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“As the Election Approaches, the Media should Avoid Favouring any Political Party.”

“As the election approaches, the media should avoid favouring any political party.”

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Wema Bank Alat

“As the election approaches, the media should avoid favouring any political party.”

The Nigerian media has been tasked with covering the campaigning before, during, and after the elections objectively and without bias. The general elections are scheduled for 2023.

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This warning was made by Gimba Umar, the founder and CEO of Control TV, who also encouraged the media to avoid favouring one political party over another when covering it. NewsReport gathered.

Speaking on the theme: “Leveraging on the ethics of reporting ahead of the 2023 general elections,” at a briefing in Lagos, Umar said the media should see the critical situation Nigeria is facing as the four leading political parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Labour Party (LP), and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), jostle for the number one seat in the country. “As media men, we must resist the ultimate temptation to be cowed, forcing us to tilt toward one party against the other and denying the Nigerian people the right to know the truth.” We must act with the mindset of the enormous task we have signed up for.

“Having said this, the onus now lies on us to ensure that professionalism is displayed and exemplified in our reporting of the 2023 general elections, for it is during this period that the true test of the media will come to bear,” he stated.
Umar stated that the media is one of the sectors that can be celebrated or criticized at the end of the day, and he advised the broadcast media to strictly adhere to the ethics of the profession.

“When it comes to reports in our respective organizations with their in-house styles, broadcasting ethics are nothing new to us.” To serve as a refresher, which goes over and above any in-house style, are the five Ws and Hs that stand as a guide for the delivery of unblemished professional reporting.

“Once a reporter is able to accomplish the five Ws and Hs, then he or she would have not only informed Nigerians accurately but also prevented what may have been a situation tending towards chaos.” “I believe we are aware of the devastating effects of fake news; no wonder the masses always fall back on the reputable ones as the platforms for truth,” he said.

According to him, the common denominator of codes is a professed loyalty to truth and accuracy and a concern for fairness and good taste, and he says that the media performs a watchdog role for citizens by scrutinizing and reporting on the recital concentration of power, of which the government is the most important player.

“As newsmen, we must see and report what we see, staying away from what is fast becoming a copycat situation where one media house or reporter picks up a story from the web and copies word for word the same report and publishes it.” “We must strive to be original, factual, and well researched to deliver our stories accurately,” he stated.

For instance, he said the candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC) must be given equal media coverage to the candidate of other political parties. “This is a critical back-end influence on the outcomes of elections, which the Broadcasting Organization of Nigeria (BON) frowns at.” Unfortunately, some media organizations’ allegiances to political parties have become increasingly difficult to separate.

 

This is perhaps the biggest bane and disservice to the Nigerian people. “Skewed reports are no longer in fashion globally, and the Nigerian press must not be left behind,” he said.

Speaking on the progress made so far by Control TV, Umar said the platform is primarily focused on television and online digital broadcasting of news and information, with a particular focus on propagating the development of the socio-political, cultural, and environmental fabric in Nigeria and on the continent.

With bureaus in five states, including Lagos, Kano, Ekiti, Osun, the Rivers, and the FCT, Umar said the firm was set to deliver programs that are youth-centric and capture the interests of youth, women, and children. With platforms currently in the social media space, including YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Linked-In, and Tiktok, and with the recent acquisition of our radio license, talks have been concluded to get on the Start Times platform.

He promised that the 2023 elections would be extensively covered across the country in no less than 19 states via television and radio.

 

 

 

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