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Tag: journalists

  • Media firm cautions journalists against negative reportage on women

    Media firm cautions journalists against negative reportage on women

    PRNigeria, a media organisation, has called for an end to negative media stereotyping of women in Nigeria, as promiscuous species.

    Ms Rahma Oladosu, the Staff Writer, PRNigeria, said at a briefing in Abuja that there had been a lot of misinformation, disinformation, fake news and stereotypes against  women in the media landscape.

    Oladosu said that was why female staff members of Image Merchants Promotion Limited (IMPR), the publisher of PRNigeria and Economic Confidential, called the news conference to address the issue.

    “As media practitioners and concerned Nigerian women, we have noticed with dismay, the dangerous tendency of the media in Nigeria .

    “Those involved often sensationalise and escalate any story or incident that is targeted at generalising negativity, and destroying the hard-earned reputation of the womenfolk in this country.

    “A seemingly misogynistic section of the Nigerian press has been portraying our women as morally bankrupt, unintelligent and having nothing to offer, apart from their makeup and bodies.

    “Our women are being portrayed as people who are meant to have fewer opinions on issues that surround them and also as the inferior ones who are supposed to depend on others for validation”, she said.

    Oladosu said the tendency, on the part of the media as gatekeepers to excitedly jump at any negative claim about a Nigerian woman, escalate it, so that fellow misogynists could use it to taunt, torment and abuse the entire gender, is worrisome.

    She said it was this sort of mindset that recently led many Nigerian newspapers to publish and celebrate a false story which claimed that Nigerian women were the most unfaithful in the world.

    “Sometimes in September, a video went viral on WhatsApp groups, and it was entitled: “Nigerian women are the most unfaithful in the world – Durex.

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    “This video, claimed, with magisterial authority, that Nigerian women are the most promiscuous and unfaithful in the world.

    “A quick search on Google also revealed that many reputable newspapers and blogs in Nigeria, at different times, feasted on the story with similar distasteful headlines,” Oladosu said.

    She said that as an investigative platform, interested in unearthing the truth, PRNigeria was curious on how and why Nigerian women could be rated the most unfaithful in the world.

    She said the fact-checks, carried out, revealed that a Durex survey was misrepresented and mischievously misinterpreted for sensationalism on Nigerian women, by mainstream and online media in the country.

    Oladosu said in the light of these issues, PRNigeria was demanding that the report be taken down by the media houses that had published them recently, and the ones who did so many years ago.

    “We also demand that our media houses should improve their gatekeeping process, to detect false reports and stereotypes.

    ” Rather than joining the mob, to undeservedly shame women, Nigerian media should spotlight the greatness of the women and celebrate the professionals and business leaders among them, who are making the country proud, both locally and internationally.

    “The gender stereotypes are just too much. You don’t have to be a woman; you only need to be a human being to know this is wrong, and it has to stop,”she said

    Oladosu called on Nigerian media practitioners to stop the stereotype and stop seeing Nigerian women in all the negativity they can imagine.

    She added that the time has come for media stakeholders to start seeing the positivity in women ,the brilliancy, the vision, patriotism, the sense of sacrifice, the doggedness, the can-do spirit and the never-say-die attitude in many of them.

  • Journalists are endangered species, says Lawan

    Journalists are endangered species, says Lawan

    Former Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, has said journalists are endangered as over 1,600 have been killed in 17 years.

    He noted impunity against them threatens democracy and undermines press freedom.

    A statement in Abuja by his Media Adviser, Ezrel Tabiowo, said Lawan spoke yesterday to mark this year’s International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists.

    Citing data by United Nations Observatory of Killed Journalists, he urged governments, institutions, and civil society to hold perpetrators accountable.

    It reads: “I join the world in marking International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists today.

    “This day serves as a reminder of the perils faced by journalists and the need to address impunity for crimes committed against them.

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    “This year is especially significant as it highlights the crucial role journalists play in providing unbiased information, promoting accountability, and upholding democratic values.

     “However, journalists continue to face violence, intimidation, and targeted killings, for reporting critical issues or exposing corruption…

    “According to UNESCO Observatory of Killed Journalists, over 1,600 have been killed  between 2006 and 2023, with close to nine of 10 cases remaining unresolved.

    “It is imperative for governments, institutions, and civil society to hold perpetrators accountable and ensure justice for journalists. Through legal frameworks, investigation, and unbiased judiciary, we can combat impunity, safeguard freedom, and protect journalists…

    “Education is vital to end impunity. Media literacy can foster respect journalism.’’

