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CATHERINE W GICHUKI
DOHA
QATAR has been a victim of fake news orchestrated by some neighbouring countries, an action that is unethical in journalism profession, according to foreign journalists who participated in a recent conference organised by the National Human Rights Committee.
The journalists opined that it is unethical for a journalist to publish 'fake news' for selfish gains.
Speaking to Qatar Tribune on the sidelines of the event, Chief Executive Officer of African Media Initiative in United States Eric Chinje said that it was unfair for the neighbouring countries to publish fake news to portray Qatar in a bad light.
He said that people spread fake news for either their personal, national, regional or global interest, adding that though many people do not have means to verify, there are some organisations that specialise in fact-checking the news.
"There is an organisation called 'Africa Check', which goes beyond the news to attest the veracity of what is said," he said.
Chinje said such organisations are important and are required in this region as well because people currently tend to distort facts.
"You cannot really stop people from doing that because they are doing it for personal, regional, national or global interest. But, they should also know that when it is found out that they publish or spread fake news intentionally, a stern action should be taken against them," he said.
He said fake news paints the victim in a bad light as people may not know the information is not true unless there is prove or evidence.
Guwani Tuwani, a journalist from South Africa, strongly said that it was wrong to fabricate news to make Qatar look bad.
"There are ways to verify information and a journalist should verify the facts before publishing. For a journalist, verification of information is a cardinal requirement. We only have Al Jazeera standing out among many media outlets which are not delivering real news and when we have conflicts like in Syria, Al Jazeera fills that vacuum of telling stories as they are," he said.
Tuwani said that Al Jazeera has been filling the gap and has been there to confront fake news in the world.
Recently, the Washington Post said that US intelligence agencies have confirmed that the United Arab Emirates was behind the hacking of Qatar News Agency, an action that led to the Gulf crisis.
