The 2023 Nigeria Media Capacity Development Report, published by the Media Career Development Network is out. This report, according to the Executive Director of the MDCN, Lekan Otufodunrin, is created to provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of media training in Nigeria.
However, the 2023 report, the 4th edition, captured more as it contained an interview with the Programme Director of the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), Akintunde Babatunde as well as the report of trainings and programmes of other Media NGOs in Nigeria. For established, early career and student journalists, the NMCD Report 2023 is a resource that should be consulted for opportunities and trainings.
Thus, this review highlights key insights and issues covered in the report, emphasizing the progress made and the challenges that remain in enhancing the skills and capabilities of Nigerian journalists. The report underscores the need for more diverse and practical training opportunities, greater geographic and organizational inclusion, and a focus on emerging areas such as digital skills and artificial intelligence. By exposing these gaps, the report aims to highlight areas of training needs not yet covered.
Exposure to training is crucial for the average Nigerian journalist for several reasons. Firstly, the dynamic nature of the media landscape necessitates continuous skill development to keep up with evolving technologies, reporting techniques, and digital tools. Training provides journalists with the latest knowledge and best practices in investigative and data journalism, fact-checking, and multimedia storytelling, ensuring they remain relevant and effective in their roles. Secondly, specialized training in areas such as conflict-sensitive reporting, trauma-sensitive journalism, and gender-based violence is essential for accurately and sensitively covering complex issues that affect Nigerian society. Moreover, in an era where misinformation is rampant, training equips journalists with the skills to verify facts and uphold the integrity of their reporting. Additionally, exposure to training fosters professional growth and career advancement, empowering journalists to take on leadership roles and contribute meaningfully to their organizations and the broader media industry.
Key Insights and Issues Covered
State of Media Training in 2023
The report reveals that 74% of surveyed journalists attended fewer than five trainings in 2023, with an average of three trainings per journalist. Female journalists attended slightly more training sessions (3.4 on average) compared to their male counterparts (2.7 on average). Online journalists participated in the most training sessions, followed by broadcasters and print journalists.
Training Focus Areas
Most trainings concentrated on investigative journalism, fact-checking, data journalism, digital publishing, multimedia reporting, election reporting, environmental journalism, gender-based violence, trauma-sensitive reporting, and conflict-sensitive reporting. Notably, there was a lack of training on health-related topics, with only one respondent mentioning such training.
Geographic and Organizational Distribution
The majority of training opportunities were concentrated in Lagos, Abuja, Ogun, and Rivers states, indicating a need for more geographically diverse training programs. Private media houses were significantly more represented in training programs compared to government-owned media houses.
Recommendations for Improvement
The report suggested a number of things to improve media capacity building in the country.
Training Delivery
Respondents suggested incorporating more practical sessions, field trips, and involving academics like professors of journalism to enhance training effectiveness. Media houses are encouraged to take a leading role in organizing training programmes, and training organizations are advised to collaborate with media platforms to increase participation.
Training Topics
Journalists expressed a need for more training on digital skills, data journalism, investigative journalism, election reporting, fact-checking, and advanced storytelling techniques as well solutions journalism. There is a call for greater focus on gender-related issues, inclusive reporting, and health coverage.
Expansion of Training Reach
To address the concentration of training in major cities, there is a recommendation to extend training opportunities to journalists in less-represented regions, enabling them to tell local stories more effectively.
Addressing Emerging Needs
The report highlights a slow uptake of Artificial Intelligence (AI) among Nigerian journalists, suggesting a need for more training in this area. Business and leadership training for journalists is identified as a significant gap, with few instances of such training reported.
Media NGO Contributions
Media NGOs provided training in a wide range of areas, including fact-checking, investigative journalism, digital publishing, information management, balanced reporting, election coverage, fund tracking, climate change, and gender-based violence.
Suggestions for 2024 Report
The review of this report will not be complete without identifying some key points on how to make the conception and dissemination better for the 2024 report. One of such areas is the need to enhance the research design used for data collection and analysis. The current methodologies could benefit from incorporating more robust and scientifically rigorous approaches. This includes increasing sample sizes, ensuring diverse and representative respondent demographics, and utilizing advanced data analysis techniques. Improving the research design will lead to more accurate and actionable insights, ultimately contributing to better-informed strategies for media capacity development. This does not in any way take away from the usefulness of the current report. It sheds more light to the critical areas of needs as far as training of journalists is concerned in the country.
It is also important to give the dissemination of the outcomes of the report wider publicity. This calls for robust support from the Nigerian media to help spread its insights and outcomes. By actively promoting the findings and recommendations of the report, media organizations can create greater awareness and publicity around the issues highlighted. This support is essential in driving the necessary changes and improvements in the media training landscape, ensuring that the insights gained are effectively disseminated and acted upon across the industry.
Furthermore, there is a need for the publisher to seek collaborations with academic institutions to achieve a more robust research design and wider impacts. Partnerships between media houses and training organizations can lead to the development of comprehensive and practical training programmes that address the diverse needs of journalists. Such collaborations can enhance the depth of research as well as quality of training to foster innovation and ensure that training opportunities are accessible to journalists in all regions, ultimately contributing to a more skilled and resilient media workforce in Nigeria. The issue of skewed geographical reach of training programmes could be easily addressed with partnerships with media training institutions that are spread all over the country.
The 2023 Nigeria Media Capacity Development Report underscores the importance of continued support and development efforts by media NGOs and institutions to enhance the capacity of Nigerian journalists. It calls for new strategies to attract diverse participants and address emerging training needs, ensuring that journalists are well-equipped to handle the evolving challenges in the media landscape.
In all, the report highlights significant progress in media training while identifying areas for further improvement and expansion to better serve journalists across the country.
Adebiyi is A Senior Lecturer at the Department of Mass Communication, Fountain University, Osogbo, and Team Lead, Abito Citta (Media) Innovation Lab
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