  • 280 journalists for training on digital verification, fact-checking

    280 journalists for training on digital verification, fact-checking

    Dubawa, a verification and fact-checking arm of the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) in partnership with Google News Initiative (GNI), is set to train 280 journalists selected across newsroom in West Africa.

    A statement by CJID’s Communications Manager and Editor, Hillary Nwoziri, noted that the partnership will focus on an extensive training program specially designed for journalists in non-urban communities of Nigeria, Ghana and Liberia.

    Nwoziri said: “This collaboration aims to harness the longstanding efforts of DUBAWA in promoting a culture of truth in journalism and complement it with the digital expertise that GNI brings to the table.

    “Aiming to engage a minimum of 280 journalists across the three countries, the initiative will provide in-depth training in digital verification and familiarise them with specialised Google tools and resources.

    “Participants will also benefit from two interactive, non-residential workshops in selected regions, supplemented by in-newsroom training sessions.”

    The Deputy Director, verification and media literacy practice, Caroline Anipah who spoke on the significance and scope of the programme said: “Often, such training programmes are designed for journalists in city centres, neglecting those in non-urban communities. However, this partnership is different.

    “At Dubawa, we believe every journalist, especially those confronted with challenges of misinformation, should be equipped with the necessary skills to counter fake news effectively and, above all, to foster a well-informed citizenry. This is the essence of this project”

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    Also, EMEA Partnerships Manager at Google, Vincent Ryan said: “In an era where information is both a tool and a weapon, news verification and fact-checking have never been more paramount.

    “Through our collaboration with Dubawa, the Google News Initiative is deeply committed to fortifying the journalistic community in West Africa with robust verification tools and strategies.”

    CJID’s Director of Programmes, Akintunde Babatunde extended his appreciation to the team at Google for the collaboration with DUBAWA.

    He said: “This new partnership has validated the terrific work happening at CJID/Dubawa over the years.

    “Our mandate has always been to positively disrupt the media ecosystem in West Africa to ensure a vibrant and independent media society.”

  • 100 journalists for insurance awareness training in Lagos

    100 journalists for insurance awareness training in Lagos

    Insurance and business focused media firm, Insurance Press Limited (IPL), is partnering Centre for Financial Journalism (CFJ), and Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) Lagos State, to deliver a  seminar and training for journalists.

     An “All-Inclusive Mass Media Seminar” on September 21, at Radisson Blu, Ikeja, Lagos, is premised on the insurance principle of “the law of large numbers.”

     Over 100 media professionals are set to benefit from phase one of the training, with the theme: “Transformational Journalism in the Digital Age: Deepening Insurance Awareness through Inclusive Reporting.”

     In a statement in Lagos, Ray Echebiri, chief executive officer of Centre for Financial Journalism, was upbeat “a robust understanding of the scope of insurance and role of practitioners combined with “heightened concept of responsibility of the journalist” is a partnership that can rescue the economy and impact vulnerable groups.

     He noted training and retraining of journalists would lead to better understanding of businesses and their impact.

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     Lead organiser and lead editor of IPL, Ifeanyi Ugwuadu, hoped the “increased knowledge and awareness of journalists as key influencers to interconnectedness of risk and insurance” will be key in opening the insurance market.

     “The more scrutiny and disclosure insurance is subjected to, the more people would entrust them with their assets for protection,” he noted.

    According to him, “When journalists are able to integrate and weave the human element into their stories, our society would clearly recognise the role journalists play in bringing out ‘stories behind the story.’

    “The role of the journalist is to always tell the truth and in doing this, they must go further in their story threads and ensure no one is left behind,”  Ugwuadu  added.

     Accomplished trainers from various professions have been selected to deliver the seminar while the event would also be streamed live to other journalists and stakeholders.

  • Don to journalists: take back your agenda setting role 

    Don to journalists: take back your agenda setting role 

    Foremost Professor of Mass Communication, Prof. Stella Okunna, has urged journalists to remain the hope and mouthpiece of the people.

    She advised them to take back from politicians, their role as agenda setters.

    Okunna spoke in Awka, Anambra State while delivering a paper tilted: ‘Fundamentals of news investigative reporting/fact checking’, at a training by Ikenga Media and Cultural Awareness Initiative (IMCAI) Training for Journalists in Southeast.

    The workshop with the theme: ‘Reporting in a treacherous and incurred environment’, was supported by MacArthur Foundation and facilitated by Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.

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    Describing fact checking of reports as critical element to practice of journalism in the country, Okunna, former dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka said any journalist engaged in investigative reporting without fact checking had no business in the profession.

    “It’s not for nothing that the press has continued to be known as the fourth estate of the realm. Practitioners must take back from politicians their role as agenda setters,” she said.

