The International Press Centre (IPC), the lead partner of the European Union has trained about 140 female journalists on election reporting.
The training was to prepare female Journalists ahead of the 2023 General election.
The two-day workshop took place at Preniel Apartment, Abuja, Federal Capital Territory, between November 21 and 22.
Mr Lanre Arogundade, Executive Director of IPC, said the training would help participants to understand and imbibe the principles of fairness, diversity and objectivity in reporting the electoral process.
According to him, the training was designed ro enhance the capacity of the participants in the use of online media tools for reporting elections by being language sensitive, conflict sensitive and checking hate speech in the online environment.
He said the aim of the training was to bring to the front burners the prerequisite to hone the skills of journalists in the professional and ethical reportage of democratic processes and elections .
“The first leg of the training was held in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State with participants drawn from the southern part of the country, while the second training had female journalists selected from the northern part of the country which took place in Abuja.”
He urged all the participants to ensure they make use of the opportunity in ensuring that they are better than the way they came.
The female journalists were drawn from the print, online and broadcast media on Skill Enhancing and capacity training.
According to him, the training was in collaboration with the Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ).
One of the facilitators, Mr David Ajikobi, Editor, Africa Fact-Check, who presented a paper on Factual accuracy and combating fake news : The place of fact checking and data use in reporting of 2023 elections, exposed the Journalists to the danger of spreading fake news.
He described fact checking as the sole of Journalism saying Journalism is about fact checking , urging all Journalists to ensure that all stories are fact checked before disseminating.
According to him, Nigerian reporters have a responsibility to cover the facts but also have the responsibility to avoid unnecessary stoking hatred and violence,” he said.
“All reliable reporting should be accurate, impartial and responsible.” he stressed.
Ajikobi said media houses need to step up their reporting skills by verifying the reliability of information at their disposal.
He explained how to us necessary tools needed for fact-checking stories.
Also , Mr Taiwo Obe, Founder, Journalism Clinic, spoke on Impactful Reporting of Electoral Processes and 2023 Elections: Focusing on Issues and Telling stories that Matter, emphasized the entrepreneurship aspect of Journalism.
Obe urged the participants to develop their critical thinking ability and to always be on the look out for opportunities that would make them better reporters.
He emphasized the need for participants to get familiar with social media tools in news reporting.
“It’s who finds answers to questions that can provide content: your most important tool is your thinking,” Obe said.
” It is limitless opportunities in the digital world.”
In her submission, Mrs Moji Makanjuola, (MFR) Chief Executive Officer, International Society of Media in Public Health, who spoke on Electoral Processes and 2023 Elections: According Priority to Issues of Women and other Underrepresented, charged female Journalists on the need to incorporate women, Children and people living with Disabilities in their reports.
She appealed to women to harp on more stories on zero tolerance to women , Girl-child and women, also stressing the need for females Journalists to be safety cautious during election processes.
Some of the participants, Palang A appreciated IPC, EU for organising such an eye opener training in the area of fact check of fake news.
She called on Journalists to ensure fact checking of negative stories before publishing inorder not to cause public panic and misinformation in the society.
Also, Bolanle Adebayo, described the training as the best, saying that the training enhanced her in technology advancement such as canva for designs