National President, Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Comrade Chris Isiguzo, has said the root of fake news can be traced to non-media practitioners who often disseminate such information for their self-interest.
He added that such spurious information is being bankrolled by individuals or politicians.
Isiguzo made this known during a visit to the University of Maiduguri. Isiguzo was accompanied by some of his executive members including the Alhassan Yahaya Abdullahi (vice NUJ Northeast); national secretary to the Nigerian Association of Women Journalist (NAWOJ) Ladi Bala, where he held an interactive session with students of Mass Communication at the Lecture Theatre Hall 6 of UNIMAID.
Isiguzo added that the union is working hand in hand with the Ministry of Interior to provide back code for every media practitioners to curb the menace of fake news dissemination.
The Dean, Faculty of Social Science of UNIMAID Prof Danjuma Gambo, warned that practitioners were being threatened, adding that the environment must be made more conducive for them to operate.
Gambo further urged the union to organise a workshop for journalists where they would be trained on how to report insurgency, especially in the Northeast.
Gambo accused most proprietors of media houses of casualissation, a development he described as unhealthy for the profession.
Isiguzo advised student-journalists to use the ample opportunity afforded them by their university to practise their profession on campus, before joining mainstream media.