IPC

Media News, News, Press Release

Communique: one-day capacity building workshop and engagement on solution driven rural poverty reporting

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Communiqué of one-day capacity building workshop and engagement on solution driven rural poverty reporting organized by the International Press Centre (IPC) and WACC for select journalists from print media organizations in Lagos on Tuesday September 8, 2015. INTRODUCTION Based on the need to improve on the agenda setting role of the media in the quest to reduce poverty through informed reports and commentaries, the International Press Centre (IPC), Lagos organized a one-day capacity building workshop and engagement on solution driven rural poverty reporting for journalists in Lagos. The workshop was organized under a project titled: “Mentoring and CSO/media engagement for solution-driven rural poverty reporting” being implemented with the support of the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC). The workshop focused on equipping the select journalists with specific skills to conduct investigations and carry out in-depth reporting of diverse poverty issues and challenges faced by people living in select rural communities in Lagos. This is in continuation of the WACC/IPC 2013-2014 media intervention programme on rural poverty reporting. The workshop had 10 participants from 6 national newspapers and was facilitated by Dr. Abigail Ogwezzy-Ndisika; Associate Professor and Head of Department of Mass Communication, University of Lagos and Mr. Lanre Arogundade, Director, IPC. The workshop had two interactive and practical sessions which provided professional guide to participants on the essence of development journalism and poverty reporting. HIGHLIGHTS The workshop started with a mind gauging session during which participants shared views on anticipated outcomes of the workshop. This was followed by an explanation of the background and the reasons for the focus on reporting the poverty conditions of communities in Lagos. The presentation by the resources person were: “Reporting poverty and development; the media as agenda setters and agents to engender grass root development” by -Dr Abigail Ogwezzy-Ndisika; and “reporting rural poverty issues: Skills & methodologies for conducting investigations and in-depth reports on rural poverty conditions” by Mr. Lanre Arogundade. The session also had a practical session on “Following the Poverty Issue: Using 5Ws and 1H as guide” as well as “Stakeholders’ analysis of poverty issues” by Mr. Arogunade. The workshop also addressed related issues on identifying poverty conditions of communities in Lagos: the causes and the effects, the limitations to the rreporting of poverty conditions of the communities and steps towards overcoming the limitations. OBSERVATIONS Participants noted and agreed that: • Poverty goes beyond mere measurement of a household’s expenditure or welfare but has many dimensions and may include inadequate access to government utilities and services, environmental issues, poor infrastructure, illiteracy and ignorance, poor health, insecurity, social and political exclusion. • News reporting should routinely give special attention to and examine the issue of poverty and development. • Media can engender grassroots development by reporting poverty and development as agenda setting function. • The media through news stories and angle/frequency of reportage; can inform about glaring and growing poverty and facilitate solutions. • The media can proactively make government more responsive to the development needs and challenges of the rural poor. • Journalists as agents of development can apply solutions journalism in addressing the various dimensions of poverty while writing stories on rural poverty with the aim of drawing attention to alleviating it. • Journalists investigating stories on poverty situations should employ fact finding and analytic skills like: – Issue analysis of the poverty conditions – Stakeholder analysis of factors and influencers to changing the situation. – Using diverse sources. – Telling compelling stories especially by using oral testimonies. RESOLUTION: Following the presentations and discussions, the participants resolved to: · Follow up on the issues by attending an interactive meeting with representatives of select rural communities in Lagos in order to obtain first hand information on the poverty concerns of the communities. · Undertake field visits to select communities to do investigative/development reporting of their issues. · Write solution-driven report on major development poverty issues of rural communities of Lagos. · Interact with Local CSO and/or Local/State-level institutional stakeholders and writing a solution driven report on the rural poverty/development issues/needs of the community. · Be an agent of change in allevaiting poverty conditions of communities in Lagos State. CLOSING At the end of the workshop, participants expressed gratitude to the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) for supporting IPC to organize the workshop and other related components of the project. SGD: ‘Lanre Arogundade Director, IPC t: +234.802.3186.845 e: larogundade@ipcng.org, larogundade@gmail.com

