ECOWAS RALLIES WEST AFRICAN MEDIA TO DEFEND TRUTH AS IT TRAINS GUINEAN JOURNALISTS ON INFORMATION INTEGRITY.
By Raymond Enoch
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has, in recent years, intensified its investment in training journalists and media practitioners across its Member States to safeguard information integrity in the region. Against the backdrop of rising fake news, polarising misinformation, and coordinated disinformation campaigns that threaten peace, democracy and social cohesion, ECOWAS has been rolling out a series of capacity-building workshops aimed at strengthening responsible journalism, fact-checking, and media and information literacy. Working with regional and international partners, these trainings seek to empower newsrooms and journalists with the tools to verify information, report conflicts sensitively, and promote narratives that support stability, good governance, and regional integration in West Africa.
On the the 21st of November 2025, the ECOWAS Commission has deepened this regional push against fake news and anti-democratic narratives with the launch of a two-day intensive capacity-building workshop for journalists and media practitioners in the Republic of Guinea, focused on promoting information integrity across West Africa.
Organised through the ECOWAS Directorate of Communication in partnership with the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) and Code for Africa, and supported by the Government of Germany, the training, holding from 21–22 November 2025 in Conakry, is equipping Guinean journalists with practical skills in media and information literacy, conflict-sensitive reporting, fact-checking and responsible coverage of peace, security and governance issues in the region.
Delivering a goodwill message, the Deputy Head of Mission of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Conakry, Mr. Reinhard MECKE, praised ECOWAS for taking a structured, regional approach to strengthening the media’s capacity in the face of growing information disorder. He noted that this series of training sessions, implemented in several countries across the sub-region, reflects what he described as remarkable leadership and a strong commitment to a more informed, resilient and united ECOWAS.
Declaring the workshop open on behalf of the President of the ECOWAS Commission, H.E. Dr. Omar Alieu TOURAY, the ECOWAS Resident Representative in the Republic of Guinea, H.E. Louis Blaise Aka BROU, described the initiative as both a call to action and a shared commitment to protect the truth, promote peace and defend democracy through responsible journalism. He stressed that journalists occupy a frontline position in shaping public opinion and must, therefore, be empowered to resist manipulation, uphold ethical standards and counter narratives that undermine stability and democratic governance.
The Conakry training is part of a broader ECOWAS effort to build a network of media professionals across West Africa who are equipped to identify, expose and counter fake news, misinformation and disinformation. By reinforcing the watchdog role of the media and strengthening professional standards, ECOWAS and its partners aim to ensure that citizens across the region can rely on credible information as a foundation for participation in democratic processes and deeper regional integration.
