The Executive Director of the International Center for Investigative Reporting (ICIR), Mr. Dayo Aiyetan, has advised journalists to abide by the ethics of the profession in their reporting.
Aiyetan gave the advice while speaking as the guest speaker at the Campus Journalism Award organised by Youths Digest in Abuja on December 11, 2021.
He emphasised the need for ethical reporting and reporting without bias while decrying the behaviour of some journalists promoting unethical practices.
He said journalists must rise above regional journalism and report the truth, adding that “our fidelity must be to the truth, although it can be moderated with the public interest.”
He reiterated that journalists must strive for balance in their reporting to educate the public and never take sides, especially in crises.
“Educating the public is one of the foremost roles, and educating the public means that we have to go beyond the surface. Part of the failings of the media in Nigeria today is that our reports don’t have depth, background, analyses, context. Those are the things that we have to use in educating the public.”
He said analytical reporting is called for in our society, stating that journalists need to report beyond context and give detailed background knowledge.
Mr. Aiyetan also stated that journalists should not romanticise terrorism and should keep to the expected professional standards.
He said Nigeria is facing a lot of crises, and it is known that it is during these crises that political division, all kinds of fake news, people who profit from chaos thrive.
“It is the duty of a journalist or the media to enter the fray and provide the perspective of the truth.”
Mr. Aiyetan lamented how media roles have been influenced by media corruption, media ownership, poor remuneration, lack of capacity, among others.
He cited an example of Pandora’s papers investigation involving his pastor and how he never had a second thought before pushing it to the public.
“As a journalist, if you cannot rise above ethnic, religious, just you know, cleavages, then you are not a journalist. I hope young men and women who are campus journalists are here learning.”
Comrade Auwal Musa-Rafsanjani, Executive Director of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, CISLAC, who also spoke at the ceremony urged Nigerians to work together to develop campus journalism as it would contribute to the country’s democratic and accountability strengthening.
The event was hosted on the 11th of December in Hotel 2020, Abuja, and is the largest gathering of student journalists from different institutions across the federation honouring their contributions to national development.
