By Daniel Tyokua
Propelled by the need to strengthen good governance and accountability, Safer- Media Initiative has begun the first phase of it training with 50 journalists in investigative reporting.
During the commencement of the training at Maitama in Abuja, the Executive Director/ Chief Executive Officer, Peter Iorter said the training which was with the support from MacArthur Foundation is anchored on the need to strengthen journalists on how best to promote democracy and development.
Iorter revealed that the 2 -day capacity building workshop that started on 6th July to July 7th, 2022, for journalists tagged ‘Strengthening grassroots governance and accountability reporting’ second phase will be conducted in Makurdi, the Benue state capital, after which journalists in Nasarawa will also be trained.
He explained that things seem to be in a sorry situation across the country and it is only trust worthy and fearless journalism is needed to reboot the system.
Iorter said achieving trust worthy information would only be ascertained through strengthening of journalists’ skills to be able to uncover misdeeds in the society.
According to him, soon the country will be going into general elections and citizens need to make informed decision.
He said: “At a time everything seems broken, as it is now in Nigeria only trust worthy and fearless journalism is needed, and at this time trust worthy information is needed more than ever, and the only way to achieve that is to strengthen the reporting skills of journalists so that they can go out there and uncover what is working and what is not working.
“We are also at the time that very soon we will be going into general elections, citizens need to make informed decisions and for them to do that, journalists need to cover and uncover what is happening, especially at the grassroot and hold the authorities to account, so that the citizens will have informed decisions in order to make their choices”
The guest speaker at the training, Prof. Abiodun Adeniyi of Baze University, Abuja, encouraged journalists to be more professional in reporting especially on issues that will add value to the journalism profession and the country.
During his day-1 presentations, Hassan Adebayo of Premium Times, taught the participants on Investigative reporting and story building techniques, development and data journalism for covering community, while day -2 he handled sources handling in investigative reporting, impact generation for investigative journalism, story lab, and redesigning of story pitch by the participants.
The two day training attracted active male and female journalists from both print, online and electronic media in Abuja.
End.
