By Ayodele Abere.
Ahead of the February 2023 general elections, a one-day skill-enhancing virtual workshop for 40 bloggers and online journalists in the southern part of the country on conflict-sensitive reporting is scheduled to be held tomorrow 12 January 2023.
40 bloggers from the Northern part will be trained next Tuesday making a total of 80 before the 2023 general elections.
The workshop is facilitated by the International Press Centre (IPC), Lagos, Nigeria, implementing partner with the Institute for Media and Society (IMS) within component 4 (Support to media) of the European Union Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria-Phase II (EUSDGN II) project.
The EU funded virtual workshop aims to mitigate the spread of hate speech and the harmful effects of unethical and insensitive reportage of the 2023 Nigeria electoral processes, by supporting the media professionals in the acquisition of ethical and conflict-sensitive reporting skills.
In a statement, the Executive Director, IPC, Mr. Lanre Arogundade said: “In achieving credible elections in the face of several ongoing national economic, environmental, and security challenges, the major stakeholder, the media have the responsibility of integrating a conflict-sensitive approach in their electoral reports “.
The Executive Director added that “Moreover, the complex nature of the online journalism and its effects on the spread of electoral hate speech, misinformation and disinformation, further validates the necessity for the IPC initiative in building the capacity of the online journalists to acquire the necessary skills to accomplish fair and balanced election reports which also helps to mitigate violent conflict”.
The beneficiaries at the virtual event shall include online Journalists and bloggers some of whom are members of the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers, (GOCOP) who will be involved in reporting the 2023 elections online.
The Thursday event shall be moderated by Ms. Maureen Chigbo, President of GOCOP while Dr Qasim Akinreti, Deputy Director, Digital Media, Voice of Nigeria, Abuja, and Prof. Muyiwa Popoola, Professor of Journalism, Communication and Media Studies, Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo shall serve as facilitators.
Special guests Mr. Ayo Aluko, Director of Voter Education, INEC and Mr. Rotimi Oyekanmi, Chief Press Secretary to the Chairman of INEC are also expected to give goodwill messages during the engagement.
The specific objective of the EU funded programme is to ensure that, “The Media, including New and Social Media, provides fair, accurate, ethical and inclusive coverage of the Electoral Process”.