By Fortune Abang

Malam Ali M. Ali, the Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), has advocated  global media collaboration to safeguard the credibility of news in view of challenges posed by digital technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Ali ​‌⁠​⁠​‍⁠⁠‍‌‍‍‌⁠⁠‌‍‌​made the call in Moscow while speaking with NAN on the takeaways from the third Russia-Africa Summit held from Oct. 28 to Oct. 29.

Ali, a guest speaker at the session that had “Rethinking Challenges Facing Modern Media” as its theme, said that credibility remains the biggest challenge confronting contemporary media as news distribution channels undergo rapid transformation.

“The major challenge facing the media in the modern era is credibility.

“The dawn of AI has eroded whatever credibility the media used to have. In the past, the challenge was regional, but now, it is global.”

The NAN boss noted that the traditional hegemony of the Global North in setting the global news agenda had been diluted by digital technology and AI.

“Before now, there was exclusivity in news dissemination. What happens in Moscow can now fly around the world within seconds due to the digital space.

“The new era has come with its own challenges. AI has made it easy for news to break loose.

”How such news is projected is another problem, irrespective of who is telling the story.”

Ali stressed the need for digital collaboration among mainstream media organisations and greater reliance on fact-checking tools to verify and cross-reference content.

He also advocated alternative sources of verification and the strengthening of editorial gatekeeping.

“If every credible news source is faced with challenges, there will be a negative impact on global news credibility generally,” he said.

He commended the Russian Federation for successfully hosting the third Russia-Africa Summit, noting that the forum had further strengthened networking among media operators from both sides. (www.nannews.ng)(NAN)
Edited by Ephraims Sheyin