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” As Stallion times media services holds workshop for Journalists in Kogi
Praise ojochegbe LOKOJA
Against the backdrop of worsening insecurity and ubiquitous violences rocking the country, working Journalists have been charged to uphold the ethics of their profession in their daily activities and to use their reportage to douse tensions as against aiding the crisis.
This was the summation of the participants at a one day workshop for Journalists in Kogi state, organised by Stallion Times Media Services in collaboration with Professor Wole Soyinka’s Centre for Investigative journalism, with support from McArthur foundation with the theme’ upholding code of ethics” held in Lokoja.
The communique, which was jointly signed by NUJ chairman, kogi council, Adieza Momohjimoh, and Isiyaku Ahmed , Editor in Chief , Stallion Times, the participants resolved to ensure that Freedom of Information Act should be enforced and government officials should be made to adhere to its provisions by making available to journalists required information of public interest.
The communique further called on media owners to prioritise the payment of salaries , emoluments and all other fringe benefits to Journalists, as a way to motivate them to carry out their responsibilities with dignity and respect.
While calling on working Journalists, broadcasters and bloggers to be alive to their professional mandates, advise the proprietors to constantly train and retrain Journalists to keep them abreast with the global best practices.
“To engender sanity and propriety in the professional practices, it should ensure that only those with right attitude , characters and cognate qualifications are employed into the industry.
“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 , NBC and other regulatory bodies.
“Government agencies should work with the media as watchdog and to sanctions any erring public figure that perpetuates act 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” They noted.
However, the participants urged media practitioners to apply the principle of truthfulness, fairness, impartiality in their reportage, which is the essence of responsible Journalism.
The communique further charged media practitioners to be sensitive to the language and choice of words used in their reports to reduce harm and escalation of the crisis
It however, warned Journalists not to compromise their professional integrity for whatever interests, rather to act independently at ensuring public interest is maintained at all times.
