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NGO Trains Journalists On Conflict Reporting

Written by Basirat Memudu

A non governmental organization, Mercy Corps has urged journalist in the country to be conflict sensitive in their reportage for peace and stability in various communities.

The Chief of Party, Peace Action for Rapid Transformative Nigeria Early Responses PARTNER,
Mr Danjuma Saidu Dawop stated this during a one day Conflict-sensitive Reporting Workshop for journalist organized by Mercy Corps in Kaduna.

Mr Dawop cautioned journalist not to engage in sharing or disseminating any information that is not verifiable or true found on the social media.

He said the ecosystem in which the social media operates was not regulated, hence the need for journalist to understand the implication of disseminating unverified information found on social media.

Mr Dawop explained that, the objective of the workshop was to support media practitioners to understand the concept of Digital peace building.

He also encouraged media practitioners to recognize that they can make a constructive differences during time of conflict as well as to improve their skills on conflict reporting.

Mr Danjuma Dawop stressed the need for the participants to use the skills and knowledge acquire during the workshop to report conflict in sensitive way to achieve more peaceful communities.

He further urged Journalists to always use the tools of the Onion, Iceberg and the tree in conflict sensitive reporting so as to enhance peace building in the country.

Mr Danjuma Dawop who said the mandate of the Mercy Corps is to bring communities together for peaceful coexistence, described media as an important component for their work due to it various platforms of sharing information to a large heterogeneous audience.

The journalist were drawn from various media organizations such as Radio, Television, Print and Social Media.

AMINU DALHATU