NAWOJ affirms commitment to female participation in politics, factual reportage
Story from Sa’adatu MAINA, Damaturu
Nigerian female journalists under the aegis of National Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) have reiterated their commitment to ensuring factual reporting and the promotion of women’s participation in politics ahead of the 2023 general elections.
The journalists promised to project the voices of female politicians to discourage gender marginalisation in all electoral processes.
They spoke after a two-day skill-enhancing and capacity-building session for female journalists, organised by the International Press Centre (IPC) in collaboration with the Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ).
Speaking during the session, Hajara Leman of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) said she left the session with excellent knowledge of fact-checking and the use of advanced online applications to identify fake news.
“I can now fact-check news I see on social media, images, and websites to ascertain their authenticity before going to press”.
To Hanna Abba from Kano, the session was an eye-opener on how to project the voices of female politicians and educate women voters on the electoral process.
President of NAWOJ, Ladi Bala, said female journalists need to set the agenda for gender inclusion and that of persons with disabilities in the electoral process and after elections.
“This training is coming at a time when female journalists need to enhance their capacity in fact-checking news items.
“We need to help female politicians equip themselves while countering the spread of fake news,” Bala said.
Also speaking, the executive director of IPC, Mr Lanre Arogundade, said the session hopes to enhance the professionalism of journalists towards impactful and factual reporting of all electoral processes in the 2023 elections.
He said other key objectives are to strengthen the capacity of media professionals to deal with electoral misinformation and disinformation and the improvement of media engagement in promoting women, youths, and marginalised groups in politics.
In a presentation on impactful reporting of electoral processes in the 2023 elections with a focus on issues and telling stories that matter, the founder of Journalism Clinic, Mr Taiwo Obe, told the female journalists to tailor their reportage towards inclusiveness by focusing on issues concerning women, persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups.
“Focus should be on pre-voting, voter education, and the voting day,” he said.
Obe also took participants through the use of mobile applications to facilitate their work.
Mrs Moji Makanjuola, Executive Director of International Society of Media in Public Health, delivered a lecture titled: According Priority to Issues of Women and the Underrepresented.
She stressed the importance of verifying stories before publication and the relevance of human-angle stories.
Presenting a paper on “Factual Accuracy and Combating Fake News: The Place of Fact Checking and Data Use in Reporting of 2023 Elections, Editor of Africa_Check, Mr David Ajikobi, showed the participants practical ways to fact-check news, images, videos, and websites.
