Writing By Daniel Karlmax ; Editing By Godwin Duru
Media practitioners and content creators have been urged to embrace evidence-based, critical, and conflict-sensitive journalism to promote peace, unity, and the country’s socio-economic development.
This was the central focus of a three-day media training under the PeaceCoreII project funded by the German Development Corporation GIZ and facilitated by Media in Corporation and Transition, MiCT in Kaduna.
The programme, tagged “Media for Peace Training,” brought together sixty participants, including conventional media practitioners, content creators, bloggers, and students, among others.
Speaking on communication for development and peacebuilding, one of the facilitators and founder of LIDA Network from MiCT Irene David Arinze, said the media plays a critical role in national development, hence the need to leverage it for peace and progress.
According to her, the project was prompted by rising cases of insecurity, ranging from farmer-herder clashes to ethnic and religious conflicts, among others.
She explained that building the capacity of the media to generate information required by all sections of society through the right channels is a core element of communication for development.
“It’s important that we are responsible in telling our stories. As you know, journalists are not supposed to impose their own opinions, so we really hope to see more responsible reporting from this kind of training.
“We reviewed several examples and came to the conclusion that, indeed, it is important that journalists remain objective and not one-sided,” she said.
On his part, another facilitator Mr. Silas Jonathan emphasized that people need critical thinking skills to distinguish between truth and falsehood in order to make informed decisions.
Speaking on information disorder, the media consultant who urged journalists to always focus on facts, think critically by understanding situations, tasked them to remain accountable by sharing stories that shape people’s opinion, and set agenda for the government for growth and development.
“Information disorder is a very critical topic because most of the chaos or conflict we see in society often stems from lies and fake news spread by individuals.
“My call is especially for journalists to share what is true and not be overly flowery in their reporting. While the use of adjectives is important, verifying facts and digging deeper to set the record straight is even more crucial,” he said.
Presenting the role of digital media in peace building, conflict and security researcher Mr. Murtala Abdullahi, who spoke on conflict-sensitive reporting, emphasized the importance of digital media journalism to curb ethnic and religious violence.
He noted that it provides a platform for journalists to report conflicts from multiple perspectives, giving a voice to marginalized groups.
“Recently, we have seen stories being shared widely across social media platforms. This requires new forms of knowledge, skills, investment, and resources.
“We also explored tools journalists can use to fact-check information, images, and videos to ensure accuracy and prevent malicious actors from inflaming tensions through social media,” he explained.
Some of the participants, including Grace Ochai, Gabriel Idibia, Daniel Sunday, and Felicia David said the training was impactful and would go a long way in addressing the growing wave of information disorder in society.
The PeaceCoreII project is being implemented in the conflict-prone states of Kaduna, Taraba, and Plateau, targeting media practitioners and social media influencers to help curb ethnic and religious tensions.
Daniel Karlmax
