Journalists charged to uphold ethical standards

BY GODWIN SAM

Journalists in Akwa Ibom State have been charged to uphold high journalistic and ethical standards in carrying out their duties.

This charge was given by Mr. Ibanga Isine while delivering a lecture entitled “Better reporting and safety in the digital age” at the 2015 World Press Freedom Day, held at NUJ Press Center, Information Drive, in Uyo the Akwa Ibom State capital on Monday 4th May, 2015.

Mr. Isine, who is the regional editor of Premium Times newspaper in Abuja and the 2015 Wole Soyinka award for investigative journalism recipient, urged the members of the pen profession to always play the game by the rules.
He urged them to take a cue from the traditional “Ekpo Ndok (a kind of masquerade in the state that makes known to the people the crimes committed in the society), who without any formal education could report ethically.

According to him,”ekpo ndok tells only the truth (correctness), it tells only what it sees (factualness), its stories are always fresh (timeliness), always tells all parts of the story (fairness and objectivity), and finally, its reports are always educating and entertaining.”

The renowned journalist, who was very articulate in his presentation, urged his audience, whom he addressed as colleagues, to desist from sensational journalism and engaging in paid-news culture, where journalists always write in favour of those who pay them.

He therefore challenged them to “be totally ethical, and never compromise. A good journalist should have gallantry, good conscience, empathy, and sympathy.”

He also urged those who do not have the prerequisite training to practice journalism to go and get trained as journalism, especially in the digital age that we are now living, has gone beyond being able to write well or fine.

“To practice journalism, you must have the basic training required in the profession. Lawyers go to Law schools, medical doctors get trained in medical schools, pastors go to the seminaries, it is only the journalism profession that seems to be an all comer affairs. If you are here and you don’t have the basic training required as a journalist, it is not late. Go and get trained so that you can progress on the professional ladder” he charged.

Mr. Isine however called on the Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) to look into the issue of who trains the journalists. To be a journalism or mass communication  lecturer, such a person should have field work experience as a journalist, or at least six months residence training in a real newsroom so as to be able to teach from the experience perspective.

He intimated the participants at the conference of how to know if their phones are bugged and what to do should that happen. 

Meanwhile, it should be stated here that the United Nations General Assembly in December, 1993, declared that May 3rd of every year as World Press Freedom Day to raise awareness on the importance of freedom the press and remind governments of their to respect and uphold the right of the freedom of expression enshrined under Article 19 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The day (May 3) was also set aside to mark the anniversary of the Declaration of Windhoek, a statement of the free press put together by African Newspaper Journalists in 1991.

The theme for this year’s celebration the world over is “LET JOURNALISM THRIVE ! toward better reporting, gender equality, and media safety in the digital age”.