As part of efforts to get rid of information released to deliberately mislead members of the general public, the Ministry of Information has come up with five countermeasures.

According to the Ministry headed by Mr Oppong-Nkrumah, "fake news, conspiracy theories, hoaxes, or rumours that are presented as facts to the public" are weakening confidence in media outlets and government institutions, hence the need to tackle the canker immediately.

“It undermines our democracy, the trust in our institutions and affects the smooth administration of governance activities," the Information Minister added.

The Ministry has therefore come out with five measures that should be utilised by the public in order not to be misinformed.

The initial step involves the public reading the entire information being presented. This, the Ministry says, is to check for evidence which has been presented to support the theme of the matter.

Secondly, the public is to verify the credibility of the source of the information.

"Check if the source is reputable and if they have a history of providing accurate information," it added.

Another tactic to be employed is cross-checking whether the information has also been reported by other reputable sources.

"Please look for evidence that supports the information being provided. This evidence can include the date, time or headline," the fourth measure states.

In the absence of evidence, the Ministry encourages questioning the authenticity of the information.

The last but not least step requires members of the public visiting the website, www.ghanatoday.gov.gh, created by the Ministry for fact-checking.

According to the Information Minister, a collective effort is necessary for Ghana to be "successful in this enterprise."

In view of this, a hashtag #verifyfirst has been initiated to get all Ghanaians on board in the fight against disinformation.

Some personalities such as investigative journalist, Manasseh Azure; media personalities including Naa Ashorkor, Ameyaw Deborah, Nakeeyat Dramani Sam are actively supporting the government's campaign.

Source: The Independent Ghana