Press Release

Set Donu Kogbara free now

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    The International Press Centre (IPC), Lagos-Nigeria is deeply concerned about the fate of Donu Kogbara, the Vanguard newspaper columnist who was kidnapped on August 30, 2015 in Port Harcourt, south-south Nigeria and has since been held incommunicado. It is particularly worrisome that her abductors have not maintained any contact with her relations and friends thus fuelling all forms of suspicions. IPC considers her kidnap as another assault on the freedom of the press and the right of media professionals to practise without fear, threats and molestation. She should be set free immediately. IPC urges the Inspector General of Police to step into the matter and with the support of other law enforcement and intelligence agencies ensure that nothing untoward happens to Donu Kogbara. Lanre Arogundade Director Tel: +234 (0) 8023186845 , +234 (0) 8067144874 Email: larogundade@ipcng.org, larogundade@gmail.com Twitter: @lanreipc l Skype: lanre.arogundade2 International Press Centre (IPC), Lagos, Nigeria IPC is Nigeria’s foremost media capacity development organization. www.ipcng.org l www.twitter.com/IPCng l www.facebook.com/ipc.nigeria lwww.youtube.com/ipcng l Google+ : Ipc Ng

Media News, News

Documenting how print, online outlets reported 2015 polls

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AS part of efforts to ensure that electoral process in Nigeria conform with international standards, the activities of a total of 29 media outlets, for six months (from November 2014 to April 2015), were put on the spotlight with the aim of evaluating their coverage of 2015 General Elections. The exercise, as a key highlight of the broad project tagged, Media Capacity Building, Mentoring and Monitoring for Conflict-Sensitive, Public-Issue and ICT-Driven Reporting of 2015, is a collaborative undertaking of Democratic Governance for Development (DGD) II (supported with funds contributed by the European Union (EU), UKAid, the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD) and UNDP); Nigerian Press Council (NPC); as well as International Press Council (IPC). The period of the monitoring was carefully designed in order to undertake assessment of the performance of the concerned media outlets prior to, during, and immediately after the elections with emphasis on: use of sources, conflict sensitivity, language use, coverage of issues and coverage of the election management body. The outcome of the monitoring exercise has now been documented entitled Reportage of 2015 Elections: A Monitoring Scorecard of Print and Online Media. The public presentation of the publication held last Thursday in Abuja attracted the presence of distinguished personalities such as Special Adviser (Media and Publicity) to the President, Mr. Femi Adesina; Project Director, UNDP-DGD, Dr. Mourtada Deme was represented by the Media Expert, UNDP-DGD, Toyin Gabriel; President, Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Mr. Abdulwaheed Odusile; Executive Secretary, NPC, Mr. Nnamdi Njemanze; President, National Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), Mrs Ifeyinwa Omowole; Director of IPC, Mr. Lanre Arogundade; Mr. Edetaen Ojo of Media Right Agenda (MRA) among others. The presentation on Ethics in Election Reporting: Looking into the future by Prof. Nosa Owens-Ibie of Caleb University who is also Secretary-General, Association of Communication Scholars and Professionals of Nigeria (ACSPN) added intellectual touch to the ceremony. In her brief remarks, the representative of DGD Project Director, Toyin Gabriel dwelled on the overall objectives of the initiative which included strengthening the democratic character of Nigerian political processes as well as promoting outcomes that consolidate and advance democratic governance and accountability to achieve Nigeria’s stated development priorities and goals. According to her, DGD II provides, specifically, technical and financial support to INEC, civil society organizations and institutions such as the media, National Assembly and political parties as a means of strengthening accountable and responsive governance institutions and consolidating democratic governance in line with international best practices. Media outlets monitored were categorized into national, regional, online and social media platforms. The breakdown reveals 12 national newspapers – Daily Sun, The Nation, National Mirror, Vanguard, The Punch, ThisDay, Daily Independent, The Guardian, Nigerian Tribune, Daily Champion, Leadership and Daily Trust; 10 regional newspapers – Nigerian Chronicle, Daily Star, Nigerian Observer, Nigerian Pilot, Abuja Inquirer, Peoples’ Daily, Blueprint, The Gleaner, Desert Herald, and Fresh Facts; four online news media – The Tide, The Cable, Sahara Reporters and Premium Times; and three social media platforms – Enough-is-Enough Nigeria, Reclaim Naija and INEC. The objectives of the exercise included monitoring the public interest, development and conflict sensitive content of election and political news reports, features and editorials in all the target outlets; gauging media professional performance in the reportage of parties and candidates as well as electoral stakeholders including INEC; analysing the trend, issues, context and quality of media reportages of election and electoral issues; identifying the strengths, gaps and challenges of media coverage of election and electoral issues; as well as engaging stakeholders on the improvement in the human and development content of political and electoral reporting. Both quantitative and qualitative methodologies were deployed to arrive at the outcome. Quantitative methodology involved identification of all the relevant reports in the selected media outlets and social media platforms; determination of the number and percentage of reports according to the topics and sub-topics of the monitoring, for which codes and sub-codes were also respectively allocated; calculation of space allocation to the topics and sub-topics; as well as identification of the relevant reports to determine the number and percentage according to the genre and format of reporting. The genre had to do with whether the relevant reports were published as news, features, investigations, interviews, opinions, columns/articles, photographs, cartoons, etc. The format, on the other hand, was about the placement of the reports, that is, whether they were reported on the front page, the inside page, the editorial page or back page, vis-à-vis space allocated for respective issues and topics. The space allocation according to genre and format was therefore documented. Qualitative method took care of the analysis of the content of all the relevant reports to determine the focus, the tone, the professionalism and the ethical standard of reporting as derived from the five monitoring topics namely sources, conflict sensitivity, language, issues and Electoral Management Body (EMB). Presenting a summary on the publication, Lanre Arogundade of IPC said general and specific findings were discovered at the end of the monitoring exercise. Under the general findings, Arogundade explained that “the monitored media outlets accorded varying degree of priority to public interest issues in the 2015 elections; while there was high interest in conflict related issues, the development content of the election reports were quite low. “The monitored media outlets exhibited different levels of professionalism in the reporting of political parties and candidates but media access was generally in favour of the biggest two political parties while the other political parties were often overlooked. “The monitored media outlets made noticeable efforts to comply with the legislative and the institutional frameworks on the media coverage of elections, but there were significant areas of non-compliance,” he said. On mention of the political parties, a key issue under specific findings, Arogundade said, “Though 26 political parties were listed on the website of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the mention of political parties in the monitored reports was highly skewed in favour of only two parties – the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic

Media News, Press Release

Press Release – NPC & IPC Announce The Release of April Report on The Monitoring of Media Reporting of 2015 Elections

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The Nigerian Press Council and the International Press Centre (IPC) today announced the release of their report on the monitoring of the reportage of the 2015 elections by twelve national newspapers, nine regional newspapers, four on-line news media and three social media platforms. The newspapers that were monitored in the national category include Daily Sun, The Nation, National Mirror, Vanguard, The Punch, ThisDay, Daily Independent, The Guardian, Nigerian Tribune, Daily Champion, Leadership and Daily Trust. In the regional category was Daily Star, Nigerian Observer, Nigerian Pilot, Abuja Inquirer, Peoples Daily, Blue Print, Desert Herald and Nigerian Chronicle while the online media outlets were The Tide, The Cable, Sahara Reporters and Premium Times. Enough-is-Enough, Nigeria, Reclaim Naija and INEC social platforms were monitored in the social media category. The organizations said the findings should provide useful indicators on the role of the media in promoting stable democratic culture as the month was special as far as the 2015 elections were concerned. “The month of April was particularly significant because it followed the conduct and the release of the result of the presidential and national assembly elections and the emerging issues while it also witnessed the governorship and states house of assembly elections. It was the month when Nigeria’s sixteen-year old political map was effectively re-drawn”, the organizations said in the summary of findings and outcomes. NPC and IPC also said the report marked the end of the monitoring exercise which started in November 2014 through the funding support of the United Nations Development Programme’s Democratic Governance for Development Project (UNDP-DGDIII) and its partners including the EU, the UK AID, the Canadian Department for Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFTAD) and the UNDP. The organizations observed in the summary report as follows: 1. The National Newspapers The newspapers devoted commendable attention to the coverage of the election processes. The reports were considerable high because the newspapers focused on matters arising from the presidential elections in the previous month and the various issues around the governorship and states house of assembly elections held during the month. The APC and the PDP were again used as sources most of the times. While it could be argued that the pattern of reporting seemed to be to the disadvantage of the other political parties, it is worth noting that the pattern of reporting reflected the fact that the two political parties were winning most of the electoral seats being contested. Female politicians again lagged behind male politicians as sources of election reports during the month. It was expected that there would be higher number of female sources during the month given the fact that a significant number of women contested the states house of assembly elections. Some of them contested on the platform of the ‘smaller’ political parties and it was quite obvious that the higher focus on the two biggest political parties affected coverage of their campaigns and issues. The fact that ordinary citizens were the second most used as sources showed a public-interest oriented reporting of the elections during the month. Unfortunately, the concerned newspapers were again below par in the reporting of youths and persons living with disabilities. The concerned newspapers were more conflict sensitive during the month. Many early warning signals reports were published while there were very few sensational headlines or inciting statements. No hate advertorial was published by the concerned newspapers. The concerned newspapers gave impressive coverage to the issues surrounding the elections especially as they concerned campaigns and electoral conflicts. It was understandable that there were fewer reports on voter education because the governorship and state assembly elections took place early in the month. News continued to be the preferred format of reporting of election issues by the concerned national newspapers. 2. The Regional Newspapers The regional newspapers followed the pattern of reporting by the national ones by focusing greater attention on the two biggest political parties – PDP and APC The regional newspapers did not show improvement in the use of female politicians as sources during the month. The regional newspapers stuck to the commendable tradition of avoiding sensationalism. The regional newspapers deserve commendation for consistently refraining from hate speech and incitement. The regional newspapers leaned towards the public interest in publishing many stories on complaints and demands as well as INEC’s responses to them. The issues of women, youths and persons living with disabilities did not receive the required attention. A good percentage of the reports were given prominence as they were published on the front pages. The various genre of reporting were well used by the regional newspapers. 3. The Online Media The concerned online media seemed prejudiced against the other political parties as their reporting only focused on the PDP and the APC. The poor use of female politicians as sources shows lack of gender supportive reporting of the elections by the concerned online media. The concerned online media deserve commendation for completely avoiding hate speech or inciting headlines. The concerned online media attempted to make INEC accountable to the public by giving the greatest attention to INEC’s response to complaints and demands. 4. The Social Media Platforms The social media platforms played significant role in ensuring peaceful elections by being conflict sensitive and discarding hate speech. They however performed very poorly when it comes to under-represented groups as they failed to reckon with their issues. The summary and the main reports are attached. FOR NPC & IPC Lanre Arogundade Director, IPC Lanre Arogundade Director Tel: +234 (0) 8023186845 , +234 (0) 8067144874 Email: larogundade@ipcng.org, larogundade@gmail.com Twitter: @lanreipc l Skype: lanre.arogundade2 International Press Centre (IPC), Lagos, Nigeria IPC is Nigeria’s foremost media capacity development organization. www.ipcng.org l www.twitter.com/IPCng l www.facebook.com/ipc.nigeria l www.youtube.com/ipcng l Google+ : Ipc Ng

Media News

Violence Free Elections: IPC/ActionAid holds Multi-stakeholders’ Parley in Lagos

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The International Press Centre (IPC), Lagos and ActionAid Nigeria will hold a multi-stakeholders’ parley on credible and violence free elections in Lagos State. According to a terse statement by the organizers, the programme, scheduled for Wednesday, April 1, 2015 in Lagos is part of an election and democratic governance project tagged: Strengthening Citizens’ Engagement in Electoral Processes (SCEEP) being implemented in ten (10) States by ActionAid Nigeria, with the support of UKAID through The Department for International Development (DFID).” “Invited institutional stakeholders to give perspective on preparations towards the Lagos Governorship and House of Assembly elections include the Resident Electoral Commissioner, INEC, Lagos-State; The Lagos State Police Commissioner; The Lagos State Commandant, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps(NSCDC); the Lagos State Director, National Orientation Agency (NOA), the Media; and Civil society platforms, amongst others”, Sanmi Falobi, IPC’s programme Associate stated.

