Lai Mohammed laments negative impact of Social media on PR practice
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has described social media as a nightmare to image makers because of its disinformation through different fake and distorted news.
Alahaji Lai Mohammed stated this on Monday in Lagos at the opening of the 4th Commonwealth Public Relations Congress adding that image makers in both public and private sectors were victims of the trend.
“Today, anyone with access to a Smartphone can put out any information, whether accurate or not, that could go viral in minutes. No fact-checking, no accuracy, no fairness, no rules. They just spread whatever information catches their fancy, and they have their own public that believes them.” he said.
The event organised by the Management School, London and the Business Education Examinations Council, has the theme “Strategic Management of Reputation Risk in an Interdependent World.’’
“To understand the seriousness of this, there is an on-going debate in the U.S. over the role that disinformation played in the recent presidential election.
The minister said, locally, the trend has made the job of government image makers a task so daunting that it is denying them of sleep.
“Government image makers now sleep with one eye opened, that’s if we sleep at all, because while we are sleeping, the purveyors of distorted and fake news are busy cooking their stuff,” he said.
In tackling the challenge, the minister said that in addition to radio, television, newspapers and the new media, his ministry has revived an age-long practice of Town Hall Meeting to engage people directly and get their feedback on topical issues.
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