2023 Elections: IPC, NAWOJ Train Female Journalists On Election Reporting

The International Press Center (IPC) and the National Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) are training 35 female journalists in the Northern part of the country.

 

The two-day skill enhancing and capacity building training for female journalists which began in port Harcourt the southern part of Nigeria with 36 female journalists ahead of 2023 was aimed at strengthening the media for fair, accurate, ethical, and inclusive reporting of the electoral processes.

 

The workshop is being held as part of the activities under Component 4 (Support to media) of the European Union Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria (EUSDGN II) project, which IPC is the lead partner in collaboration with NAWOJ.

 

Speaking during the training, the Executive Director of, the International Press Centre (IPC), Mr. Lanre Arogundade, said the objective of the training on elections was to seek the position of female journalists to be in the frontline professional, inclusive, conflict sensitive, fact-checked and data drove coverage and reportage in the coming 2023 general election in Nigeria.

“This workshop is designed to attain the key objective of enhancing your professional skill in a way that you can engage in impactful, inclusive, and public interest reporting of the ongoing electoral processes in general and particularly, the 2023 elections”, he said.

 

He however lauded the partner in the exercise, the Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), under the leadership of Ladi Bala, which underscores our joint commitment to ensuring that female journalists were equipped to strengthen the democratic processes.

 

Also speaking, NAWOJ President, Mrs. Ladi Bala, urged women journalists to be the vanguard of women related issues like gender inclusivity and discouraging gender marginalisation in the electoral process and after the elections.

 

“This training is aimed at exposing participants to effective tools for countering fake news, disinformation, and misinformation.”

 

“From the foregoing challenges, providing accurate and verifiable information to help promote a sane society is a task that must be upheld by journalists in the country,”

 

“In light of this, the need to scrutinise and fact-check information has become highly imperative,” Bala said.

 

New Ideas And Skills

She further called on journalists to open up for new ideas and skills that would help them stand out and promote a peaceful electoral process and good governance in the country.

 

Presenting his lecture on factual accuracy and combating fake news: the place of fact-checking and data use in reporting of 2023 elections, the Editor of Africa Check, Mr. David Ajikobi stresses the need to fact-check your reportage to make it credible, and fair for the masses with evidence when reporting election matter and any other matter of public interest.

 

Also in his presentation, on the Impactful Reporting of Electoral Processes and 2023 Elections: Focussing on Issues & Telling Stories that Matter, the Founder of the Journalism Clinic; Mr. Taiwo Obe, dwelled on the need for journalists to always have in-depth knowledge about what they are reporting on because knowledge is power, and light.

 

“Truth is the cornerstone of journalism and every journalist should ascertain the truth to strive diligently to the event“, he noted.

 

On the Electoral Processes & 2023 Elections: According Priority to Issues of Women and other underrepresented groups, the CEO of International Society of Media in Public Health, Mrs. Moji Makanjuola, MFR urged women journalists to always support each other in a formidable network and put safety into your consideration.

 

Lateefah Ibrahim