Richard Elesho/ Lokoja
Media practitioners have been charged to prioritize “public interest” and uphold the highest ethics of their profession in the course of investigating and reporting stories. The charge was made on Thursday in Lokoja by resource persons at a training workshop for Journalists.
Organized by Stallion Times Media Services, in partnership” with the Wole Soyinka Center for Investigative Journalism, and the MacArthur Foundation, the one day event was part of a 3-year Participatory Governance and Media Literacy project tagged “Get Involved, Dialogue and Improve (G-DRIP)” in selected states. Participants were drawn from print, broadcast and social media.
A veteran journalist, Stephen Salawu in a paper on ethics and code of conducts for Journalists tasked participants on honesty, accuracy and fairness. He emphasized that reporters should not compromise these in the guise of beating a deadline.
A communique jointly signed by Isiyaku Ahmed MD/CEO Stallion Media Services and Adeiza Momoh-Jimoh, Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Chairman in Kogi State called on State actors to enforce the Freedom of Information Act by making available to journalists required information of public interest. The communique reads:
“Welfare of journalists should be prioritized by media owners to minimize incidence of undue influence or interference.
“There should be periodic training and capacity building for practicing journalist for enhanced professionalism in the industry to ensure right attitudes are properly introduced to form a basis for entrance into the profession so as to consistently engender sanity and propriety in the professional practice.
“For enhanced professionalism and adherence to the ethics guiding the practice, the incidence of quacks should be checked by regulatory authorities like the Nigerian Press Council and other regulatory bodies.
“Government agencies should work with the media as watchdog and punish/sanction any public figure that perpetuates acts of misconduct exposed through investigative reports. This is to deter would be perpetrators so as to encourage good conduct, especially in governance, to engender growth, accountability, decency, discipline, transparency and probity in governance.
“Journalists should apply the principles of truthfulness, “Seek truth and report it”
Journalists should ensure accuracy and objectivity by reporting all sides to a story.
“Journalists are to ensure fairness and impartiality to minimize harm that could be caused by their reporting. Journalists, by their conduct, should act independently by putting public interest first.