EXPERTS ADVISE STAKEHOLDERS ON CREDIBLE
ELECTIONS
BY ABDULMUMINI ADEKU
A LOT IS EXPECTED OF THE INDEPENDENT NATIONAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION IN THE 2015 ELECTIONS
A LOT IS EXPECTED OF THE INDEPENDENT NATIONAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION IN THE 2015 ELECTIONS
Experts in the media sector of
the Nigerian economy has enjoined all the stakeholders in the Nigerian
project to do all within its powers to get things right in the 2015 General
Elections.
In his submissions at the Media a
Tweet Thon one day seminar that recently took place at the International Press
Centre in Lagos, Nigeria ,Director of the organization ,Mr Lanre Arogundade
said it was very important for the nation to finally get it right.
He noted that when the project on
elections started by them they wanted to have an engagement with editors of
media firms on credible elections hence the various trainings that
they have organized for reporters from each of the geo political zones in the
country.
He explained that they have started
a real coverage of more than six different newspapers ,some of whom are
regional and national newspapers.
He disclosed that the meeting was
the fifth in series of the Media Tweet a Thon that they have been hosting since
they started to promote citizens participation and media engagement as the 2015
General elections draws near.
He assured that the media Tweet a
Thon was a monthly program coming under the auspices of some multi lateral
agencies like United Nations Development Program, Democratic Governance for
Development ,,The European Union,UK Aid,the Canadian Department for Foreign
Affairs ,Trade and Development .
His words” report of the baseline
survey of newspaper coverage of electoral issues ahead 2015 elections ‘matters
arising and lessons has been deliberately chosen to enable us deliberate on the
findings of one month
exercise which involved six newspapers among who were ,The Punch, Thisday, The
Guardian, Daily Trust, Daily Sun and the Nation Newspapers”
“The survey revealed the major
strength and weakness of the electoral reporting ahead 2015 elections by the
concerned newspapers”
He pointed out that the survey was
conducted among the six newspaper brand between July 21th,2014 till
August 20th of the same year.
In a related issue, Mr Ray Ekpu, Co
Founder of the Newswatch International Magazine and Former President of the
Newspaper Proprietors of Nigeria NPAN while taking a cursory look at the
political climate in the country used Ekiti State as a case study in his analysis.
He paid tributes to the management
of Japanese newspaper, Asahi Shimbun for raising the standards in the trade for
news managers worldwide.
In his opinion , ,Osun State
governorship election s came at a time of soul searching for its people unlike
Ekiti state political calculation which changed overnight as nobody
expected Dr Kayode Fayemi to lose an election even as he quickly added that the
former governor was adjudged to have been guilty because he did not do the
needful at the right time.
The media captain while dissecting
the survey pointed out that the newspapers used in the survey print in more
than one location
.He explained that a brand like The
Sun Newspapers has a printing plant in Aba which make sit to be able to
produce editions in the East reflecting the Ndi Igbo flavor while at the same
time printing in Lagos to reflect the South West aura with a national appeal.
He went down memory lane to when he
was at The Chronicle Newspapers in Calabar ,saying that they were used to an
editorial system that had an editor running a newspaper from Monday to
Saturday with an Editor to handle Sunday publication but this
days due to the revolution and challenges in the 21st century media
enterprise and management the format is different.
“I remember that the Nigerian
Chronicles was doing a 100,00 copies in day during my days there and the Sunday
Times was doing 500,000”
He revealed that in Nigeria
presently there were only two title editors of newspapers that are nationally
focused ,noting that this will have its impact on gender reportage.
His words”In surveys done even
though women make up 50 percent of the population they are poorly
represented in competitive politics, politics in Nigeria is organized in such a
way that women are eventually shut out”
“The Nigerian newsroom is under
represented by women ,the major decision makers in the news business in Nigeria
are men,women like to go after soft hearted issues that make people to brand
them as supermarket journalists but we have also seen women who through dint of
hard work rise to the top “The Sun Newspapers focuses a lot on women related
matters been a tabloid, all tabloids are usually women centric”
“This days most reports published
are in the inside pages of newspapers with the back pages used for columns”
Mr Ray Ekpu then held the audience
spellbound when he gave out one of the secrets of how to grow a commercially
viable newspaper and newsmagazine business by insisting that the page
three of any title anywhere at any level in the world was the most important as
it can have its impact on the advertising bottom line of the brand at the
end of the day.
Expu speaks” Page three of any
newspaper survey is key,it is the page you will most likely see when you
open up the leaflets ,sensible newspapers will not give out there page three
otherwise they should charge extra for it as it is a strategic page”.
Ekpu urged the press not to shy away
from there duty of setting agenda in the nation as they have a vehicle that can
help to deliver information to a very large audience all at once.
He added that even though the press
does his job by the quality of materials it publishes on its platform,the
government can decide to agree or disagree in the end.
On how women should be treated in
the media ,the veteran journalist again took the gathering to the past
when a woman that an editor under estimated at Newswatch later
turned out to be one of there brightest stars.
He told the gathering that anybody
who was not excited about been a reporter when he wakes up in his or her home
is not fit for the news hounding trade.
His words”you do not wake up in the
morning on Monday and say that you wish it was a Friday morning, otherwise you
are not likely to make it in the trade”
He revealed that when the Babangida
coupist overthrew General Buhari from power they spent at least 52 hours in the
office trying to put that particular edition together and till date that
particular copy is what every keen reader of news and follower of history will
like to treasure.
He urged journalists to be proud of
who they are as they were the first to know of what is happening anywhere in
the world that they found themselves .
He added that though money was good
but it was not everything in life as there were still things that comes before
money.
Mr Tunde Akanni ,a Communication
Lecturer at the Lagos state University ,Ojo,Lagos said that the world of
the media profession has changed due to the ripple effect and impact that the
social media has had on citizens all over the world.
He cited the changes that a certain
Lida Ikeji has done using her blog to communicate to millions of audience
around the world.
He affirmed that investigative
journalism still remain the bedrock of news reporting and pleaded with
journalists to take it very seriously .
He advised the women folk in the
media profession in Nigeria to step up their game as they were been left behind
by the men.
A female participant at the seminar
in her won contribution said that perhaps it was high time women start doing
there own business in the press so that they can provide an alternative and not
be censored by men they work with especially on women related issues.
It was gathered through
International Press Centre that the organization have wireless web
facility now with an internet access code with mobility 101.
Its current Media Tweet a Thon has a
hash tag of Hashtag #media 4 elections
And can be accessed via Twitter
:IPC@IPCng
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