Niger State Correspondent of The Nation Newspaper, Justina Ashishana has outlined strategies for making the most of opportunities available for journalists by media support organisations.
Speaking at the launch of the Nigeria Media Capacity Development Report 2022 on Monday, 15th May, she urged reporters not to limit themselves to covering a specific beat but seek more knowledge and widen their scope of reporting.
According to Ashishana, the fast-evolving media environment presents a need for journalists to upscale their skills to meet up with the demands.
She said the capacity development report by the Media Career Development Network (MCDN) includes a database of media NGOs that offers training and capacity building across Nigeria that reporters can follow up on social media to keep updated on likely opportunities.
” In this report, there are tips and advice for Journalists who are ready to key into most training programmes. This report has been a gold mine to me and I’m sure it will be a gold mine to help journalists in their professional journey.
“My advice to journalists who want to maximize opportunities provided by various media organisations is to always be prepared with your pitch and idea whenever you have a media opportunity. Whenever you see these applications, most of them come with you sending a pitch, a story idea, and what you want to gain during the programme, so you should always have a story idea, keep up with the news, and research topics.
“If you have interest in an area do a lot of research on it, and have a plan in place to be able to have ideas to pitch at every given time.” She said.
She urged journalists to promote their work on their social media platforms to draw attention to their capabilities.
“Share your articles, your news stories and reports on social media and other platforms. Your work should speak for you. So that when media organisations you apply to are trying to screen their applicants, your work will stand out ”
The Data/Investigative journalist advised reporters to be a source by offering expertise, skill and value gotten from training programmes with other reporters who might not have the opportunity to attend the training they went for.
Appealing to media NGOs to create more training materials, guidebooks and handbooks, Asishana said there is a need to provide informal networking opportunities to bring together journalists from different fields so older journalists can meet younger ones and connect.
She said that providing these resources and activities will go a long way in enhancing the capacity of journalists and facilitating collaboration among them.
She lauded the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) and other organisations for their support over the year, noting that Media Career Development Network (MCDN) offers guidance and advice for Journalists on career building which other media NGOs can also incorporate in their activities.
