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Shaping Minds, Sharing Stories: The Future of Responsible Media in A Digital Age
Reflections by Former Editor of The Guardian, Mr. Abraham Ogbodo at Matriculation and official opening ceremony of Masters Builders Institute of Media Studies, Otiro-Owhrode, Along ECN, Udu Expressway, Delta State.
Protocols
Let me begin by thanking the Proprietor/Rector of Masters Builder Institute of Media Studies, Mr. Okojoto Gochua and the Registrar, Mrs. Franca Ossai for the warm invitation extended to me to speak on this topic. What I will be offering in the time allotted to me is a reflection on the evolution of how media story telling has shaped minds, and how the media landscape itself has been fundamentally reshaped by revolutions in technological capabilities. These vast changes have had implications, not only in terms of how stories shape human progress, but also the boundaries of truth, accountability, decorum and even in terms of the ideals that govern the exchange of ideas between individuals, communities and even the nations of the world.  
Nonetheless, the first point to stress in this reflection is that since the start of time, stories and narratives have shaped human existence. Whether it’s the creation stories of the religious books or the oral traditions, which were instrumental in shaping morals or acceptable conduct in African cultures, stories serve as the rallying point for pushing human progress and understanding. As such, no matter what part of the world the human comes from, he/she is shaped by stories and in return, people contribute to shaping the stories of their lives, communities and countries. So, what makes stories so powerful? Stories are powerful because they are an indispensable part of the process of communication. Stories are steeped in emotions, which serves as the glue for complex sets of information. Stories give meaning to complex realities; stories provide colour and depth to what would have been otherwise difficult material. Essentially, stories allow people, communities and countries to connect with messages in a deeper, more meaningful way.
In the traditional context of media studies and by extension journalism, stories play the role of informing, entertaining and educating. In other words, in the classical journalistic worldview, stories contribute to the time-honoured ideals of societal development. So when acronyms like the 3W and H are carefully analysed, what is noticeable is that the methodology tends towards a search for accuracy, the truth, and the empowering attributes of narratives. In such communication loop, the process is not just about the routine sender and receiver. Equally critical before the dissemination of stories through the media, is the role and function of the gatekeeper. The gatekeeping role played by an Editor is meant to provide the guard rails for quality control. Little wonder, when journalists share stories, they shape minds in the sense of enlightenment and empowerment. Whether it is a news story, feature, analysis or an editorial, the themes, tone and delivery is supposedly guided by these principles. 
As such, media stories in the traditional journalism perspective promotes the right of the public to know without jeopardizing the need to protect the same public from false information and harmful information. Any gatekeeper worth his salt knows that accuracy, fidelity to the facts and accountability whenever there are lapses remain the name of the game. Rigour, journalistic ethics, house styles served as the crucibles for shaping stories, before sharing them. Whenever they are inaccuracies, there are spaces created for corrigendum, erratum, and the editor’s notes. These serve as the traditional accountability tools, which drive objectivity and address factual and contextual lapses. This irrevocable commitment to fact, which is the province of the journalist and any credible media strory cannot be compromised under any guise. Where media houses neglected to invoke these instruments of accountability, they are faced with the consequence of losing credibility with the audience.
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, these centuries-old journalistic ideals are fast being eroded under the pressures of digital disruption. With the advent of the Internet, which has been described as the network of networks, and social media platforms, journalism in the digital age was birthed with a lot of potential. Today, several legacy media have focused on moving their outputs online. The audience is bigger, the messaging is instantaneous, and the possibility of sharing to millions, if not billions of “followers” online, is limitless. The revenue model is no more the same. The result of this revolution in Information and Communications Technologies is that the old boundaries and rules-based journalistic approaches have come under severe pressure. The filter of the gatekeeper is now conveniently kept in abeyance. 

While the innovation of digital reporting and story telling has brought immense benefits in terms of access and user-driven agenda setting, the clear and present dangers of misinformation and disinformation remain sources of serious concern. In an era of Artificial Intelligence, deepfakes, trolls and bots, the huge question mark now accompanies every story. Specifically in societies with very limited levels of digital literacy, these realities present the thin line between life and death. The massive swathe of disinformation in the digital age brings limitless jeopardy to simple decisions, which have to be made on the basis of viral disinformation. How the woman in the village votes, whether a vaccine will be accepted or rejected, and the possibility of a marginalized fellow getting support now depends, not on the accuracy of information, but on the scary prospect that such information has been doctored through AI or deliberately disseminated by a biased algorithm on a social media platform. As such, the boon of digital technologies notwithstanding as instruments of sharing stories, which will shape humanity notwithstanding, we must be mindful of the creeping authoritarianism and patently false narratives, which have combined to taint or constrain the truth in media stories. 
What am I saying in essence? The task is not to agonise, but to organise. We must as students of media, as journalists and as civil society work together to wrestle technology from the hands of those whose sole objective is to mis/disinform for pecuniary or political objectives. We must curate knowledge in areas such as AI and deploy it to fight the internal and external disinformation, which seek to deny the people, especially those at the grassroots access to accurate information. We must research and join the coalitions engaged in fact-checking and truth telling. Of course, from the point of view of knowledge, we must adopt the whole of government, and whole of society approach to tackle the social media platforms, which incentivize disinformation by rewarding clickbait headlines from paid bloggers and influencers. Stories ultimately shape minds, we have a collective responsibility to ensure the ones we are consuming and taking to heart and not stripped of the truth and the facts. In what is called the post truth world, the disinformed society, is ultimately a deformed society. 
Thank you for your kind attention.