There is a need for African journalists to begin to tell African stories from an African perspective. This was the focal point of the Africa Disease Reporting Fellowship (ADReF), which started on March 18, 2024.
Speaking at the physical opening ceremony of the fellowship, held on April 22, 2024, at the Sandralia Hotel in Abuja, editor-in-chief of Africa Science Technology and Innovation News (AfricaSTI), Mr. Diran Onifade, noted that “the quality of journalists in Africa has improved, compared to those of years ago.” He further stated that the fellowship is a wake-up call to have more African journalists tell the African story.
While addressing the concerns of fellows concerning the restriction of specific stories by editors of mainstream media, one of the faculty members and Fellowship Coordinator, Mr. Onche Odeh, said, “As journalists, you must learn to tell great stories in a compelling manner.”
One of the facilitators, Ms. Lois Ugbede, a researcher at DUBAWA, took the fellows through a session tagged “Tackling misinformation, disinformation, and fake news in health reporting.” She harped on the need to fact-check all stories and evaluate all evidence.
“We all have our biases, but we must learn to assess those biases and separate ourselves from them,” she stated.
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