By Dada Ahmed in Lokoja.
Mr. Shuaibu Leman delivering his paper at the workshop.
The National Secretary, of the Nigeria Union of Journalists(NUJ), Mr. Shuaibu Leman has advised journalists in Nigeria to develop a vested interest in investigative journalism and shun fake news to deepen the nation's democracy.
Mal. Isiyaku Ahmed,
MD, Stallion Times Service Ltd, addressing participants at the workshop.
He advised Saturday in Lokoja in his two papers, entitled, "Conflict Sensitive Reporting and Safety of Journalists, as well as "Fake News and Ethical Journalism," he delivered. at a One-day Training Workshop on "Conflict Sensitive Reporting."
Our correspondent reports that the event was organized for working journalists in Lokoja by Stallion Times Media Services Ltd, based in Kano, with support from Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.
According to him, journalists must understand the dynamics of conflict to enable them to carry out effective investigations into such matters and to command the confidence and trust of the people as well seen to be writing for peace and deepening democratic tenets in the country.
He argued that while the role of journalists is to appreciate conflict and find lasting solutions to it, not many of them understand the dynamics and intricacies involved in the formation of a crisis.
"We need to educate government officials about issues concerning conflict but in doing so, we must understand it and deviate from unethical conduct by being fair in our reportage, starting from the choice of words we use in such exercise," he said.
Besides having a grasp of the concept of conflict and injecting that into their reportage, Leman also urged journalists to take precautionary measures in their investigation to avoid falling victim to the crisis.
Leman also called on journalists to imbibe the culture of objective reportage of conflict or other matters of critical importance towards solving the crisis and enhance social, economic, and political as well as unite the various ethnic nationalities in Nigeria.
Participants in a group photograph.
He said that by holding strongly to the ethics of journalism, practitioners would be able to hold government officials accountable for their actions and inactions while in public office and curb corruption.
The NUJ scribe said the role of the media in ensuring lasting democracy remained very crucial, and warned that "if you remove the media from democracy, what you will get is anarchy".
On "fake news and ethical journalism," the NUJ national secretary was mindful of the danger of indulging in such unethical expression, adding that fake news was capable of igniting a war in any society.
Leman reminded Nigerian journalists that the 1994 genocide in Rwanda was caused by journalists spreading fake news in the electronic media of that country, adding that many of the culprits had been serving various jail terms in that country up until now.
According to him, the essence of journalism is for the practitioners to use the profession to uplift society from squalor and poverty and not to propagate fake news.
Earlier in his address of welcome, Mal. Isiyaku Ahmed, the Managing Director of Stallion Times, said the workshop was to encourage journalists to provide accurate, objective, and balanced reportage.
Other objectives, he added, were to remind journalists of their constitutional roles to hold government accountable and to provide an opportunity for engagement on ethical issues in journalism.
Our correspondent reports that 40 journalists, cutting across electronic, print, and online media, attended the workshop. e of the participants.
Many of them said that the gains of the workshop had increased their skill, a development they added, would help them carry out investigative reportage of events in the state, and thanked the organizers for the training.
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