2019: remove hate narratives from political communication, IPC tells journalists

Ahead of the 2019 general elections in Nigeria, the International Press Center (IPC) has tasked online Journalists and bloggers in the country to remove hate narratives from the political communication so as to make electoral environment conducive.
The Director of IPC, Mr.
Lanre Arogundade, who made the call at Training for Online Journalists/Bloggers, on conflict sensitive reporting of elections, said that evidence shows that hate speeches strive more in online environment.
Mr Arogundade further said the training is apt because the online environment now occupies a very central place in media operations globally.
“It has offered a converging point for all the traditional and conventional media – The Radio, Television and the Print such that we now speak of media convergence.
Second, it has offered a very broad spectrum of information and dissemination as well as access to the media by millions if not billions of Internet users be they as individuals or groups.
Third, Nigeria has a large population of internet users, and as a result, there is a rapid increase in the number of journalists offering to practice online to reach this Internet or Online population.
What all this means is that we simply cannot ignore what goes on Online in the name of journalism, especially against the background of growing perception that online media and social media platforms are the major harbingers of hate speech and stokers of inciting flames,” Arogundade lamented.