By Dex Mumo
Journalism is a crusade for the truth. It is crucial that every journalist ensures any information they disseminate is true. This maintains public trust and accountability in the profession.
With the broadening base of media practitioners, the field has absorbed people of different intellects and intentions. This does not mean journalism must bend to accommodate every practitioner; instead, we all must abide by its rules.
By incorporating fact-checking and verification tools within reporting, journalism has strived to preserve integrity, accuracy, and ethics. The International Fact-Checking Network plays a critical role in journalism, as it advocates for information integrity in efforts to fight information disorder.
See, journalism holds the power to shape society. On account of this, it begs for absolute frankness and morality. Just like there are experts in fact-checking and verification, there also exist experts in forgery and manipulation. Don’t fall victim. We will share a very simple way to fact-check.
Let us consider a headline that has been popping up on several websites as an advertisement. “GTBank Kenya sues James Mwangi for what he said on live television.”
By the time of writing this article, the story had already been pulled down. Luckily, a fact-checker always finds ways around trickery.
At first glance, this story appears factual. However, it is stained with red flags. First, the story’s author (Allan Adhiambo) raises the alarm. According to the Business Daily website, the most recent story by Allan Adhiambo was published on November 3, 2024. So, this is clearly not Allan’s story.
This story opens with a dialogue between Equity Bank’s managing director and CEO, James Mwangi, and business journalist, Maina Chege. It points to a scenario where the CEO accidentally reveals how “he makes easy money.” The story continues to elaborate that GTBank, following Mwangi’s revelation, interrupted the show demanding a halt to the interview.
Following the CEO’s “leak,” the article points to a platform that generates money through trading in the stock exchange, where all you are required to do is activate an account using a minimum amount of $250, which translates to Sh32,376, and start making profits in minutes. Conclusive right?
According to the article, the website uses Artificial Intelligence to orchestrate an impressive 80 per cent probability of success in returns. And at this rate and avoided withdrawals, your 32k ought to make you a millionaire in less than three months. Utakosaje kuamini?
If you have interacted with Business Daily content, you must have already flagged the use of the “Trading Bell” programme. Trading Bell runs under KTN News and not Business Daily. Two different companies, right?
Now, shifting to the truth, the photos used in the story are manipulated to fit the context. The original interview containing these images happened on July 26, 2023, when Equity Bank launched its 2022 Sustainability Report.
Considering that the media is powerful, this story could have convinced many people that this is a legitimate way of making easy cash.
Bearing this discussion in mind, I leave every media greenhorn and pundit with an assignment: investigate this story and establish its veracity.