    The coordinator of the group and co-publisher of Ikengaonline media, Mr. Chido Onumah, said the training was targeted at bringing journalists up to speed about ways to hold authorities accountable through their reports.

    Editor-in-Chief of Ikenga online, Mr. Uche Ugboajah, said the medium was established in 2022 to give voice to the Southeast, following its under-reportage.

    “The training is also part of our plans to build the capacity of journalists in the zone, as well as help in promoting good governance, gender equality, inclusion of people living with disabilities, among others,” he added.

    Other resource persons at the training were a lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Dr. Henry Duru, and veteran journalist, Uzo Maxim Uzoatu, who spoke about ethical issues in news reporting.

  • Red Cross trains journalists on humane reporting

    The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has held a three-day media workshop and first aid training for journalists in Lagos.

    At the session, journalists were, among other things, trained on International Humanitarian Law (IHL), humanitarian reporting and first aid training, which included how to manage themselves and others injured in the course of their duties or elsewhere.

    The ICRC Public Relations Officer, Aliyu Dawobe, said the objectives of the training were to relate with journalists and to remind them much more on humanitarian reporting angles so that they would be able to report in a way that considers the human angle of any event.

    “Also considering the fact that the media works in areas prone to violence, we have trained them on how to be more prepared to provide first aid for themselves and people around them when something happens that has to do with blast or building collapse.

    “For journalists that report conflicts or violence, they are bound to have issues and may come across people who are injured, even as they may be injured themselves. We have trained them to be able to help themselves and those around them in terms of first aid.

    “We have also trained them on humanitarian reporting, having realised that most of the times when reporting is done, focus is much more on the casualties, but we forget to think about people behind the scene, the people that are affected by the conflict.

    “The media usually concentrate on the dead and the injured but we want them to also focus on those alive that are passing through a lot of trauma and difficult times. We should be interested in knowing how they are coping with the loss of lives, and homes and how they are going to survive in terms of food.

    “We are not teaching journalists their job but we urge them to explore other angles to help people that are affected. This will also help institutions, non-governmental organisations and other citizens to be of help to those who survive disasters,” he added.

    Head of Communication and Advocacy, The Nigerian Red Cross Society, Nwakpa Nwakpa, said the training was necessary because the media define the way people see things happen; hence the need to train them beyond reporting what happened to reporting the humanitarian need arising from what has happened.

    ”We are doing this to partner with the media to bring out the humanitarian need of those affected by any form of disaster, be it floods, building collapse or accident. We also realised that journalists are sometimes in danger and they do not know what to do. With this training, if the journalists see casualties in the course of their duties, they can render first aid beyond the reporting,” he said.

    He added that the humanitarian part of the news should be the most important part of news reporting, noting that when this is not done, lives that should have been saved would be wasted because no one will be able to help them.

    “Journalists should focus on the needs after every disaster, including what has been lost, what is needed, what the living are going through. Focusing on these needs will make people to be sympathetic to the survivors thereby providing them with the needed aids immediately. By this, journalists will not only report but will also help solve the problem of these people.

    “We expect that this training would enable journalists to bring succour to people through their reporting,” he said.

    On his part, First Aid and Prehosp Care Field Officer, ICRC, Daniel Edobor said the participants were trained on several aspects of first aids, including recovery position, difficult breathing, unconsciousness and full body examination.

    “They were also taught first aid on bleeding, burns, broken bones, fracture and causality transportation, among others,” he said.

  • Australian journalists face possible jail for Cardinal Pell reporting

    Dozens of Australian journalists could face prison or a fine for allegedly breaching a reporting ban on the trial of Cardinal George Pell.

    Pell was sentenced this month to six years in prison for sexually assaulting two choirboys.

    Reporting details of Pell’s proceedings in any format accessible in Australia was banned under a Melbourne judge’s suppression order in 2018.

    It was to prevent a second trial, which was later dropped, from being influenced by the verdict of the prior proceedings.

    The state of Victoria’s director of public prosecutions has named 23 journalists and 13 organisations in a legal proceeding before the Supreme Court.

    READ ALSO: Australian PM denies fostering culture of Islamophobia

    It, however, asked that they be found guilty for breaching the suppression order, contempt of court, aiding and abetting overseas media, and for publishing materials that “had the effect of scandalising the court.”

    According to the court filing released, the motion seeks imprisonment or a fine for them.

    Pell, 77, was found guilty in December of raping a choirboy and molesting another in the mid-1990s at St Patrick’s Cathedral when he was archbishop of Melbourne.

    The former Vatican treasurer and close adviser to Pope Francis is the highest-ranking Catholic official to be convicted and sentenced for child sexual abuse.

