The Information Minister has called for the support of the Ghana Journalist Association (GJA) and other stakeholders in the media to join forces to fight Fake News.

Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said the phenomenon remains to be a major creeping challenge in the media space.

“We may not be in a situation where it is very alarming today but it is a debacle that we must begin to confront especially in an era now where people can even fake videos that almost looks real,” he said.

He said this when the GJA president, Affail Monney, and his team visited the Ministry on Friday to inform him of the upcoming launch of the Association’s 70th Anniversary in August.

The Offoase Ayirebi MP lauded the Association for not only existing but being at the forefront of the country’s fight to come back to democratic rule.

The Minister said efforts are being made to strengthen the GJA to a level that every practising journalist feels entitled to be part of it.

“It will be important the GJA is assisted to come to that level where it is the pride of place for every practising journalist. I think we can use the celebration not just as a moment to commemorate 70 years of existence but also to examine how we can get the GJA to get to that level where it is the pride of every practising journalist,” he said.

Mr Oppong Nkrumah, however, noted that the Ministry has a number of concerns with regard to happenings in the media which they will sit with the GJA, Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA) and other stakeholders to deliberate later in the year.

“We will spend time to interrogate a number of issues. Fake News remains to be a major creeping challenge in the media space…just recently, in the Menzgold saga, it has even got to the extent of mainstream media houses publishing some of the information that has been flying on fake news platforms.

Former Super Morning Show host on Joy FM said this is important because “our mutual existence as professional in the media space is threatened by the existence of Fake news.”

He looks forward to the stakeholders meeting to confronting the issue head-on.

The Information Minister is also worried about what he describes as “opinion journalism” as the nation needs to wake up from knowing how much of the information from the media is fact and how much is the opinion of the journalist.