Online Journalists Meet In Kaduna, Harp On Professionalism

By Longtong Ibrahim

Chairman of the Kaduna State Council of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Yusuf Adamu, has tasked Journalists in Africa to be up and doing so as to prevent quacks from taking over their job.

He added that with the coming of new media, what some journalists do is to wait for stories from colleagues, then change the headline and by-line, making them more lazy and unprofessional.

Adamu stated this Wednesday in Kaduna, northern Nigeria, at the orientation program organised by League of Professional Online Journalists (LEPOJ), with support from Africa Media Development Foundation (AMDF), for members of LEPOJ.

According to Adamu, one of the greatest challenges of professional journalism is the compromising of ethics by practitioners, explaining that, for journalists to progress, they must work hard and maintain professional standard which can distinguish them from quacks.

He however urged LEPOJ to sustain and maintain the standard of operation, so as to sanitize the system especially among online publishers and bloggers.

In her speech, Coordinator of Africa Media Development Foundation (AMDF), Sekyen Dadik, pointed out that LEPOJ platform intends to bring together online journalists in Africa in order to foster professional excellence and information sharing among African online journalists, as well as serve as a place of refuge for members against threats and intimidation from repressive regimes and other threats to free media.

“In the wake of fake news, we envisage professionalism, commitment and authenticity among online journalists,” she added.

Earlier in his welcome address, Coordinator of LEPOJ, Alex Uangbaoje, said, LEPOJ is a formidable association of journalists promoting professionalism in the practice of online journalism not only in Kaduna State, but in Nigeria, Africa and the rest of the world.

He also noted that the Association also provides a forum for exchange of ideas, knowledge and capacity building of its members in order to continue to uphold the integrity of online journalism.

“Well, as we all know, the issue of ‘Fake News’ and Hate Speeches’ in recent times has become a very serious problem to the media world, especially the use of internet through social media to promote ideas and reports that can pull nations down, set the citizens against the authorities and against themselves, even destroy families and relationships all in the name of disseminating news.

“And when these stories are ‎pushed out by anybody, blogs or news websites that are created by some people who can afford to pay for website design, the impression the public gets is that, “it is the news media that published it” probably because of the faith they have in this noble profession, without being able to distinguish between the non professionals and those who are trained to disseminate information.

“So, this is why the leadership of Africa Media Development Foundation (AMDF) in their wisdom came up with the idea to bring online journalists together and start a professional association with the objective to promote professionalism, equip online journalists with knowledge to uphold ethical conduct at all times, so as to separate the professionals from the ordinary bloggers and social media users,” he explained.