In Mogadishu, a small but determined push against a tide of falsehoods
MOGADISHU — For three days in late October, a conference room in the Somali capital hummed with the sort of quiet urgency that has come to define journalism in fragile states: laptops open, phones muted, trainers and trainees leaning into the same problem — how to stop lies from becoming news.
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The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ), with funding from the Australian government via its High Commission in Nairobi, brought 32 reporters, editors and broadcasters from Mogadishu and each of Somalia’s five federal member states to a capacity-building workshop from Oct. 25–27. The theme — “Building Information Integrity in Somalia” — is deliberately broad: equipping largely young media workers with tools to identify, check and push back against disinformation and misinformation.
Why this matters now
“Disinformation is a serious challenge to journalism, information integrity, social well‑being and peace in Somalia,” said Omar Faruk Osman, NUSOJ’s secretary‑general, at the opening. “Journalists must have the skills, confidence and ethical grounding to independently identify falsehoods and protect the truth.”
His words resonated in a country where radio still reaches remote villages, WhatsApp groups can set town gossip alight, and social media feeds are a battleground for political, clan and economic narratives. Somalia’s long history of oral storytelling and community debate gives information a rapid, human velocity — which is a strength when truth spreads, and a vulnerability when falsehoods do.
External actors, local power struggles, and the fragmented media ecosystem all play a part. The Australian High Commissioner to Kenya, Jenny Da Rin, joined the opening virtually and warned that false narratives are not just an annoyance but a threat to public health, elections and democratic institutions. “This workshop builds on our partnership with NUSOJ by helping journalists strengthen their ability to identify, counter and prevent the impact of disinformation and misinformation,” she said.
Practical skills for a dangerous information landscape
The course mixed hands‑on exercises with scenario work. Trainers led sessions on:
- fact‑checking and verification techniques for text, video and images;
- digital verification and the use of open‑source tools;
- debunking propaganda, including violent extremist narratives;
- ethical reporting in politically sensitive environments;
- digital safety and protecting sources and journalists online;
- audience engagement and media literacy to reduce unintentional amplification of false content.
One radio reporter from Garowe said the practical exercises were the most valuable. “We talk about journalism in classrooms, but this was about doing — tracing an image back to where it started, spotting altered video, and learning how to report without feeding rumours,” she said. “Here we learned how to slow down when everyone else wants to shout.”
Press freedom, poverty and professionalism
NUSOJ’s effort sits at the intersection of two long‑running problems: the decline of trust in information and the precarious state of journalism in Somalia. Many reporters are young, poorly paid and exposed to security risks. Inadvertent mistakes, or the temptation to repeat sensational claims to attract clicks, can have outsized consequences.
Abdinasir Hussein, acting director general for the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, voiced a rare public alignment between government and the press on the need for better reporting. “By empowering journalists with knowledge and skills, we are collectively strengthening the media’s role in promoting peace, stability, democracy and national unity,” he said. “Ultimately, both journalists and the government serve the same country.”
That sentiment reflects a pragmatic acceptance: in societies recovering from conflict, accurate information is a public good. Yet trust must be rebuilt not only by journalists but through institutions that improve transparency and accountability.
Networks, not one‑off trainings
Beyond techniques, participants valued the chance to build professional networks across regions that often receive disparate coverage. Trainers ran group simulations that mimicked the kinds of cross‑border rumours common in Somalia. The goal was not just to teach individuals how to verify but to encourage a culture of peer review: colleagues who check each other’s work before it goes live, and newsrooms that resist the click‑driven race to publish.
“We are creating a small, resilient community of practice,” Osman said. “Most of our journalists are young; continuous learning and solidarity are essential if we are going to protect journalism as a cornerstone of democracy.”
How far can training go?
Workshops like this are a necessary step, but they raise bigger questions. How do journalists sustain verification practices when infrastructure is weak, deadlines are tight and economic pressures incentivize speed over accuracy? How does training change the incentives inside newsrooms and the expectations of audiences used to instantaneous content? And crucially, who protects journalists who expose falsehoods that powerful actors prefer to keep in circulation?
International support — in this case, Australia’s — signals a growing recognition that information integrity is a global security issue. Aid dollars that shore up independent media and build verification capacity are part of a wider effort to strengthen democratic resilience. But for that investment to pay off, local structures must absorb new practices: editors must slow the tempo of coverage, managers must value accuracy over clicks, and communities must be invited to be part of the solution through media literacy.
As the workshop closed, trainees returned to their newsrooms and airwaves carrying newly sharpened tools and a shared sense of urgency. In a place where a false image or a distorted claim can inflame tensions, the work of 32 determined journalists may look modest. Still, it is in these incremental shifts — a corrected story here, a debunked claim there, a newsroom that checks before it publishes — that the foundations of information integrity are rebuilt.
Will those small gains hold against the next viral lie? The future of Somalia’s public life may depend on that answer.
By Ali Musa
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
