‘I apologize and have learned my lesson…’ – US Journalism Professor moans for spreading fake news

Farooq Kperogi, the US-based journalist and media scholar who was reported yesterday by Parkchester Times for spreading fake news about Boko Haram Massacre in Nigeria, has apologized to the public via his Facebook timeline.

In his lengthy note tagged 'My Story about this Fake Photo’, Kperogi accepted he was emotionally carried away by the picture, and that led to his careless and swift lapse of judgement, which he regretted that it gave room for supporters of President Muhamadu Buhari to nail him.

‘This photo you see here touched me deeply, so I shared it on Twitter, where I am now more active…,’ said Kperogi.

‘I thought the photo was real. It turned out, however, that it was screenshot from a Hausa movie and had nothing to do with the current massacre of our soldiers by Boko Haram terrorists,’ added the Associate Professor of Journalism and Emerging Media.

Kperogi further claimed that he couldn’t detect that the photo was fake because he had never watched any Hausa movies before, and that he was misled by those who had shared it before him on Twitter.

‘I have never watched a Hausa movie in my entire life, so I have no familiarity with the faces of the actors in the photo. My reverse image search didn’t yield any result that indicated that the photo was from a Hausa movie. Plus, the poor quality of the photo convinced me that it was inexpertly shot from a grainy video,’ said Kperogi.

‘Before sharing it, I did a quick reverse image search, but the images I got led me to other shares on Twitter,’ Kperogi added.

Having apologized for spreading the fake news, Kperogi noted that he had learned his lesson, which perhaps would strengthen him to carefully continue to fight for justice, most especially, for Nigerians.

‘I apologize and have learned my lesson, but I won't relent in my struggle for a better Nigeria,’ Kperogi concluded.