The U.S. Embassy Abuja, in partnership with Channels Academy, has trained over 150 journalists on Conflict Reporting and Peace Journalism.
A press statement by the embassy, Friday in Abuja, indicated that, “In her opening remarks, the U.S. Embassy spokesperson/press attaché, Jeanne Clark, noted that the United States recognised that security challenges exist in many forms throughout the country, and that journalists are confronted with responsibility to prioritise physical safety in addition to meeting standards of objectivity and integrity in conflict.
“She urged the journalists to share their experiences throughout the course of the three-day seminar and encouraged participants to identify new ways to address these security challenges.”
The trainer, Prof. Steven Youngblood, from the U.S. Center for Global Peace Journalism, Park University, defined and presented principles for peace journalism in conflict reporting.
He urged journalists to refrain from what he termed war journalism, stating that “war journalism is a pattern of media coverage that includes over-valuing violent, reactive responses to conflict while under-valuing non-violent, development responses.”
The provost, Channels Academy, Mr. Kingsley Uranta, on his part, showed appreciation for the continuous partnership with the U.S. Embassy and for bringing such training opportunities to Nigerian journalists.
He also called on conflict reporters to be peace ambassadors.
The training took place virtually via Zoom from June 22-24, 2021, with journalists converging on American Spaces in Abuja, Kano, Bauchi, Sokoto, Maiduguri, Awka, and Ibadan.
Others joined at the same time from Channels Academy Abuja and the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) secretariat in Port Harcourt, Rivers state.
