PRESS FREEDOM DAY: Govt, journalists tasked

In celebrating the 2017 World Press Freedom day‎, African Journalists have been charged to put conscience first in discharging their duties as the fourth estate of the realm.

Speaking at an event put together by the U.S mission in Nigeria, several practitioners intimated on various topical issues affecting the practise of Journalism, particularly in Nigeria; ranging from facts checking, digital media, and freedom of information act.

Also, a coalition of media advocacy organizations in Nigeria under the aegis of the Partnership for Media and Democracy in Nigeria (PAMED) has also called on the Federal Government to create an enabling environment for media practice in the country.

PAMED, made up of the Institute for Media and Society (IMS), the International Press Centre (IPC), and Media Rights Agenda (MRA), noted that the legal and policy environment for the practice of journalism in Nigeria was not conducive, adding that there is an urgent need to address the issue to ensure that journalists do not become endangered species in Nigeria.

With the new digital age being utilised by media practitioners in ensuring adequate reportage, Simon Kolawole noted that the trend in time past is fast being bypassed‎ due to the availability of the digital media space.

“Now we are bypassing the roadblocks to participatory democracy, if we harness the digital age very well, we will bypass the barricades set by government. We now have influence in the government, thanks to the digital age being explored by journalism”.

On the issue of accountability, he further stated that the FOI act has not been fully utilised due to the nature of practise by some media organisations.

“Now we have the freedom of information act, but how many times have we used it?”

Other issues addressed is the fact that journalist can now explore the options of accountability through ensuring adequate and concise facts checking.

On its part, PAMED said it is worried at the abysmal state of media freedom in Nigeria, and noted that Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans Frontières RSF), the Paris, France based freedom of expression organization ranked Nigeria 122 out of 180 countries in its 2017 World Press Freedom Index released on April 16, 2017.

PAMED described the situation as appalling, noting that the government’s non-challant attitude to investigating attacks on journalists and bringing perpetrators to justice has fuelled impunity by perpetrators since they are invariably never brought to justice.

PAMED said from the murder of Dele Giwa on October 19, 1986 till date, no perpetrator in all the cases of journalists murdered in Nigeria has been apprehended, tried or brought to book as virtually all of them have gone free.

Observing that the shooting to death at his residence of Mr. Famous Giobaro, a Desk Editor with the Bayelsa State owned Glory FM 97.1 in the early hours of April 16, 2017 by unidentified gunmen, was the latest in a series of such incidents, it said that it was tragic that

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