Media Code of Election Coverage receives high endorsement rate

Nigerian Media Code of Election Coverage (revised edition 2018), designed as industry self-regulation and the checking of excesses, has received several endorsements from media practitioners and outfits. It will be launched in Abuja on Friday, June 22, 2018, as part of the activities of the World Congress of the International Press Institute (IPI).

A statement by Lanre Arogundade, Director of International Press Centre (IPC), said about 80 media outfits have so far endorsed the Code, including professional groups and associations, the broadcast media, newspapers, online news media and support groups.

It would be recalled that media stakeholders in Lagos recently validated the Code, a revised edition of the 2014/2015.Arogundade said the Code has been endorsed by the Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN), Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON), Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), Radio Television And Theatre Arts Workers Union (RATTAWU) and Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP). He also said it was encouraging that Channels Television, AIT, RAYPOWER Radio, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) and the following newspapers: Vanguard, ThisDay, Daily Trust, The Guardian, The Sun, Leadership, The Nation, Premium Times, The Cable, Eagle News, Business Eye magazine and The News magazine have all endorsed the code.

Arogundade also noted that it was gratifying that 55 members of the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP), who publish online, have endorsed the Code as well as the Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ) and Association of Communication Scholars & Professionals of Nigeria (ACSPN). Media support groups promoting media development; independence and professionalism that have endorsed the Code have also been impressive, he said.

They include Nigerian Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), Media Rights Agenda (MRA), Institute for Media and Society (IMS), Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalists (PTCIJ), Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ), Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), Journalists for Democratic Rights (JODER), Network for Media Excellence, Journalism Clinic, Media Career Development Centre (MCDC), Diamond Media Awards for Excellence (DAME), Journalism Clinic, and Media Law Centre.

The director expressed hope that the number of organisations endorsing the Code would increase before the public launch and presentation on Friday, adding, “We are particularly elated at the kind of responses we are getting from many media organisations that have either endorsed or expressed interest in endorsing the Code.”