Press Release

IPC decries attacks on journalists during National Elections

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The International Press Centre (IPC), Lagos-Nigeria has condemned the various incidents of attacks on journalists by security operatives and political thugs during last weekend’s presidential and national assembly elections. IPC said its monitoring of media coverage of the elections revealed that the following violation of journalists’ rights and press freedom occurred between Saturday and Sunday: Perez Brisibe of Vanguard newspapers and some other journalists were assaulted by suspected political thugs at the Ughelli office of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC in Delta State while being barred from monitoring the collation of results Imani Joe-Adeniyi, Channels TV Correspondent; Saviour Etim Asuquo, Channels TV Cameraman; Tina Todo, The Guardian newspaper reporter and others were reportedly stopped and molested by men of the Nigeria Police in Calabar, Cross River State on their way to the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to obtain updates on the collation of election results. A private radio station, Unity FM and some of the journalists were attacked by some youths from Anguwan Rogo and Zinaria in Jos North LGA of Plateau State over an alleged offensive live programme Director of IPC, Mr. Lanre Arogundade said the attacks were unbecoming and certainly not acceptable more so as the journalists were carrying out legitimate professional duty during the elections. “The fundamental rights of the concerned journalists and media institutions were violently violated and we hereby call on them to immediately seek appropriate legal redress”, Mr. Arogundade said. He called on the police authorities, other law enforcement agencies and the leadership of the political parties to enlighten their men and members on the important role of the media during elections which requires that the freedom of journalists should not be tampered with.  “In particular we are again appealing to the Police authorities to consider the guarantee of the safety of journalists as one their scared duties during elections”, Mr. Arogundade said. IPC also called for the immediate release of two Al-Jazeera Journalists, Ahmed Idris and Mustafa Ali, who according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) have been confined to Sutus Hotel, Maiduguri by Nigerian military authorities since Tuesday March 24, 2015.

Uncategorized

Newly improved IPC Conference Hall available for use

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      50-seater hall located at International Press Centre (IPC), House 11, Dideolu Court, Dideolu Estate, 2nd Gate Bus-stop, Ijaiye Road, Ogba, Lagos. 1. Projector, Public Address System, Flip Chart Board, Markers etc. 2. Superb Air-Conditioning System 3. Standby Generator 4. Secured and Serene Environment Ideal for Meetings, Seminars and Trainings, AGMs, Staff Retreats, Social Functions etc. For booking or enquiries, call +2348034262294 or +23408023626281.

Media News

2015 Polls: NBC descends on TV stations over hate broadcast

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2015 polls: NBC descends on TV stations over hate broadcast The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) at the weekend came hard on television stations over hate broadcast saying some television stations in the country have jettison the broadcasting Code and other professional code of ethics and broadcasters were acting as judges or advocates for politicians. At the one-day Broadcast Stakeholders’ Meeting held at the Conference Hall of NICON Luxury Hotel Abuja on Tuesday it was observed that: A lot of damage has been done to the integrity of broadcasting by the recent conduct of some broadcast stations in political broadcast, most of the political discourse are not issue based and were attacks on personalities rather than scrutiny of the tract records of Candidates in relation to their campaign promises. Denial of access to opposition by broadcast stations, misinformation from the media provokes negative reactions and misdirects the society with severe consequences on national security. The communiqué issued at the one-day Broadcast Stakeholders’ Meeting reads: Political adverts must be backed by APCON approval. The broadcast stations to engage in more professional engagements with politicians, civil society organizations, institutions and agencies involved with elections. NBC should engage in careful and informed monitoring of the process to ensure that the conduct of each broadcaster is in public interest. NBC should act decisively against any broadcaster who breaches