President Goodluck Jonathan is set to rout his rivals in 2015 General Elections

TWO-DAY WORKSHOP ON REPORTING ELECTORAL PROCESSES FOR THE 2015 ELECTIONS

A two-day workshop organized by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) under the auspices of Democratic Governance for Development in collaboration with Nigeria Union of Journalists on Reporting Electoral Processes for the 2015 elections, has ended in Calabar, Cross River State with a 12-point communiqué.

            The workshop, which involved journalists as participants from the States in the South-South geopolitical zone, identified a culture of impunity; winner takes it all approach; widespread poverty and high population of jobless youths and religious and ethnic polarization as some of the basis for electoral violence, while emphasizing the need for the media to be conflict sensitive.

            It noted that the media should avoid use of hate language, examine stories from all angles, prevent manipulation of the media by politicians and political parties; advising the media to give aggrieved parties or persons the opportunity and the right to reply and; promptly correct mistakes where they are made.

            The workshop considered the mass media as an important electoral actor because of the obvious fundamental role bestowed on them as the watchdog of society and enjoined journalists to live above board by ensuring that the interest of the nation and the general public is placed above personal considerations at all times.

            It noted that imbalanced reports lead to loss of integrity, trust and litigation and instructed journalists to use all techniques to achieve balanced reporting in the light of truth, equity and fairness. 

            Workshop noted that ethics and professionalism were factors in the outcome of reporting elections and advocated truthfulness, refusal of bribe, avoidance of plagiarism, moral responsibilities, accuracy and confidentiality as imperatives for effective reporting of an election.

            In view of the use of young inexperienced reporters as editors by media owners, the workshop proposed maturity period of 10-15 years for such appointment to enhance professionalism and ethical standards.

            The communique called on the leadership of the NUJ at the national and state levels to protect journalists from frequent harassment and intimidation in the hands of security agents and politicians, while urging journalists to be security conscious as we approach electioneering period.

            It reviewed gender responsive election coverage in Nigeria and noted that the Nigerian media is colossally inclined to the coverage of male politicians, suggesting that women in politics should be given prominence in coverage of the 2015 general election for the nation to tap from their abundant human resources for national development, growth and promotion of better visibility of women in politics.

            The workshop said the social media offer numerous opportunities as a platform for political campaign, voters’ education, information, and socialization as a result of its wide reach and urged INEC, politicians and journalists to take advantage of the social media even as it cautioned adherence to regulation to reduce its negative side.

            On the recent NBC decision to seek approval before airing live programmes for political activities and the proposed plan to make Nigerians pay for media content, the workshop described the moves as clear danger for the political development and the improvement of the nation’s electoral process and called on the NBC to hold widespread consultation with stakeholders to reach an agreeable point on the issues.    

            Workshop also produced an action plan  to be executed by state councils of the NUJ, which include identifying targeted audience and organizing workshop and seminars; engage stakeholders to enrich media output and collaboration with development partners.