Nigerian journalists, together with a reporter with SaharaReporters, Elizabeth Ogunbamowo, have been shortlisted for the 2021 African Fact-Checking Awards.
Ogunbamowo was chosen for conducting a fact-check into {a photograph} that confirmed a tweet that purportedly originated from the verified deal with of Twitter, explaining causes for the deletion of President Muhammadu Buhari’s tweet and claiming Twitter didn’t recognise Buhari.
The {photograph} had been shared a number of occasions and continued to flow into at a time when the general public sought data concerning the micro-blogging platform because it was simply banned.
The fact-check, which was necessitated because of the misinformation that trailed the ban, confirmed that the {photograph} was truly manipulated.
Other journalists shortlisted within the Working Journalist class included Dubawa Fellowship, writers, Maxine Danso and Silas Jonathan, alongside Ghana’s Programme Officer, Caroline Anipah, for a collaborative fact-check they entered for the fact-checking award.
Kunle Adebajo, who works with HumAngle, was shortlisted for his fact-check on an alleged navy raid of a Boko Haram enclave.
Also, Oluwasegun Olakoyenikan from AFP Fact Check was shortlisted for his article on a false EU assertion in regards to the rescue of kidnapped children in Nigeria.
The African Fact-checking Award, which is in its eighth yr, is known for yearly appreciating and selling fact-checking journalism in Africa.
According to the organisers, the 2021 name obtained 216 entries from 28 international locations, a rise from final yr which recorded 192 entries from 27 African international locations.
The awards programme obtained entries for each Fact-Check of the Year by a Working Journalist and Fact-Check of the Year by a Student Journalist classes.
The winners and runners-up from every class will probably be introduced on the awards ceremony, which will probably be held on Tuesday 12 October, in the course of the African Investigative Journalism Conference.