the Nigeria Broadcasting Code in political broadcast. NBC should engage in crisis management to avert the danger that negative broadcast is capable of causing. Broadcasters should resolve to build a truly democratic and united nation and disallow politicians from causing divisions. The role of the Media professionals at this point should promote, stabilize and add credibility to the democratic process by increasing citizen’s confidence, lower tension and legitimize the outcome. Broadcasters shall ensure the right of Citizens to quality, and credible information on candidates and other electoral processes. It was also agreed that the sacred document, the Nigeria Broadcasting Code should be followed strictly in the interest of political development in Nigeria. The motion for the adoption of the communiqué was moved by Alhaji Lawal Yusuf Saulawa, Managing Director, Nagarta Radio Kaduna and seconded by Ms. Uche Ubitube of Anambra service, Awka. The NBC Director General, Mr Emeka Mba told journalists in an interview in Abuja on Tuesday after the meeting with CEOs of broadcast organizations that the “commission had observed the breach by the two stations and letters have been written to them and a committee set up by the commission to look into the infraction would soon come up with appropriate sanctions which may be fine or suspension of license.” He confirmed that NBC received a lot of complaints and petitions across the country over the hate documentary and would follow due process in coming up with the sanctions. Dr Tom Adaba, a veteran broadcaster and a former National Broadcasting Commission (NBC’s) Director General, shortly after the tea break of a crucial meeting between the NBC and the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of broadcast organizations on the forthcoming elections said that the sanction was late in coming as the two stations ought to have been punished long ago. Earlier while giving his opening remarks, Mba had chastised CEOs of broadcast organizations for “mortgaging the broadcast industry.”He said some of them had jettisoned the Nigerian Broadcasting Codes and had resorted to unprofessional conducts. “We should stop doing things that can bring about violence. We should stick to the Nigerian Broadcasting Codes. Of recent, we have been inundated with calls, petitions and complaints about the kind of hate adverts run by some the stations in the last one month. Henceforth we will hold any station that flouts the codes responsible. We must stop all hate messages from now; if you don’t stop we are going to act. We would follow due process to revoke the license of any erring station; I can guarantee you that”, the NBC DG said. He also told the broadcasters that “politicians would do what they would do but you as broadcasters must not fall victims of their acts.”He said some programmes which were run by some unnamed stations had caused so much hatred that NBC needed to act fast. “We would act decisively against stations that attempt to spread hate messages”, he said. While condemning the TV stations, Dr Adaba, said the stations had sowed the seeds of hatred with the documentary and only God could save the country from violence. He said: “We should tell ourselves the truth: some stations have thrown away the broadcast ethics. I was wondering where we are heading to. Don’t stop to ask: what if the candidate they were trying to run down wins. If we sow seed of hatred, we will reap nothing but violence. If we sow the seed of peace, definitely we will reap peace. But unfortunately, it is broadcasters who are supposed to be spreading peace message that are now spreading hate messages. What we have had is so bad that one keep wondering if we have codes at all. These stations should have been punished long ago. But I will urge them to retrace their steps.” In a paper presented at the meeting, a renowned Mass Communication lecturer, Professor Umar Pate of the Bayero University Kano said Nigerians were losing confidence in the media and the practitioners needed to wake up to their responsibilities. He said people are usually worried when the media is not playing its functions. According to him, “watchdog is sick and we are all worried.” He said most Nigerians usually form their opinions on whom to vote for but some sections of the media are misleading them. Pro Pate said because of the trust ordinary people have in the media, practitioners should not tell them lies. “ Media is instilling fears in Nigerians because of elections. They are speculating on whether elections will hold or not; this is making most Nigerians to be apprehensive. This is compounded by the social media. Also, a renowned Mass Communication

