Insecurity melted on media observers and journalists is one of the yearning issue surrounding election reportages in a bid to give accurate reports to the public devoid of propaganda, errors and lies which is the primary responsibility of the journalists in every election process. Many reports have revealed how journalists have lost their lives in the course of performing their professional duties.
It’s on this cogent issue that seek for improvement that Centre for Journalism innovation and development,CJID in partnership with Canadian Funds organized a two days training at the heart of Lagos, to equip journalists and reporters on how to be security conscious in election coupled with basics and fundamental of their duties as a journalist. It was a great platform for the 50 journalists in attendance to learn, relearn and unlearn how best their profession can be best practiced.
The training unraveled various ideological opinions, notions and practices on how journalism can be best practiced in a part of the world like Nigeria
During the training were good numbers of insightful sessions, from “Investigate tips for reporting elections” by Idris Akinbajo, the managing Editor of Premium Times to “Top 10 provisions of the 2022 Electoral acts” by Samson Itodo of YIAGA Africa, Ajibola Amzat trained the participants how to tell election stories with data and sharing of ideas to consider during elections.
Dapo Olorunyomi, The publisher of Premium Times talked about the “interface between Journalism and democracy”where he stated clearly “we should not allow the politicians to set the agenda for the media. Journalism is central to the project called democracy. We must serve as watchdog, agenda setters and gatekeepers.”
“we must ensure that Nigerians realise that they are citizens and not subjects in their country.”
While Kemi Busari, the Editor of Dubawa taught about the best practices of fact checking and why it is important during election, Mrs. Busola Ajibola talked about Gender inclusion where she buttressed about how people with disabilities are discouraged and not well considered during election.
Also Mrs. Busola Ajibola, Deputy Director, Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development, in her opening speech said,
“The purpose of this Election Security Training is to refresh our understanding of the crucial role journalists play in ensuring credible elections.”
“Society has entrusted journalists with the responsibility of holding those in power accountable to the public. This task is however compromised when facts are distorted in our reporting. This training will therefore provide us with knowledge on ways to stem the tides of information disorder in election coverage.”
“One of the defining features of democracy is the opportunity for citizens to periodically hold their leaders accountable through elections. However, the effectiveness of this process depends heavily on the media’s ability to inform the public. As journalists, we must therefore continually commit to, and capacitate ourselves to fulfil the watchdog role of promoting rational public discourse that can help citizens make informed decisions and choose better representatives.”
“CJD is not oblivious of attacks against journalists and that the attacks tend to increase during election cycles. In 2022 alone, our Press Attack Tracker at CJID documented 53 attacks against journalists, many of which occurred during political rallies where journalists were beaten, denied access, or had their equipment damaged. We will therefore have a robust conversation on the safety of journalists in election cycles and the session will provide us with security tips for the 2023 Nigeria elections.”
In the conversation with the participants of the training, they professed how insightful and effective the training was.
Tosin Adesile of Sparklight News said, “I must commend the CJID and Canadian fund for deeming it fit to organise a timely and impactful programme on Election coverage for Nigerian Journalist.”
“I can say boldly that the training has affected me positively and I am more than ready to cover 2023 election with the new skills and experience I got from the training.”
“I appreciate the organisers for the quality of speakers invited for the training and this has further thrown more light to issues of common concern that journalist faces while performing their daily tasks and during election coverage.”
“It is my hope that a feedback forum after election is organised so people can share experience of how they were able to put into use what they learnt during the election security training.”
Also, Adetutu Sobowale of platformtimes, also butressed, “Well for me, the organizers exceeded my expectations. The facilitators went beyond providing safety tips on election observation.”
“There are some important facts about the election that most times journalists ignore. So they brought everything to light and now I am equipped with the knowledge and tools to report election.”
We hope the training will effect positive changes in reporting our electioneering scenes as we are weeks close to the 2023 General Election stipulated for February 25th, 2023 and March 11, 2023 respectively.
