Media
DEVCOMS, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) in Plateau, has called on media practitioners to increase reportage on gains of child spacing.
Mr Wika Gofwen, the focal person for DeVComs, disclosed this at a media roundtable organised by the group’s family planning team, Plateau chapter in Jos on Thursday.
He said the roundtable with the theme “Family Planning Challenges: The Role of the Media in Plateau”, was to address family planning issues.
Gofwen said it would also create an avenue for indepth conference on the role of the media toward addressing issues around family planning.
According to him, there is the need for proper choice of family planning terminologies that fits a particular region and investigative reports on the gains of child spacing.
He added that debunking the myths surrounding its practice and more engagement of religious and traditional leaders were ways in which the media could sensitise the public.
Some of the discussants at the meeting opined that ignorance and illiteracy were identified as bane to child spacing, stressing the need for media to restrategise its reportage.
The discussants also emphasised the need for the media to promote positive mind-set in the society.
They pointed out that capacity building of journalists on child spacing was vital to ensure that they passed the precise message to the public.
One of the discussants, the General Manager, Plateau Publishing Company, Mr Boniface Gwotbit, represented by Mr Katdapba Gobum, said it was important for journalists to understand terminologies used to communicate effectively to the public.
Another participant, Mr Abdullahi Yusuf, the Zonal Manager of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Jos Zonal Office, represented by Miss Martha Agas, re-emphasised the importance of the right terminologies in reportage.
Yusuf added that it was necessary that the right technologies were used, since the society was a multi-cultural and multi-religious one.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that at the end of the discussion, it was agreed that a blueprint would be developed on how to effectively reach out to the public as regards Child Spacing.
NAN
– May 20, 2021 @ 15:09 GMT
Tags: NGO calls for increased media reportage on child spacing
