"Well-meaning Nigerians should condemn the use of fake videos and photos that play on the psyche of Nigerians. The condemnation should extend to warning those that do this to desist from further terrorising Nigerians by helping Boko Haram to promote its act of terror," Maxwell Gowon, Executive Director of the Coalition, said.
The Coalition of Civil Society Organisations of Human Rights and Good Governance has released a preliminary report on the recent attack on the Nigerian Army by Boko Haram insurgents in Borno State.
The coalition, however, faulted the use of manipulated videos and images to depict the attack on the troops by the insurgents.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, Maxwell Gowon, Executive Director of the Coalition, claimed that the material released online (social media) were "mostly captured from movie scenes".
Gowon said media reports of the attacks on the troops with particular emphasis on the casualty figure, were monitored for comparative value by the CSOs.
"The video released by Boko Haram and the various versions published, as well as screen grabs and still photos published and shared on social media were analysed. Other unrelated footages of terror attacks were published by some platforms that possibly do not have the necessary skills for video authentication and verification. Unrelated gory pictures were similarly misappropriated in reporting the incidents," he said.
Still on the prevalence of fake news, he continued: "In a few instances, stills from a Kannywood movie of an actor-soldier weeping over a fallen colleague-actor were serially shared as Nigerian soldiers mourning after the attack.
"Some political players used the attack as political prop as part of their campaign for the 2019 general election, which poses the risk of validating the crimes Boko Haram is committing while encouraging them to commit more atrocities since they are being incentivised to see themselves as having a participatory audience.
"International news networks and organizations have cashed in on the attack reiterate their long held stereotype to cast aspersion on the war against terrorism while meetings of the Service Chiefs to brief the Commander-in-Chief have been interpreted as censure of these high ranking military officials. This raised the concern of what relationship exists between these foreign media and the terrorists.
"The foreign media have shifted from referring to the terrorists as Boko Haram to using the term 'Islamic State in West Africa (ISWA)', a clear departure from their hesitation to acknowledge the IS/ISIS name in the Middle East.
"Well-meaning Nigerians should condemn the use of fake videos and photos that play on the psyche of Nigerians. The condemnation should extend to warning those that do this to desist from further terrorising Nigerians by helping Boko Haram to promote its act of terror.
"The Federal Government should carry out a comprehensive review of the activities of correspondents of foreign media platforms to ascertain the extent to which they are working with terrorists and some local actors to discredit the Nigerian military and its efforts. The review should benchmark the conduct of these correspondents with the prevailing legislation and practice in their countries of origin and those of the countries where their organisations have their international headquarters.
"The extant anti-terrorism legislation in the country should be activated to see the possibility of making the promoters of fake news to account for their actions.
"In the light of the accounts by the local population and the transition of foreign media into adopting ISWA as opposed to Boko Haram, Nigerian authorities should review its treatment of the terrorists as Boko Haram members (that the records have shown to have been defeated) and see what international intervention can be brought in since the Islamic State is not a creation of Nigerian factors.
"The Nigerian military should organise a refresher clinic on reporting terrorism for bloggers with a view to highlighting the imperatives of video and photo authentication."