    No non-Australian media have been named in the court proceedings, which will begin on April 15

  • Army arrests journalists on election duty in Yobe

    Two journalists were yesterday arrested by the Nigerian Army in Damaturu while on election duty for the governorship and state house of assembly elections.

    The journalists, Musa Myingi of Blue Print newspapers and Kabiru Matazu, were detained for hours by soldiers at Operation Restore Order 3 (ORO3) near Union Bank in Damaturu, Yobe State.

    The journalists, who were using their personal vehicles, were fully kitted with INEC approved sticker, INEC’s reflective jackets, INEC-issued Identification cards and their  company’s ID cards, yet they were not spared by the over-zealous soldiers, who threatened to brutalise them, should they attempt to leave the premises.

    One of the journalists, Kabiru Matazu, informed that they were surprised by the action of the soldiers.

    Matazu said the action of the soldiers affected his work, as they were detained for several hours.

    According to him, the army lieutenant said he was acting under the command of the GOC, saying “he will not listen to any journalist’s appeal.

    “Do you think you have any right? Go there and stay until I decided what to do with you,” he threatened.

    Matazu also informed that several other vehicles, including other monitors’, were seized and parked at the ORO3 premises.

    One of the election monitors was quoted as saying, “That particular officer is known for maltreating people without caution. We will take up the matter for justice to be served,” he said.

  • Amnesty Int’l warns FG against hostility towards journalists

    Amnesty International (AI) has warned the Federal Government about peddling hostility towards journalists.

    The rights group said the government must ensure that journalists and other media professionals can carry out their job and operate without fear of reprisals.

    AI Country Director, Osai Ojigho said that the clampdown by Nigerian authorities on the press, including by raiding media organizations and arbitrarily detaining journalists, is having a chilling effect preventing people from freely expressing themselves.

    Ojigho stated this yesterday in Abuja, at the launch of the freedom of expression campaign titled, “press for freedom”.

    She added that there is an increasing climate of fear across newsrooms in Nigeria as it becomes harder for journalists to do their job.

    Her words, “There is an increasing climate of fear across newsrooms in Nigeria as it becomes harder for journalists to do their job. More and more, the authorities are responding to critical reporting with arrests, raids and intimidation. Journalists are coming under attack in Nigeria, facing increased risks simply for publishing articles and demanding accountability from the authorities. This is totally unacceptable. The authorities must immediately put an end to the hostile environment journalists are facing.

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    “We are therefore calling on the Nigerian authorities to respect and protect the right to freedom of expression. Journalists and other media professionals must be free to investigate, report and broadcast on issues of human rights and public interest. Furthermore, the authorities must immediately stop peddling hostility towards them and refrain from attacks against them and silencing dissenting voices. No one should be punished for asking questions or expressing their opinion.

    “Verbal threats, harassment, intimidation, physical assaults, raiding of media houses, arbitrary arrests, and detentions are some of the human rights violations faced by journalists and other media professionals in Nigeria, undermining the enjoyment of the right to freedom of expression and media freedom – and they are on the rise.

    “The Nigerian authorities must ensure that journalists and other media professionals can carry out their job and operate without fear of reprisals. The authorities should uphold the rule of law and respect, protect and fulfil human rights as well as fully implement in practice the Freedom of Information Act (2011).

    “As a result of these attacks and the stifling of press freedom that journalists particularly are facing across the country, we are here today to launch Amnesty International Nigeria’s new campaign on Freedom of Expression.”

  • Buhari challenges NIJ Provost on setting proper standards for journalists

    President Muhammadu Buhari has urged the Provost of Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ), Mr Gbemiga Ogunleye, to use his versatile experience in setting proper standards for journalists in the country.

    The president made the call in a congratulatory message by Presidential Spokesman, Femi Adesina, to the provost on his 60th birthday yesterday.

    According to President Buhari, the press remains the bastion of Nigeria’s democracy as courageous and brilliant journalists daily make sacrifices to verify, clarify and publish the truth.

    He, therefore, urged the editor and administrator, who worked with many media houses, to use his experience to uplift the nation by ensuring that principles of accuracy, balance, fairness and humanity remain sacrosanct.

    President Buhari also commended Ogunleye for providing good leadership for “the institution that prepares future journalists and hones the skills of those already in the profession.”

    Buhari said he joined the staff members and students of NIJ, the Nigerian Union of Journalists, the Nigerian Guild of Editors, family and friends of the provost in celebrating the landmark age and his contributions to the development of journalism in Nigeria.

    He prayed that the almighty God would grant Ogunleye “long life, good health and further fire his interest to serve the nation.”