US Journalism Professor Propagates Fake News, Nigerians Slam Kperogi

On Friday November 23, an Associate Professor of Journalism and Emerging Media at Kennesaw State University, Farooq Kperogi, was caught online spreading fake news about Boko Haram massacre in Nigeria, using pictures from a Hausa film.

'This photo broke my heart! It bespeaks profound anguish and helplessness. Boko Haram is on a murdering spree of our soldiers, but all that the President cares about is 2019 election. The President’s aides are tweeting about empty endorsements and about GEJ’s book. Incredible!' Kperogi tweeted.

However, a Nigerian-based veteran journalist, Umar Jibrilu Gwandu, refuted Kperogi’s post, claiming that the picture shared by Kperogi was culled from a movie produced by Kannywood in 2014.

'Incredible! A "Professor" of Journalism using a two-year old photograph from a scene in a Kannywood film claiming to be a soldier killed by Boko Haram.'

He further lamented that he was disappointed to note that a professor of Journalism and Emerging Media could be emotionally moved to join propagators of fake news and disseminators of global information disorder.

'Manipulated and fake context photographs have been subjects of discourse in fake news and global information disorder,' Gwandu added.

In another scenario, Kperogi swiftly responded to Daily Trust’s headline tweet about the kidnap of 15 girls by Boko Haram, blaming Nigerian government and her military authorities for not doing anything meaningful since they assumed office in 2015, and for deceiving the masses through their media propagandas.

'No, not again! Not again! Those are the daughters of people like you and me. Imagine the horror they’re going through now.

'What has really changed since 2015? Well, except sterile government propaganda and knee jerk defensiveness from military authorities. So sad!' Kperogi tweeted.

Ironically, Nigerians on Tweeter found out that it was actually Kperogi that appeared to be a propagandist as the incident of the kidnap by Boko Haram actually took place in Niger Republic, and not in Nigeria as he claimed.

'Something is truly wrong (with Kperogi). It was in Niger Republic not Nigeria. When you read the headlines without reading the full story, something like this is bound to happen,' Gwandu responded.

Farooq Adamu Kperogi (born 1973), is a US-based Nigerian academic, media scholar, political critic and newspaper columnist. As a former journalist, Kperogi had been a reporter and news editor at many Nigerian newspapers including the Daily Trust, Daily Triumph and the now defunct New Nigerian. Kperogi was among the presidential speechwriters during Obasanjo's administration and had taught journalism at Ahmadu Bello University and Kaduna Polytechnic. He teaches journalism at Kennesaw State University in Georgia, United States. Kperogi came into lime light through his Politics of Grammar particularly during the era of former President Goodluck Jonathan.<img alt=”” src=”https://parkchestertimes.com/uploads/images/image_750x_5bfbfe355248f.jpg” style=”height:461px; width:480px” />

Image from Kannywood film, 2014