Online Journalists, bloggers build capacity on professionalism, conflict sensitive reportage

As the 2019 general elections draw near in Nigeria, the need for online journalists and bloggers to adhere to ethics and professionalism in reporting conflict-prone situations has been emphasized.

The Journalists and bloggers were reminded of the enormous powers and influence of the media, and the responsibilities of practitioners in ensuring harmonious co-existence among all Nigerians.

The International Press Centre (IPC) and the European Union brought journalists and bloggers in the south west geo-political zone of the country together in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital for a capacity building workshop on conflict sensitive reporting online, ahead of the 2019 general Elections.

The workshop, funded through Component 4b: Support to the media of the EU Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria (EU-SDGN) project, seeks to build a professional media as catalysts of democratic accountability, credible elections and good governance.

Speaking at the opening of the workshop, Mr. Lanre Arogundade, Director of IPC, said the training became necessary because the online environment now occupies a very central place in media operations.

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According to him, online media offers a very broad spectrum of information and dissemination as well as access to the media by millions, if not billions of Internet users, even as he noted that Nigeria has a large population of internet users, “and as a result there is a rapid increase in the number of journalists offering to practise online to reach this ‘Internet or Online population’”.

Arogundade further noted, that “What all this means is that we simply cannot ignore what goes on Online in the name of journalism especially against the background of growing perception that online media and social media platforms are the major harbingers of hate speech and stokers of inciting flames”.

The IPC boss explained, that it is feared that in the realm of politics, violent conflict during elections could occur if online journalism practitioners and bloggers refuse to embrace conflict sensitive principles, adding, that “the emerging consensus therefore is that online journalists and bloggers need to strive to do better so they could be part of efforts that seek to remove hate narratives from political communication as a way of making the electoral environment healthier”.

He therefore called on participants to understand and imbibe the principles of fairness, diversity and objectivity in reporting the electoral process and the elections, by using their platforms for fair, balanced, language sensitive and conflict sensitive reporting of the elections.

Also speaking, Dr Nathaniel D. Danjibo of the

Institute for Peace and Strategic Studies,

University of Ibadan, noted, that “sensitive journalism occurs when Editors and Reporters make choices of what stories to report and how to report them- which creates opportunities for society at large to consider and to value non violent response to conflicts”.

He explained that conflicts are not always negative, and happen as a result of the diverse interests of people, whether in a family, community or state.

Dr Danjibo further explained that conflict is actually inevitable, and is actually a part of human existence, but, the role of the journalist, enables people decide how to react to such conflicts.

He lamented that most reports of conflicts by journalists usually centre on the manifestation, and outcome of the issues, but seldom dig deep to unroot the cause of such conflicts, with a view to ending them peacefully.

He therefore called on journalists not to play into the hands of a few actors who are usually behind such crisis, but strive to be part of the solution of the crisis, to avoid possible bloodshed.

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