2023 Elections: Stakeholders’ Meeting on the Review of the Nigerian Media Code of Election Coverage held in Akwa-Ibom State
The International Press Centre (IPC) Lagos-Nigeria implementing partner of Component 4 (Support to Media) of the European Union Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria – Phase 2 (EUSDGN II) project convened a one-day stakeholders’ meeting on the review of the Nigerian media code of election coverage on Friday October 14, 2022, in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state.
The stakeholders’ meeting was aimed at interfacing with media stakeholders’ on the use and compliance of the Nigerian Media Code of Election Coverage. The meeting was also aimed at reviewing the code and possibly introducing new sections by all media professional organisations and associations which will further position the media code to be the most consulted and circulated regulatory document for the reporting of the electoral process in Nigeria.
The Executive Director IPC, Mr. Lanre Arogundade in his welcome remarks stated that the idea of the media election code was derived from the imperative of using self-regulatory instruments to ensure media professionalism and ethical compliance in the coverage of electoral processes, especially elections.
“The media election code is meant to complement other legislations for the attainment of the key objectives of equity and fairness in the coverage of political activities,” Arogundade further stated.
Speaking on the challenges of enforcement of the code, Arogundade emphasized that IPC was also not oblivious of the fact that the enforcement mechanism of the Media Election Code, remains a weak point and it was against this background that the stakeholders’ engagement was convened under EU-SDGN II project, whose Component 4 is being implemented by the International Press Centre, in partnership with the Institute for Media and Society.
He therefore charged the stakeholders’ to decide on whether to tinker with the content of the current code, possibly through amendment or modification of the sections, and the addition of new ones, if considered necessary.
In going about this, Arogundade noted that due attention should be given to simplicity of language and brevity of content for ease of reference and use.
The key highlight of the meeting was the presentation on ‘Bridging gaps; identifying areas to strengthen compliance’ by the Executive Director, Media Rights Agenda (MRA), Mr. Edetaen Ojo who also served as the expert consultant at the meeting.
The presentation disclosed that, the current version of the Nigerian Media Code of
Election Coverage is founded on the principle and expectation that a range of stakeholders need to play a variety of roles that will contribute to the creation of an enabling environment for the media to perform its professional and social obligations during electoral processes.
Speaking on the performance and conduct of the media Ojo identified that, the area of weakness in the Code is the fact that it relies on media organizations to regularly monitor their election reports to ensure compliance with the standards set out in the Code and that their staff on election coverage duty as well as other assignments are properly trained to adhere strictly to the provisions of the Code to protect the institution’s credibility.
“The professional organisations which also endorsed the Code agreed to use their existing internal mechanisms to ensure compliance with the Code by both individual journalists as well as by media organization.”
“After more than four years of the existence of the Code, it is clear that the mechanisms for monitoring, implementation and enforcement have not been very effective, if they have functioned at all,” Ojo further said.
On a final note, “the Code has not realized its full potential, given the richness of the document as well as the effort, time and resources that went into its production,” Ojo said.
Present at the meeting were the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Chairman Uyo State Chapter, Mr. Amos; Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) Executive Secretary, Mr. Iyobosa Uwuagiren; Radio Television Theatre and Arts Workers’ Union (RATTAWU) Chairman Uyo State Chapter, Mr. Mfon Ekpenyo; National Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) President, Mrs. Ladi Bala; Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria (NPAN) Executive Secretary, Mr. Feyi Smith; Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP) President, Mrs. Maureen Chigbo; Nigeria Press Council (NPC) Director Research and Documentation, Mrs. Stella Jibrin; Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON) Executive Secretary, Dr. Yemisi Bamgbose; National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) Executive Secretary, Mrs. Stella Erhunmwunsee; Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) representative, Mr. Odaro Aisien; Former Editor National Concord, Mr. Nsikak Essien; Executive Director of Media Rights Agenda (MRA), Mr. Edetaen Ojo and Executive Director of Institute for Media & Society (IMS), Dr. Akin Akingbulu.
Activity Report: One-Day Media Stakeholders’ Roundtable on The Media Monitoring Report Of The Coverage Of The 2023 Electoral Process.
The International Press Centre (IPC), the lead partner of component 4 (Support to media) of the European Union Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria-Phase II (EU-SDGN II) project organised two media stakeholder’s roundtable on the media monitoring report of the coverage of the 2023 electoral Process.
The activities are pursuant to the aims and objectives of Component 4: Support to Media of EU-SDGN project being implemented to enhance the Nigerian media’s role in promoting democratic governance through Fair, Accurate, Ethical and Inclusive Coverage of Electoral Processes & Elections in Nigeria.
The training sessions were held in Abuja and Port-Harcourt on January 24th and March 8th 2023, with a total select audience of about 40 journalists and media stakeholders in attendance respectively.
Essentially, the media roundtable apart from unveiling and discussing the outcomes on the analysis of trends in reportage of the 2023 election procedures by 15 print/online newspapers and INEC website/twitter platform for the period January 2023, also addressed related issues of media coverage of the 2023 electoral process, especially ahead of the Governorship and House of Assembly elections.
The training presented the participants the opportunity to engage in a roundtable discourse on how the media can be more professional in the coverage of the 2023 electoral process based on expert reviews of the findings from the IPC media monitoring reports for months of October & November (2022) and January (2023) which highlighted the strengths, shortcomings and gaps in media reportage, which motivated the audience on how the media can be more professional in the coverage of the 2023 electoral process.
The IPC media monitoring reports are part of an eighteen-month media monitoring activity (which commenced in October 2022) entailing the examination of the trends in print/online media coverage of the 2023 electoral/democratic governance process, entailing coverage of pre-election issues, campaigns by candidates/political parties, voting and related post-election/democratic accountability issues.
At the end of the activities, the following goals were achieved:
- The journalists and media stakeholders were presented with the media monitoring reports and reviews of the reports which provided empirical information on the trends of media coverage of the electoral process and served the purposes of influencing compliance and support for professional reporting. especially along under-reported themes of coverage of gender, disability, conflict sensitivity. Monitoring reports provided a basis for critical stakeholders’ engagement.
- The journalists and media stakeholders were presented with recommendations, highlighting inferences on the strengths, shortcomings and gaps in media reportage of the electoral process and drawing attention to issues and areas for improvement to engender professionalism, inclusivity and conflict sensitivity.
- The journalists and media stakeholders were presented with expert reviews and interventions on emerging gaps in media coverage of elections and solutions to improving media professionalism, inclusivity, and conflict sensitivity in reporting elections.
- The journalists and media stakeholders gathered areas of improvement based on findings from the reports which served as documents for key engagement and programmatic interventions.
The workshop also had in attendance Journalists from the print, and online mediums.
At the first roundtable, Professor Ogwezzy-Ndisika of the Department of Mass Communication, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Lagos served as the reviewer, while Dr. Iyobosa Uwugiaren, General Secretary, Nigerian Guild of Editors and Dr. Chido Onumah, Coordinator of African Centre for Media and Information Literacy and Vice President, North Central, Association of Communication Scholars and Professionals of Nigeria served as lead discussants.
At the second roundtable Dr Harcourt Whyte, Rivers State University reviewed the findings of the monitoring report and highlighted the strengths and gaps in media reportage of 15 Print & Online Newspapers of the 2023 electoral processes. Mrs. Emem Okon, Executive Director Kebetkache Women Development & Resource Centre and Comrade Job Stanley NUJ Rivers State Chairman were the lead discussants and gave perspectives to issues following the review of the report.
The workshop communiqués will further the engagement and results of the roundtables.