By CHINYERE Nnaemeka
An international African led non-governmental human right, peace and sustainable development organization; Alliance for African (AFA), through the support of Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) and MacArthur Foundation, has called on journalists to begin taking steps towards championing good governance around the country.
The body made the call on Monday while holding a one-day Media Roundtable Discussion for Journalists in Imo State, on the Role of the Media in Championing Good Governance, Accountability, Transperancy and Inclusion in the State.
The participants who were from both Print, Broadcast and Online media platforms were taken through the session by one of the Facilitators of AFA, Nnennaya Eneremmadu.
Saying that the media is the window to the society, Eneremmadu reminded the newsmen of their basic roles which is to inform, educate, entertain, persuade among others.
She pointed out that the media in upholding these roles, should add more passion to it in ensuring that there is good governance in the state.
Talking about – “Media in Championing Good Governance”, the facilitator averred that the media should always ensure they give accurate and timely information about government actions, policies, and decisions in other to inform and engage the citizens about such activities of government.
She continued, “the media should once again embrace its watchdog role; investigative journalism which exposes corruption, inefficiency, and abuse of power in other to foster transparency and prevent misuse of public resources.
“The media should doggedly uphold their Public Awareness Creation Role; news reporting, analysis, and commentary raise awareness about issues such as human rights violations, social injustices, and environmental degradation as it encourages public discourse, and calls for reforms.
“Facilitate Dialogue and debates which amplifies the voices of marginalized groups for inclusion, and builds a more participatory and democratic society.
“The media should continue monitoring elections, and fact-checking political claims to help voters make informed decisions hold electoral processes accountable, and ensure free and fair elections, among others, ‘Eneremmadu stated’.
Dwelling on the challenges of the media; Government interference and sponsorship, pressure to prioritize profit over journalistic integrity, threat to journalists’ safety, digital disinformation and fake news, lack of access to information, among others, she averred that the media in partnership with civil society organizations and policymakers can mitigate the aforementioned challenges by promoting independent journalism; media totally being non partisan so as not to be bias in their reportage.
She continued that the media has to enhance media literacy by understanding the ethics of the profession, a practicing journalist making sure to engage in an area of strength, and publishers in charge of the media outfits ensuring they engage qualified practitioners to work for them, in other to curtail lots of quacks which she opined clouds the profession.
Mrs Eneremmadu further advised that for the media practitioners to ensure their safety, they should learn to project the medium they represent, and not draw unnecessary attention to themselves by using their byelines in certain reports.
On the way forward, the Chairman of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) Imo State chapter, Comrade Ifeanyi Nwanguma who was present in the meeting, lauded the facilitators for the session and brought to their knowledge how the union has made efforts and is making efforts to ensure that quacks are eliminated from the profession.
Other participants who spoke reflected on the need for journalists to be renumerated by their employers, which they noted will go a long way in curtailing some of the ills.
There were also suggestion for seminars to be organized where political actors will be invited to be addressed on desisting from abusing newsmen for whatever reason, among others.
The participants also undertook pre and post tests before and after the session to access their knowledge of the topic of discuss.
Other facilitators who were present in the meeting were – Rejoice Wobilor-Agua, Blessing Duru, Adaeze Ekpunobi, among others.
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