be used to find previous appearances of an image online.
“WeVerify can be used to verify exact video key frames and investigate the origin of a video.
“Google Maps can be used to check locations, especially if a video claims to show violence at a particular polling station.
“The journalist can compare buildings, roads, shops, signboards and landmarks,” he said.
He cautioned journalists against assuming that a photograph was genuine simply because it looked real, or that a video was authentic because it was a video.
He also advised journalists not to assume that a social media account was genuine because it had a familiar name or that an election result was official simply because it had been announced by a political party.
“Or that the result is authentic because many people shared it,” he said.
He reminded journalists of their role as critical stakeholders in the forthcoming elections and urged them to be wary of fake news, AI-generated videos, photographs and documents, including election results.
Earlier, the Chairman of the Kano Correspondents’ Chapel, Mr Murtala Adewale, said the event was organised to prepare members to effectively cover the 2027 General Elections.