PHOENIX, Arizona — Journalists are being encouraged to increase their online presence as social media influencers in order to ensure the publication of credible information on that platform.

“A trained journalist can be a good social media influencer because, at least for him/her, they know the concept of ethics, accuracy, and independence — I don’t have any problem with that. The problem is when someone from nowhere, without even any skill, is becoming a social media influencer; I am very cautious about that because at the end we end up having people being fed with poison,” Rwandan journalist and media lawyer Jean Paul Ibambe told the Jamaica Observer at Arizona State University last Thursday.

Ibambe was among a panel of journalists discussing ‘The Role of the Media in the US Election Landscape’, at the university.

Collaborations with influencers have become more popular as a campaign strategy, and with the United States presidential election set for tomorrow there continues to be a debate about misinformation and malformation among American voters.

Ibambe believes journalists are crucial to maintaining accuracy on social media.

“If all journalists can be social media influencers that can be very good. It can even be a good sign that the more journalists are online sharing information, probably the more we are dealing with [addressing] misinformation and fake news, because at least for the journalists they have that concept of ethics,” he said.

Ibambe, a Humphrey fellow at Arizona State University, is worried that social media influencers abuse the fact that they do not need any qualifications.

“Those who are on the Internet do not need accreditation, they do not need such a registration of their platforms so that is why I say there is much more freedom on social media. Media houses have to get accreditation, depending on the country you are from, so there is much more freedom on social media,” he reasoned.

“You can wake up in the morning and… set up your platform and express yourself. Sometimes you can even use an anonymous account, so no one knows who you are and where you are,” he added.

He pointed out that more governments across the world are partnering with social media influencers to push their agenda.

“Recently you will see that the governments are very much aggressive in using social media influencers or users, which is not bad on one hand — the problem now is probably the level of media literacy of our population. So in the case of misinformation, propaganda, fake news, with such kind of information the audience can critically analyse that information so that they can know what to believe and what not to believe,” he said.

He explained that a vast number of Americans still rely on traditional media for accuracy.

“Here in America, people believe more in print media, television, and broadcast media; social media is just to express themselves. The media houses are using those social media platforms themselves too but in other countries such as Rwanda, where I am from, we have issues of media literacy, which is still very low,” he said.

“We are not sure if we are feeding our population with accurate information or if the population is ready to consume or to critically analyse the information out there,” he added.

WASHINGTON, DC, United States — People cast their votes at an early voting site at Martin Luther King Jr Memorial Library on November 3, 2024 in Washington, DC. The nation’s capital is bracing for protests and potential unrest as a contentious election day is approaching. Photo: AFP