The Media expert, Wale Fatade has charged members of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), ahead of the governorship election on June 18th, July 16th Ekiti and the Osun States respectively to de-escalate tensions in their reportage before, during, and after polls for the betterment of the society.
Fatade said that journalists need to be more be careful in election period in order not to inflame the environment through their reportage.
Fatade gave the charge during the weekend at a 3-day media training session tagged: ‘Election Process Reporting for Journalists’ organized by the Media Support Center (MSC) in conjunction with the OON Project of the CJID, in Osogbo, Osun state capital.
According to him, “We (journalists) are part of this society, if anything untoward
happened to the society it is going to affect journalists and journalism as well. Our job is to stick to all the issues beyond the personalities involved.
“The issue of credible reportage of election is very crucial. And as journalists, our role in reporting elections is very serious, because we exist as the medium or vehicle to tell people, readers, viewers, and listeners what exactly is happening in the election period, and to ensure that all sides are reflected to ensure whether the integrity of the entire electoral process has been compromised, at any level.
“Our role as journalists is to let people know beyond the electorate beyond the soundbite that we might get. what exactly is Candidate A offering? What exactly is candidate D offering? Our job our brief and our mission, our mandate
is to ensure that each candidate is properly analyzed profile so that the people can make informed choices so that their choices are in a vacuum.”
In his remark, Martins Alamu urged the media practitioners to do their registration with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on time to be eligible to cover the electioneering process.
Alamu said that every media should be part of the electioneering because every medium has their separate audience.
Every media that wants to cover election, especially those that are licensed, that are officially accredited should be able to participate and cover the election. And report back to those that has to know and understand what happened at that event. he said
Equally, a communication and media expert, Shakirudeen Bankole who spoke on ‘Leveraging on Social and Citizen Engagement’ urged the journalists to make use of the opportunities on social media which can aid their reports in getting to billions of the s across the world.
He also enjoined them to be mindful of reports capable of igniting tension through social media.
