The media and the challenge of conflicts’ coverage

Sociologists claim that conflicts are inalienable features of human societies and that truism aptly underscores the need for journalists to brace to the challenge of covering crises in their day-to-day work. That media expectation is even considered more desirable now as conflicts are bound to be on the increase in Nigeria, as the 2011 general […]

Sociologists claim that conflicts are inalienable features of human societies and that truism aptly underscores the need for journalists to brace to the challenge of covering crises in their day-to-day work.

That media expectation is even considered more desirable now as conflicts are bound to be on the increase in Nigeria, as the 2011 general elections draw closer.

In preparing journalists for the tasks ahead, the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR) recently organised a three-day workshop on “Conflict-sensitive reporting for media groups in Nigeria’’ in Kaduna.

Speaking at the workshop’s opening, Dr Joseph Golwa, Director-General of IPCR, said that the manner of the media coverage of any conflict would have a significant impact on the conflict itself.

He noted that in Nigeria, the media often “dichotomize and dramatize” conflicts, thereby inflaming passions which tended to further worsen situations.

Golwa said that the training was, therefore, designed to introduce a range of conflict resolution tools to the participants so as to widen their knowledge of contentious and social issues that would help them in their coverage of conflict situations.

One of the resource persons, Prof. Umar Pate, Head of the Department of Mass Communication, University of Maiduguri, said that the choices or decisions made by a journalist covering a conflict could determine the course of the conflict.

“As the reporter on ground, you are the first gate-keeper. Others on the desk would rely on your perspective and opinion, hence such opinions must be fair and balanced,’’ he said.

Pate, however, urged journalists to always protect their credibility, saying that once a reporter lost his credibility, people would start rejecting his reports.

Going from the general to the specifics, the professor said that Nigeria’s population, as well as its ethnic and cultural diversities had placed a high degree of responsibility on journalists while reporting conflicts.

Pate challenged the media, as part of their agenda-setting roles, to make appreciable contributions to the conduct of credible elections in 2011.

“There is always a correlation between media performance, credible elections and good governance,’’ he said.

He, nonetheless, reminded the media that their duties in the lead-up to the elections and during the polls could not be taken for granted, adding that in spite of widespread acceptance of democracy, the citizens have failed to uphold some of the basic tenets of democracy such as tolerance and the rule of law.

“To the average Nigerian politician, for every election, the end justifies the means. And because politics is viewed as business, there is no morality in it; what matters most is victory at all costs,’’ he said.

Pate said that such attitudes often tended to breed violence, which the media had to cover, adding that journalists must, therefore, be able to cover political conflicts responsibly.

However, Dr Austin Onuoha, Executive Director of African Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility (ACCR), Warri, advised journalists to always strive to fully understand the context of specific conflicts while covering them.

Onuoha, who was once a journalist, urged journalists to be mindful of seven conflict stages, while reporting conflicts.

These, according to him, are the pre-conflict stage, the conflict’s causes, the conflict proper, the conflict resolution, reconciliation moves, post-conflict reconstruction activities and peace consolidation.

Onuoha noted that in Nigeria, conflicts keep recurring because the process is often terminated after “the conflict resolution stage’’, while efforts are hardly made to “reconcile’’ the groups involved.

“Professional journalists do not set out to reduce conflicts but they do their jobs in the best way they can,’’ he said, adding, however, that they always ensure that their stories are not harmful to the society.

Onuoha urged journalists never to underestimate the positive or negative effects of their write-ups on conflicts, stressing that they should always be mindful of the consequences of their reportage.

Beyond that, the ACCR director said that journalists could even be tools of conflict resolution if they were able to open up channels of communication between conflicting groups.

“They can do this by educating both sides to the conflict about each other, thereby allaying their fears, while providing opportunities for discussions on common grounds toward the resolution of perceptible misunderstandings,’’ he said.

Onuoha argued that the coverage of the 2011 general elections by the Nigeria media would be viewed as a litmus-test of their ability and readiness to perform their nation-building roles.

“When the media cover the 2011 elections, they should primarily play a deterrent role to avert a recurrence of the ugly incidents we witnessed in previous elections,’’ he said.

The workshop’s participants brainstormed in groups and during plenary sessions to assess the roles of the media in covering conflicts, especially during elections, identifying the grey areas, analysing causes of under-performance and suggesting ways of improvement.

They unanimously agreed that journalists, in spite of the challenges they are encountering, ought to brace to the expectations as the watchdog of the society.

They noted that most reports on conflicts contradicted the journalism ethics of objectivity, balance, adequate research and good sense of judgement, adding that the reports usually exacerbated crisis situations.

The participants identified factors responsible for poor media performance as journalists’ mental laziness and professional incompetence, the dearth of basic working tools and absence of cultural diversity in media staffing to reflect the heterogeneous nature of the Nigerian nation.

They examined the media performance during the 2007 elections and concluded that the coverage of the 2007 polls were not “issue-based’’ but focused on personalities, while there was no critical assessment of the manifestoes of political parties and their candidates by the media.

Of particular interest to the participants was the flagrant violation of the regulations of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) by some broadcast organisations while airing political stories.

However, they noted that in 2007, some desperate politicians used the media to promote their selfish interests, adding that some senior journalists even served as “consultants’’ to politicians, thereby putting to question the neutrality of their reportage.

The factor of media ownership and control was also analysed by the participants who conceded the influence of media owners and top management officials often determined the scope and mode of coverage of political, ethnic or religious crises.

In spite of the depth and scope of the workshop’s discussions, observers were tempted to wonder if the journalists had really learnt ways of covering conflicts in a more professional way.

Some of the participants said that the workshop had reawakened their sense of social responsibility toward the need to foster peace via their reports.

Hajiya Sa’adatu Albashir, FRCN correspondent in Jos, said that although she had always striven to remain unbiased while reporting conflicts, the skills she gathered at the workshop would enable her to do more.

“I thought I had been doing my best but after the workshop, I discovered that there were some missing links in my performance; I will have to perform better,’’ she said.

Albashir noted that the challenge before her was enormous, particularly because Jos, where she was working, was one of the flashpoints in the country.

Mr Ifunanya Ezeobi of the Kaduna office of Channels Television said that he had learnt a lot about pragmatic ways of covering conflicts, apart from maintaining objectivity in reporting crisis situations.

“Apart from being unbiased in carrying out my duties, I will also refrain from dishing out reports that are capable of inflaming wild passions during conflicts,’’ he said.

Malam Rabiu Aboki of the City Television, Kano, said: “There will certainly be a remarkable change in my approach toward the coverage of elections and political conflicts because I am now more aware of the professional technicalities involved.’’

Observers recall that a similar workshop, funded by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), was recently organised in Ibadan for journalists and media organisations in the southern part of the country.

They note that such self-appraisal workshops are desirable, as the 2011 elections draw nearer because of journalists’ propensity to douse or aggravate tensions with their reports.

They urge journalists to always play pivotal roles in Nigeria’s development by setting the agenda for the country’s political and socio-economic transformation. (NAN)