Participants at a workshop to mark the 2019 World Press Freedom Day, organised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), have urged the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) to hold media owners accountable in order to ensure the protection and welfare of journalists.
The workshop was organised with the theme: “Media for Democracy: Journalism and Elections in Times of Disinformation,” and in collaboration with the Free Press Unlimited, the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Centre Against Brutality and for Safety of Journalist in Africa (CABSOJA), Centre for Impact Advocacy (CiA), and Safer Media Initiative, Thursday in Abuja.
A communiqué issued at the end of the workshop and signed by the secretary, NUJ, FCT Council, Ochiaka Ugwu, also urged law enforcement agencies to “recognise and acknowledge the constitutional rights of journalists to receive, hold, and disseminate information without hindrance to the public, as well as ensure the safety of journalists at all times.”
“Journalists should uphold the ethics and professionalism of journalism practice for effective and efficient news reportage of democratic and electoral issues in Nigeria.
“Government and media owners should prevent and avoid censorship, given the fact that media shape how we interpret and observe political information, such as election coverage and other political events, even as the media should provide unbiased report to the citizenry before, during, and after elections,” the communiqué read in part.
The communiqué further read: “Government and media practitioners should embrace the use of technology in advancing journalism in times of elections.
“Government, media owners, NUJ, and NPC should continually train and retrain journalists in order to ensure that ethical standards, professionalism and gender inclusiveness are adhered to.
“Journalists should be given free access to report court proceedings on pre- and post-electoral issues in as much as such reportage is fair, balanced and conforms to the ethics and principles of the profession.”
