By Seye Joseph
Practicing journalists from various news media organization recently gathered for a one-day workshop themed “Widening the Pool of Excellence” in Lagos to strengthen their capacity to identify relevant storylines, boost their understanding of pertinent journalistic values and improve their writing and research skills.
Journalists at the event were trained on accuracy of facts, balance, contextual analysis, depth of research, and investigation, engaging the use of language, and relevance of subject matter.
The learning gathering made possible by Diamond Awards for Media Excellence (DAME) had facilitators including former Editor in Chief of The Guardian, Femi Kusa ; Dr. Bisi Olawunmi of Mass Communication Department, Bowen University, Managing Director , Daily Independent Newspaper Limited, Ted Iwere; Vice Chairman of Harpostrophe, Taiwo Obe and JideOgundele, former banker and Deputy Editor (Business) of The Guardian.
Others were ace photographer and documentarian, Tam Fiofori; Editorial Page Editor of The Sun, Wale Sokunbi; Executive Director, Head High International Tinu Odugbemi; former Editor of Daily Independent, Ikechukwu Amechi; and Lanre Idowu, the DAME trustee.
At the end of the event, participants agreed on the following guidelines for effective practice in the industry:
- Journalists must be creative in the way they present their findings; conscious that the only way they can stand out is by enriching their content, branding their products to break from the mould of buy-one-by-all that is prevalent in much of current media fare.
- Journalists should explore the widening opportunities available to them to share their findings through blogging, webcasting especially in cases where their stories cannot be published in their traditional platforms because of conflicting in-house policies/interests, having weighed their options.
- Journalists are enjoined to respect the foundational values of their profession of truth-seeking by observing the doctrines of accuracy and depth of investigation, fairness by pursuing balance and reflecting context, regard for their audiences through use of engaging prose and appropriate choice and framing of subject matter relevant to their lives.
- To protect professional values, journalists are enjoined to embrace self-regulation and deepen public confidence in the Nigerian media through willingness to correct lapses and obedience to professional censure.
- To deepen confidence in media content shared with their publics, Media houses are urged to strengthen quality control units with knowledgeable and experienced editorial staff.
- To strengthen professional capacity, the Nigerian Press Organisations, incorporating the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria, Nigeria Union of Journalists, Nigerian Guild of Editors, and other media bodies should institute a well-structured Media Capacity Building Fund for continuous training and re-training of journalists.
- Media operations should be well funded to reduce the embarrassing spectacle of media houses owing accumulated Staff salaries and exposing journalists to compromising situations.
- In response to the changing landscape for news presentation, especially with the advent of New Media, journalists are encouraged to always look for fresh angles to present their stories. They should report analytically and interpretatively, shunning value-laden words and adjectives as those words only show the biases of the journalist and turn off their audiences.
- Media houses are encouraged to get the time sequence of news distribution right and also set up radar desks that will routinely scan the news and feed the newsroom with fresh angles to deepen their news judgment and presentation.
- To survive in the News business, Media houses are encouraged to check their weaknesses and develop a new Management Model that strengthens their capacity to attract greater revenue without resorting to granting desperate advertisement discounts that cannot help them keep their heads above waters.
- One way to improve media content is by segmenting a storyline into as many as 12 parts, which if well executed can generate an exclusive running story for one week, which if well promoted can engage audience interest and patronage and improve the bottom line.
- Media houses should set up project teams to increase their competitive performance in the market.
- Journalists are encouraged to utilize the multi platforms available to present news by incorporating elements of video, graphics, and charts to illustrate their stories, and enhance believability.
