By Aisha Audu
Search for Common Ground, an international non governmental organization targeted at peace buildings and ending violent conflicts has charged the media and Civil Society Organizations,CSOs to be professional, credible and fair while reporting issues during the gubernatorial elections in Kogi.
The charge was given during an Advocacy visit/Dialogue with Key Stakeholders organized by the NGO to equip the media and CSOs with necessary writing skills and knowledge in the build-up to the November 11, 2023 governorship elections in Kogi state.
The interactive training drew participants from various organizations and was part of the activities being implemented under the Sustaining Electoral Engagement for Democracy,(SEEDS) project.
In her welcome address,Fatima Madaki stated that the training became necessary because of the pivotal responsibility of the media in achieving credible elections in every nation.
She explained that the NGO, Search for Common Ground was formed to end violent conflicts and build healthy, safe, and just societies and appealed to journalists and media practitioners to support their programmes by verifying their stories before publishing them to the public.
Madaki equally charged the media to be professional in their conduct as well as always strive to be gatekeepers that they are to curb the spread of violence.
On his part,Tosin Adebayo who spoke on the theme: ” Early Warning and Early Responds”, emphasized the importance of adopting proactive step in curbing conflict;even as he enjoined stakeholders in the media to manage information at their disposal during elections.
He said the training exercise aims to mitigate electoral conflicts or violence as well as the harmful effects of unethical and insensitive reportage of the Kogi governorship elections by supporting the media professionals and CSOs in the acquisition of ethical and conflict-sensitive reporting skills.
Adebayo further disclosed that the training was designed to encourage stakeholders support peace building programmes to achieve a fair, reliable, and acceptable poll..
He then highlighted sensitive issues such as electoral violence , ethnicity and religious polarization, hate speech, the spread of false information , tribalism and nepotism and their effect on electoral violence.
Journalist were further advised to properly investigate before reporting to avoid false presentation of facts.
