Ahead of the 2019 general election, the International Press Centre in partnership with the European Union has organised a 2-day workshop for 40 journalists in the south-west.
The workshop, which held in Osogbo, the state capital of Osun State was tagged: “Best Practices and Professional Reporting of the Electoral Process.”
In his welcome address, the IPC director, Mr Lanre Arogundade said the out of the 200 applications received for the workshop, only 40, were selected to represent journalists from the South West regions of the country.
“This event is organized to critically examine the interconnections between the public, the media and elections towards developing an agenda that seeks to strengthen the role of the media in facilitating a credible electoral process.
“The aim of the meeting also is to bring to the front burners the prerequisite to hone the skills of journalists in the professional and ethical reportage of democratic processes and elections as well as commit to professional, conflict sensitive, citizen focused, gender focused and digital reporting of the 2019 elections,” He said.
Taiwo Obe; founder and director of the Journalism Clinic, Muyiwa Popoola; a professor of journalism at Ajayi Crowther University and David Ajikobi; Head of AfricanCheck in Nigeria took the participants through series of lectures on election reporting.
Delivering a paper on ‘Towards 2019: Avoiding Hate Speech and Being Conflict Sensitive in Election Reporting’ Popoola urged the reporters to be sensitive in reporting conflict issues to avoid causing crisis with their reportage during the electoral process.
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“Journalists should ask themselves whether the speech they are quoting is dangerous. Will it incite violence, intensify hatred or lead to prosecution under laws?
“Journalists should not act as indiscriminate megaphones for hate speech,” He said.
Ajikobi, on his own part, urged the reporters to always fact check any information before divulging it for the public consumption.
He, however, took the participants through the necessary tools needed for fact-checking politicians before, during and after the electioneering process.
Also, Obe urged the reporters to employ the use of social media and digital tools in reporting electoral processes.
The participants, however, expressed their satisfaction with the conduct of the workshop.
Yomi Davies of Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo State (BCOS) said: “ The workshop was inspiring and educative, I learnt beyond what I expected”.
Also, Adejumo Kabir of Premium Times said: “It is indeed a great opportunity to learn from great men. I believe if every journalist has this opportunity, there will be little or no misinformation that can generate conflict “.
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