By Akunyo Deborah

Mass communication students have been urged to fight misinformation by using fact-checking tools, this has been said by karuhanga Edgar Mathew during a one-day training facilitated by the Debunk Media Initiative on 3rd-Nov-2022, held on the 4th floor of the Iddi Basajjabalaba Memorial Library (IBML).

According to the head of training at the Debunk Media Initiative, Mr. karuhanga Edgar Mathew, the training aims to build the capacity for university students to ably spot misinformation and debunk it in real time.

“In the media today, people have forgotten the essence of informing which comes with facts and verification, there are some sensational journalists who don’t actually give factual information, so, upcoming journalists should learn to verify and research about any information before republishing and taking it as gospel truth,” Karuhanga Said

He adds “We also hope to identify young fact-checking enthusiasts who will participate in our fact-checking fellowship next year.”

Kayinza Phionah a 2nd-year student of Mass communication says this training has enabled her to learn that most information posted on the internet is false so one must fact-check before consuming it.

“I have learnt not to believe that all the information posted on the internet because sometimes it is false so I have to first fact check by visiting a Bot before reposting or commenting about it”. Kayinza said.

The general secretary of the Mass communication students Association (MACOSA), Alokit Jenifer a 3rd-year student applauded the debunk team for this wonderful training which was of much help to tomorrow's journalists, she promised full support to the debunk team and also asked them to organize more of such trainings at KIU. 

“This training is so crucial to mass communication students because it highlighted and enabled the students to learn the process and importance of fact-checking information as future media personnel,” She concluded.

The students during the training had a chance to learn how to use various search engines and tools to get fact-checkable data and information

The Head of Department of mass communication, Mrs. Komugisha Maureen promised to work with the administration to have more of these sessions to equip students with knowledge and skills in the media sector.

Debunk Media Initiative is a fact-checking organization with a vision to create a world where people access factual information in real time so that they make informed decisions. They address the problem of fake news, false information, misinformation, myths, and misconceptions that fool citizens and cause real-life harm.