By Ankeli Emmanuel (In Sokoto State)
The publisher of Premium Times news online, Dr. Dapo Olorunyomi, has urged journalists practicing in Nigeria to strive towards minimizing harms in their reportage.
Dr Olorunyomi who spoke via zoom in Abuja on Wednesday during a 2-day workshop on Peace and Conflict Sensitive Reporting organized by Premium Times Academy in collaboration with the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), appealed to media practitioners to strike a balance when reporting humanitarian crises.
In his paper titled, "The Consequences of Injurious and Non-Sensitive Reporting. The Examples of Sierra Leone, Kenya and Rwanda", Dapo said, "in reporting conflicts, journalists must bear in mind the dynamics, adaptability, impact and the transformative conditions of it".
While stressing that decisions in journalism have ethical consequences, Dapo advised journalists against name-calling and ethnic profiling when it has to do with crimes.
Giving reasons why striking balance while reporting humanitarian crisis is very important, hep said, "This means, journalists should go for the trigger or the underbelly of the reality that surfaces afterward.
"Triggers of violence could take political, religious, and regional depending on the peculiarity. However, the cost of conflicts are enormous as they have draining effects on the psychology of humans.
"It is normal for brothers to quarrel but a complete metaphor when someone else carries the report to the outer world".
Suggesting ways to minimize such media harm, Dr. Olorunyomi said, "Education of journalists beyond a mere surface understanding of issues is very important. So the education of the educator is central to managing conflict situations.
"Non-sensitive reporting is unprofessional reporting. In many areas of conflict, we must measure how our reports have become sufficiently ethical. We must always ensure to measure our reporting in conflict through human rights protocols".
Dapo who advocated for media pluralism and independence to help advance decent reporting, further stressed that "Our ethics is central and to give value and meaning to it is equally very important.
"However, sacrificing the truth on the altar of managing a situation will rather worsen it. What accuracy therefore means is that you present the facts of the matter and later bring in the context. Ethics are mere norms but doesn't overshadow the truth". Dapo clarified. NNL.
