Africa-Press – Angola. The vice-president of the Regulatory Entity for Social Communication in Angola (ERCA), Paulo Mateta, this Thursday advised journalists to always verify the veracity of the information disclosed on social networks, before publishing them.
Paulo Mateta was speaking to the press, in Benguela, on the sidelines of a lecture on “Freedom of Expression and other Human Rights”, promoted by ERCA, with the aim of raising the awareness of journalists in this region of the country.
According to the person in charge, the journalist’s mission is to research and check whether a story on social networks is true, especially information that has the greatest impact on society.
The vice-president of ERCA says that the prominence of social media means, greater responsibility for Angolan journalists, in the sense of bringing to public debate certain situations that affect society, always guided by rigor.
Hence suggesting that journalists take greater advantage and have social networks as one of the good sources to research information of public interest.
He underlined that journalists and the media have more credibility because, being professionals, they are governed by ethics in disseminating information to the public.
“Due to the ethical requirement, the journalist only has to disclose the truth and before disclosing he has to check”, he stressed, suggesting that it can even help to form public opinion by making use of information on social networks.
“It’s taking the information and going after it and bringing the version of the facts with all the authors and each approach according to the characteristics of each organ: radio, television or newspaper”, he reinforced.
He also launched a challenge so that media professionals do not continue to do desk journalism, waiting for the news to reach them from the institutional communication and press offices.
In his opinion, journalists today have the challenge of keeping up with social networks, but they cannot run at the speed of clicks, in order to avoid fake news.
In turn, João Valentim, speaker of the lecture, considers that, despite being one of the great rights, freedom of expression has limits.
He recalled the case of the genocide in Rwanda, in 1994, referring that the excesses in the use of the right of expression caused a tragedy in that country.
The lecture, held at the municipal administration of Benguela, brought together journalists from public and private media, and officials from the media offices of the Provincial Government of Benguela and municipal administrations.
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