Press Release

IPC conducts survey on safety of journalists in Nigeria

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The International Press Centre (IPC), Lagos-Nigeria has commenced a survey on the safety of journalists in Nigeria as part of its project on safety of journalists and emerging issues in conflict in Nigeria supported by the United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO), Nigeria. According to Mr. Lanre Arogundade, Director, IPC, the survey started in November, 2014 and will end in April 2015. He noted that the immediate objective of the project is to conduct an assessment that provides baseline information on safety of journalists in Nigeria especially in the context of UNESCO Journalists’ Safety Indicator at the National Level so as to facilitate an intervention plan by UNESCO, its partners and other interested stakeholders. He further said the exercise is meant to highlight the danger faced by journalists, the nature and character of the violations of their rights, the institutions and persons responsible for such violations and the actions taken or not taken to promote the safety of journalists. The findings will also be used to engage relevant stakeholders on the safety of journalists in Nigeria. Among the documented violations as sourced from nine national newspapers in November and December, 2014, are assault, abduction and destruction of working equipment. Most of the attacks affecting 17 journalists occurred in November at separate locations. Fourteen journalists, among them, three females, were kidnapped by militants in Delta State. One journalist was abducted by gunmen in Abia State. One journalist was assaulted in Osun State while another journalist and his crew members were assaulted in Kwara state. The police were allegedly responsible for most of the attacks that occurred in December. Four of them took place in Taraba State. Arogundade noted that journalists working in conflict zones and politically volatile areas continue to be vulnerable to attacks and in most cases there was no conclusive investigation and apprehension of those responsible for such including abductions. He commended the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) for its intervention, being the most visible media pressure group condemning the attacks. He called on security agencies to investigate the reported cases and bring the perpetrators to book.

