Capacity Building: Journalists Identified As Major Players In National Development

Journalists are considered to be a group of people that are vital for the development of any nation.

This is because of their crucial role of setting agenda as well as holding the government accountable for its policies and actions.

This disclosure was made on Saturday in Lagos at a capacity workshop organised by the United Nations Information Centre for Journalists covering Nigeria’s seat of power, the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

One of the Resource persons, Mr Kingsley Uranta, who is also the General Manager, Channels Academy, noted that it cannot be undermined in national development.

Speaking on the topic ‘Retooling Journalistic Practice in the Quest for Solutions to Emerging National Challenges,’ Mr Uranta advocated what he considered solution oriented Journalism.

“Solution Journalism, also known as constructive Journalism, is an approach to reporting that not only highlights problems and challenges but also seeks to identify and explore potential solutions as well as inspire action and positive change.

“It also focuses on initiatives, innovations and success stories that offer pathways towards addressing the challenges confronting Journalism,” Mr Uranta noted.

He therefore advised Journalists to always highlight success stories in order to create a positive impact and image for the country.

“For example, instead of highlighting the number of persons that have been killed in a communal clash, you could talk about how communities have addressed the issue of insecurity or how the nation’s Armed Forces are recording victory over boko haram. These are some of the areas we can focus on.

“That gives a correct impression of the efforts by the government to end insurgency or terrorism and also celebrates the courage of our soldiers. Another area we can highlight is the effort of the civilian Joint Task Force, who though not well trained, put their lives in line to compliment the effort of the military in tackling insurgency. We need to also celebrate Nigerians that have been successful in their fields of endeavour; people like Ngozi Okonjo-Iwealah, Amina Mohammed, our sports personnel and many more” he added.

The General Manager reminded State House Correspondents that they have a distinctive opportunity to write their names in gold with the quality of reports they write.

“For me, those of you covering the State House, you have a unique opportunity; it is enormous because there are thousands of your colleagues who wish to be where you are today because there are thousands of your colleagues who wish to be where you are today because you have access to privileged information and powerful people. So it is an opportunity for you to write your name in gold through the quality of your reports with your unique style and approach,” the resource person stated.

Hope Givers

Also while presenting a paper titled ‘Extending the Boundaries of Newsgathering and Reporting to Advance Sustainable Development in Nigeria,’ Professor Jide Jimoh of Lagos State University, described Journalists as hope givers to the society.

Prof. Jimoh stressed that Journalists must desist from just reporting or writing stories rather, they should focus on how to proffer solutions to issues.

“We offer solutions really in our normal routine of gathering and writing and reporting but this is a call for emphasis on providing solutions. It is a general criticism in the society where people say you talk on issues but what solutions have you offered?

“So we are now asking Journalists, after painting the gloom and doom stories, to also provide the way out and to do that you need to seek those solutions or practices that will help mitigate the problems in the society,” the Professor submitted.

He further called on Journalists to stick to the ethics of their profession and also follow up stories to their logical conclusion.

Professor Jimoh added that Journalists should imbibe the habits of backgrounding their stories, avoiding proprietorial interests, and collecting gratification.

He said Solutions Journalism rests on four pillars of response, insight, evidence and limitations.

“Solutions Journalism rests on response to a special problem and how the response has worked or why it hasn’t. Based on insight, it shows what can be learnt from a response and why it matters. It also focuses on evidence; the provision of data of qualitative results that indicate effectiveness,” he explained.

He highlighted some of the challenges threatening Journalism practice to include lack of training and retraining, promoting negativity and lack of follow-up or fact checking.

 

 

Mercy Chukwudiebere