Journalists have been advised to be safety conscious while covering elections in the country.
The Director, International Press Centre, Mr. LanreArogundade, gave the advice at a stakeholders’ forum on the role media practitioners should play for the success of the electoral process.
“Journalists should understand that they can become targets of attack in a violent environment if security consciousness is taken with levity,” Arogundade stated.
According to him, “Some certain areas may be prone to violence and terrorist attacks, such as North-East and North-Central, as such journalist should regards such places as potentially dangerous to the public which they represent and to themselves.”
Arogundade said journalists should, as a matter of security consciousness, seek the aid of security personnel about safety of any given areas during election before embarking on such coverage.
On the coverage of the political activities so far, Arogundade noted that media outlets during the period of electioneering did not give equitable coverage to the less popular parties and their aspirants/candidates.
Arogundade also stated that the use of adverts as news without clearly indicating whether they were sponsored advert at the front page of many tabloids left a lot to be desired, as it creates unequal regards and lopsided journalistic approach to sensitive matters.
Also speaking at the occasion, Mr. Richard Akinnola, Executive Director, Centre for Free Speech, Lagos, said a noticeable trend was the concentration of reports on the ‘big’ parties at the expense of the ‘smaller’ ones, which according to him, sadly, is “emblematic of the current day media practice.”
Akinnola, however, warned that journalists who indulge in such practice would only be undoing themselves and the media houses they represent, as the readers will turn their patronage to a more objective media houses.
By: Alli Daniel
