Politics
By Anthony Isibor
THE International Press Centre, IPC, in partnership with the European Union Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria, EUSDGN, on Thursday urged bloggers and online journalists to focus on only fair, accurate, ethical and inclusive reporting to ensure violent free general elections.
The one-day skill-enhancing and capacity-building virtual workshop organized for Southern bloggers and online journalists was organized as part of the activities under Component 4 (Support to media) of the European Union Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria, EUSDGN II, project, of which IPC is the lead partner.
Maureen Chigbo, President of GOCOOP, who was also the moderator of the workshop urged the trainees to ensure that they do justice to the coverage of the election to ensure that the country remains together.
Restating Larry J. Sabato’s quote, “Every election is determined by people who show up”, Chigbo noted that journalists are usually among the first in line of the people to show up in an electoral process and have a huge role to play.
She noted that the way and manner in which journalists report the election is critical to the successful management of the year’s general elections.
Also stating Joseph Stallion’s quote that “People who cast the vote do not decide the election, the people who count it do”, she urged the trainees to ensure that they monitor the process from start to finish to ensure credible polls.
Similarly, Quasim Akinreti, deputy director, digital media, Voice of Nigeria, VON, who spoke on the need for journalists to stick to professionalism and ethics in online reporting of campaigns and elections, noted that this year’s elections will define the future of the country due to the number of fresh voters who will be involved.
He therefore urged journalists as the life wire of the nation to be careful of the narrative they push out and focus on issue based reporting so as to educate the young crop of fresh voters who will be voting for the first time.
He also cautioned journalists to avoid stereotyping, manipulation of campaign pictures as well as inaccurate captioning of photos.
‘There is relatively high margin of errors in terms of facts, we must be fair, we must verify, all allegations received, we should always balance our stories (reflect all sides of a story) and increase inclusive reporting of the rights of women.
He also called on the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers, GOCOOP and the Guild of Editors, to always be ready to call their erring members to order, punish offenders and ensure discipline.
In his remarks, Prof. Muyiwa Popoola noted that although there is bound to be conflict where there is politics, journalists must ensure that they adhere to Sensitive Conflict Reporting, SCR, rather than Conflicts Induced Reporting, CIR, so as to avoid escalating the conflict.
He stated that SCR, which is the use of temperate language, is the paradigm in political reporting and must be adhered to.
Rotim Oyekanmi, Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chair, noted that fake news by some online publishers was one of the first major challenges faced by the commission ahead of the 2023 general elections and called on them to ensure that they adhere to professionalism in their reportage and ensure fairness, balance in their stories.
According to him, fake news has great effect on conflicts and because Nigeria has always been fraught with conflicts, journalists must report in a way that does not escalate these conflicts.
He therefore urged reporters not to escalate the issues by pushing certain narrative colorations, but to be circumspect in the way they report conflict.
Realnews reports that the overall objective of the capacity building workshop was to strengthen the online media and bloggers for fair, accurate, ethical and inclusive reporting of the electoral processes and elections, to mitigate perceived and anticipated issues of spread of hate speech online and other forms of non-conflict sensitive reporting.
KN
Tags: Anthony Isibor EUSDGN GOCOOP INEC IPC Maureen Chigbo Prof. Muyiwa Popoola Quasim Akinreti Rotim Oyekanmi Voice of Nigeria