News

Communique of media engagement forum with female candidates from the South-west

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  INTRODUCTION The 2-day media engagement forum with female candidates in the south west on deepening understanding and improving the use of conventional and new/social media for campaigns & other electoral activities was held in Ibadan on Friday 23rd and Saturday 24th January, 2015. The media engagement forum was organized by the International Press Centre (IPC), Lagos-Nigeria,with the support of the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Democratic Governance for Development (DGD lll) Project and its partners including the European Union (EU). In attendance were about 40 participants consisting of female candidates contesting for governorship, Senatorial, House of Representatives and State House of Assembly seats on different political party platforms in the south west in February. Among the political parties represented at the forum were KOWA, ACCORD Party (AP), All Progressives Congress (APC), National Conscience Party (NCP), Labour Party (LP), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Alliance for Democracy (AD). The participants also included Editors and Reporters from the print, broadcast and online media. The objectives of forum included the need to deepen the female candidates’ understanding of the workings of the media; the need to ensure that female candidates maximize the opportunities offered by the conventional and social media in projecting their candidature and issues; the need to share experiences and discuss the challenges faced by female candidates in engaging the media in the course of their political activities especially campaigns; the need to highlight the right of media access for female politicians as party members and as candidates under relevant legislations and institutional frameworks and the need to develop an action plan that will ensure that the media contributes significantly to the success of female candidates at the February polls. The forum also took into consideration prevalent observations that media coverage and reportage of elections is almost always skewed in favour of male politicians while negative perceptions and stereotypes about female politicians still exist in the media; hence the need to come up with strategies that will help address the prevailing gender imbalance in the reporting of elections.   PRESENTATIONS The forum therefore featured the following presentations: Presentation 1: Female candidates & campaigns: Winning the support of reporters/editors; getting the best of the newsroom” by Mrs. Tinuola Ayanniyi; Associate Editor( News), Nigerian Tribune Newspaper; Presentation 2:  Understanding the broadcast media: Opportunities for positive and wide outreach by Mr. Diji Akinhanmi, Director News/Current Affairs, Ogun State Television (OGTV); Presentation 3: Projection of candidature & issues: Best practice for result oriented use of the new & social media by Mr. Qasim Akinreti, Social Media Expert and News Manager, Voice of Nigeria (VON); Presentation 4: Understanding the rights of female candidates in securing equitable media access: Overview of relevant electoral legislative and institutional frameworks by Mr. Lanre Arogundade, Director, International Press Centre (IPC); and Presentation 5: The art of writing press releases by Mr. Sanmi Falobi; Program Associate, IPC and Online Editor, Nigerian Democratic Report (NDR) @www.ndr.org.ng   OBSERVATIONS The presentations goaded the participants into animated discussions on their experiences, challenges and perceptions of the media as well as their political rights. In particular, it was observed that: Most female candidates lack adequate knowledge about relating with and engaging the media for positive projection; Most female politicians lack adequate knowledge of their rights as political party members and candidates under relevant electoral institutional and legislative frameworks; The society especially its major institutions like the media, the political parties, the civil society etc, are not doing enough to encourage women participation in governance and election into political offices; The tendency of women tend to be more development focused and less corrupt should serve as justification to vote them into political offices; Women politicians and women groups are not doing enough to demand for the implementation of gender affirmative policies; Activities of female candidates are not being adequately covered and reported by the media; The demand for payment for news or coverage and high costs of political advertorials sometimes discourage female candidates from reaching out to the media; and Female and male candidates should have equal rights and opportunities to use the media to disseminate information on their electoral activities. RECOMMENDATIONS The forum recommended as follows: For media institutions/support groups, political parties, government agencies and development partners. The print, broadcast and online media (private and government owned) should as a matter of deliberate editorial policy grant more opportunities for female candidates to reach the electorate with their political messages; they should do this in the context of the provisions of the Electoral Act (as amended) and the Nigerian Broadcasting Code (as revised) on equitable access for parties and candidates and the requirement by the Nigerian Media Code of Election Coverage for adequate reporting of female candidates being an under-represented group; Capacity building programs should be continuously organized for women in politics in order to address obvious knowledge gaps about electoral legislations, political rights and the right of access to the media; Capacity building programs for female aspirants and candidates should be held much early in the electoral process so women politicians can use the acquired knowledge to drive their aspirations long before elections; Political Parties should adopt the principle of affirmative action in the selection or election of candidates while also taking up the responsibility of deliberately building the capacity of female aspirants/candidates  towards making a success of their aspirations; Relevant government agencies, especially the National Orientation Agency (NOA) should take it as a responsibility to organize sensitization and capacity building programmes for female aspirants and candidates prior to elections; Female candidates at all levels should be enlightened on their rights and be given opportunities to actualize their political aspirations; The media should do more for female candidates by creating dedicated news space/programmes that advance women’s rights and promote female candidates; and The Nigerian Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) should work closely with female candidates towards ensuring positive and wider coverage of their campaigns and issues. For female candidates Female candidates should strive to overcome gender inhibitions and devise constructive and engaging ways

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