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Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, the Minister of Information, on Friday, expressed concern about the creeping challenge of fake news in the Ghanaian media space.

He said the phenomenon is gradually gaining root with instances whereby the mainstream media outlets now publish some of the stories flying on the various fake news platforms.

“It is a debacle we must begin to confront, especially coming at a time people are now faking videos, which almost look real with the necessary algorisms and photos infused into a video about things you have not even said,” the Minister said.

He cited, for instance, the Menzgold saga whereby some media houses published that Nana Appiah Mensah, the Chief Executive Officer, of the gold dealership firm would arrive in Ghana on Thursday, January 17, which happened to be false.

Mr Oppong Nkrumah made the observation when the President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) Mr Roland Affail Monney led members of the National Executives of the Association to pay a courtesy call on him at the Ministry, in Accra.

The Minister said the time is ripe for stakeholders in the media space to engage in a roundtable discussion to find ways to identify fake news and tackle it because the trend threatens the mutual existence of the mainstream media and the work of professional journalists.

Mr Oppong Nkrumah also underscored the need for media practitioners to differentiate between opinion and facts in news stories so that people did not consume opinions as facts.

He, therefore, called for policy guidance on the usage of information from social media platforms to protect the sanctity of information given out as news.

The Minister announced that a roundtable discussion platform would be organised among key media stakeholders later this year to find solution to issues confronting the media landscape.