In a bid to tackle the fake news menace in the country, as well as enhance good governance, transparency and accountability in government, media practitioners and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Imo State have advocated enhanced welfare of journalists, press freedom and easy access to non-classified information.
The call was made at a one-day roundtable meeting on, ‘The Roles of the Media in Championing Good Governance,’ organised by Alliance for Africa (AfA), in conjunction with the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) and MacArthur Foundation, held in Owerri, on Monday.
Participants also identified government and external influences on the media, existence of unqualified practitioners, commercial pressure, undue censorship, and decline in investigative journalism, among others, as factors inhibiting the media from effectively championing good governance, influencing opinions, driving social change and shaping public discourse for a better society.
Chairman, Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Imo State Chapter, Ifeanyi Nwanguma, AfA Programme Manager, Blessing Duru, as well as Nnennaya Eneremmadu, Rejoice Wobilor-Agua, Adaeze Ekpunobi, among others, at the meeting, urged media organisations to employ only qualified journalists, and always ensure that their news contents are verified and objective, as a means to mitigate dishing out fake and misleading information to the public.
They also tasked media practitioners to prioritise news reports that promote public interest, overall development, equity, justice, peace, unity and progress of the nation.
