By Richard Akintade, Osogbo
A non governmental organisation (NGO), Search for Common Ground, has organised a 4-day training workshop and curriculum development summits for some selected journalists in Osun State.
The training focused on professional reporting and violence prevention ahead of the 2022 governorship election in the state.
According to the National Media Specialist for the NGO, Mr Temisan Etietsola, while declaring the event open on Monday, the training was designed to train Nigerian media, stakeholders, including journalists bloggers, social media influencers, editors and managers on fact based reporting, protective and transformative journalism, and how media can serve as change agents in promoting peace and democratic values within their reporting.
Etietsola said journalists play key role in disseminating information and shaping the minds of the populace on issues while a single report from the media can equally be used to promote conflict when not carefully communicated.
He charged journalists to always endeavour to avail themselves of opportunities that will improve their reportage devoid of sensationalism and capable of increasing tension in the society as the cycle election approaches.
The media specialist, while speaking on the expectation after the training, said it was to strengthen the capacity of the media stakeholders in Osun and Ekiti states to reflect the common ground approach, conflict, sensitivity, fact based reporting to mitigate against hate speech and misinformation in their reportage.
Earlier in his welcome address, the Project Coordinator for the Search For Common Ground, Mr Perry Tukuwei, urged journalists to guard against being used by politicians to promote hate speech and fake news.
According to Tukuwei, “experience shows that there is no democracy without free media. And there is no free media without committed journalists. This is why it is so important to constantly invest efforts in training journalists, supporting their professional development and keeping their knowledge up-to-date.”
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