By Mayowa Adeniran –
As the 2019 elections in Nigeria moves closer, journalists have been trained on how to avoid triggering a crisis with news stories on election and politics.
The advice was given at a two-day workshop organized by International Press Centre (IPC) and European Union Support for Democratic Governance in Nigeria (EU-SDGN) with journalist charged to focus on good use of language to avoid violence. Journalists at the event were also charged to be sensitive to conflict in their reportage.
Addressing participants, Prof. Muyiwa Popoola stated that journalism has gone beyond publishing information without considering how it could affect the public.
He also tasked journalists to continually perform their gate-keeping role especially as the heat of the campaign is high in the pre-election period.
He said, “Avoid only reporting what divides the sides in the conflict-prone political environment. Nigerian journalists should help to foster and stabilize Nigeria’s democracy.
The professor of Journalism, Communication and Media Studies, Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo State further expressed that journalists should “endeavour to ask the opposing sides certain questions that may reveal common ground, so that the report could focus on interests or goals shared by opposing parties, maintain balance and e temperate in the use of words.”
On his part, David Ajikobi, Head, AfricaCheck, Nigeria maintained that journalists should constantly probe information divulged by politicians noting that politicians will hope to sell their agenda to the public through the use of inaccurate information.
Ajikobi took journalists at the workshop through a series of practical sessions in verifying claims and establishing its genuineness.
Director of IPC, Mr Lanre Arogundade in his remarks, stated that the training was to help journalists understand and imbibe the principles of fairness, diversity and objectivity in reporting the electoral process.
Participants Laud IPC and EU-SDGN
Journalists who took in the media workshop on best practices and professional reporting of the electoral process by IPC expressed their satisfaction at the step taken by IPC adding that it would help in better coverage of the 2019 general elections in the country.
Head of News and Current Affairs of Rock City 101.9 FM, Ayobamidele Ayodo, maintained that the training enlightened him to maximize opportunities that are there on the internet and made him know how to crosscheck facts as a reporter.
Sodiq Yusuf of Osun Defender thanked facilitators at the workshop stating that they exposed him to be more professional and be sensitive to conflict in their reporting.
“As the 2019 election approaches, one needs to also look at ways of improving one’s job to be conflict sensitive especially if he or she is being deployed to volatile areas during the elections. We were also given a lot of insight into how to deal with issues if we have them and an eye opener for us to learn more.
On his part, Anayo Ezugwu of Real News Magazine posited that journalists were trained to do more than just reporting but verify stories.
“It is fantastic and that is exactly what we need as journalists in Nigeria because we have gone beyond just reporting and covering of election, we should now add value to whatever we are doing during the election. It is not just writing stories but equally helping us to verify even the stories that have been reported or those in the social media.”
Olalekan Adidoju of RaveFM Osogbo also voiced that they were exposed to knowledge that will help improve their reporting skills.
“The things we have able to learn are things we do not hear every day. For example, we were taught practical steps on how to fact check and distinguish between hate speech and dangerous speech and again, we saw that the role of a journalist should be of growth and development most especially and we should what it means to be a conflict resolution, inclined journalist.”
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