Journalists urged not to surrender online space to quacks

Those claiming to be journalists in Lagos State are in for a tough time as the State Council of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) said it would begin to clamp down on fake journalists effective from November. As such, Chairman of the union in the state, Dr. Qasim Akinreti, urged practicing journalists to enroll […]

Those claiming to be journalists in Lagos State are in for a tough time as the State Council of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) said it would begin to clamp down on fake journalists effective from November.

As such, Chairman of the union in the state, Dr. Qasim Akinreti, urged practicing journalists to enroll for its ongoing biometric registration saying the capturing would naturally wield out fake journalists.

He spoke in Lagos during a one-day training programme tagged, “Engaging the Media and Community Based Organizations for post-election reconciliation and conflict prevention” organized by Journalists for Democratic Rights (JODER).

The training was designed to train media practitioners on peace-building and conflict prevention in an era of fake news with journalists being challenged to distinguish themselves among the crowd-peddling fake news in the country.

Other speakers at the session were a veteran broadcaster, Babajide Kolade-Otitoju and Publisher/Managing Editor of Eagle Online, Mr. Dotun Oladipo.

Akinreti restated that Lagos NUJ was poised to change the face of journalism by instilling discipline on practitioners who are members of the union. He said it was regrettable that journalism has become an all-comer affair thereby giving room for unethical practices.

Akinreti said the union would continue to put pressure on publishers and media owners who are not fulfilling their obligations to workers.

He noted that previous engagements with media owners yielded results saying the union would not relent.

He also stressed that the union plans to bring in academics who used to be practicing journalists to be part of the union.

Akinreti urged journalists to distinguish themselves from those he called purveyors of fake news, adding, “Let us go into development journalism, peace-building and protecting the plurality and diversity of Nigeria.”

Mr. Oladipo said journalists should not concede the online space to quacks. He lamented that journalism had reached a level “where those who lack information are running us out of the online space.”

Kolade-Otitoju urged the media practitioners to refrain from infusing their biases in reportage of conflicts as this could further fuel the violence. The media expert also harped on mediation in addressing security challenges.

“You cannot use force all the time. Peace is valuable and one of the greatest means to achieve peace is inclusive engagement,” he said.