In an effort to combat the country’s fake news problem while also improving good governance, transparency, and accountability in government, Imo State media practitioners and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have advocated for improved journalist welfare, press freedom, and easy access to non-classified information. The call came during a one-day roundtable conference on ‘The Roles of the Media in Championing Good Governance,’ hosted by Alliance for Africa (AfA) in collaboration with the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) and the MacArthur Foundation in Owerri on Monday.
Participants also identified government and external influences on the media, the presence of unqualified practitioners, commercial pressure, excessive censorship, and a decline in investigative journalism, among other factors, as impeding the media’s ability to effectively champion good governance, influence opinions, drive social change, and shape public discourse for a better society.
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In order to reduce the amount of false and misleading information that the public is given, media organisations should only hire qualified journalists and make sure that their news content is verified and objective, according to Ifeanyi Nwanguma, Chairman of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Imo State Chapter; Blessing Duru, AfA Programme Manager; and Nnennaya Eneremmadu, Rejoice Wobilor-Agua; Adaeze Ekpunobi, among others. Media professionals were also assigned the responsibility of giving precedence to news stories that advance the public interest, national advancement, equity, justice, peace, and unity.
