The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has urged the media to educate the public on the need to heed the warnings of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) on impending heavy rains with their attendant floods and other natural disasters.
The agency noted that the media wield a lot of influence in disaster alleviation and management.
Its Southwest Zonal Coordinator, Mr. Iyiola Akande, spoke in Lagos at a workshop for reporters on the essence of the media in crisis situations and how to avoid aggravating such situations with news reports.
Akande noted that the media, by their role to the society, enjoy public confidence.
The NEMA coordinator, therefore, urged the media, being stakeholders in emergency management, to enlighten the public on the need to vacate disaster-prone areas to avert crises.
He said the nation will not experience the magnitude of last year’s floods because the disaster was caused by the opening of dams in neighbouring Cameroon without prior warning to Nigeria.
Akande added: “I do not foresee the 2012 flood happening in the next 60 years. Part of the reasons for the huge floods recorded in 2012 in some parts of the country was the release of a large volume of water by Cameroon and Niger Republic without prior information.”
The guest lecturer and Sunday Editor of ThisDay, Mr Tunde Rahman, spoke on: Emergencies, Humanitarian Action and the Crisis Triangle.
The journalist noted that the media, humanitarian organisations, and government policymakers make up a crisis triangle.
He hailed NEMA for organising the workshop, adding that the media have become a major humanitarian actor in framing how governments formulate policies and how humanitarian action is mounted.
Rahman urged journalists to always ensure accuracy of their reports and avoid escalating the burdens of disaster victims by publishing obscene photographs or using terrifying descriptions.
The editor advised reporters to also show human feelings towards the plight of disaster victims in the course of their duty.
He said: “Journalists have to be humanitarian. Yes, it is understood that you have to do your jobs, but nothing stops you from giving a helping hand in a crisis situation while doing your jobs. Also, there is need to be interested in post-disaster reporting, to know how the victims of disasters are faring months or years after.
“But while the growing role of the news media is widely acknowledged, the dynamics of interaction with government policy makers and humanitarian bodies have received little scrutiny till date.
“For instance, governments do not only make policy but also have their own implementing humanitarian agency, which is NEMA, in our country. Many governmental and private humanitarian organisations seek to influence the processes and results of public policy formation. Again, all implementing agencies are subject to decisions reached by policy makers. Policy makers and implementing agencies as well as their actions could be subject to media scrutiny.
“In carrying out their functions, individuals from all the three groups seek contact and cooperation with one another. Governments are concerned with decision-making that serves national interests. Humanitarian organisations are concerned with implementation and serve the victims of conflicts and disasters. The media are concerned with reporting crises and responses and serve their consumers, their readers, viewers and advertisers.
“The objectives of the three ordinarily should be humanitarian. I agree. But I dare say that none of the groups – including any humanitarian organisation – has objectives that are exclusively humanitarian. Their distinct functions may be clear but their distinct interests, structures and limitations, relative to humanitarian action, are not. They remain at best vague.
“If properly harnessed, the efforts of the media can have significant and positive effects on disaster management. The media have an impact on humanitarian action in high-profile crises: that impact appears to be greater than the impact of humanitarian actors on the media.
“The imbalance reflects a variety of factors, including the lack of coordination among humanitarian groups and the lack of individual and corporate strategies for relating to the media as an institution.
“The media can partner humanitarian organisations but such organisations must know how to relate to the media by providing information to the media and carrying the media along.”
