From Paul Orude, Bauchi
The Nigerian media has been charged to always be ready to speak the truth to power for the country’s democracy to progress.
The advice was contained in a communique issued at the end of WilkiTimes’ maiden colloquium with the theme News Desert; Sustaining Democracy Through Fearless Grassroots Accountability Journalism, held at Mahcozy Guest House, Gombe, November 26, 2022.
Publisher and Chief Executive Officer of WilkiTimes, Mr Haruna Mohammed Salisu, explained that WikkiTimes staged the colloquium, being the first of its kind, to spur conversation around reporting sub-national private and public sector accountability and transparency matters to the front banner of discourse.
The event drew participants from various kinds of media organisations, Ciivil Societies Organisations, academia and government agencies
Founded in 2018, WikkiTimes is an investigative outlet dedicated to holding power to account through fearless reporting.
“WikkiTimes facilitated regional discourse about accountability journalism with wider national implications, in addition to training journalists in the northeast on divergent emerging journalism forms including solution and data-driven journalism,” Salisu stated.
“Our accountability journalism takes a deep dive into public procurement, corruption, human rights, criminal justice, environment, health, education, and security”
The event had as keynote speaker Jeff Kelly Lowenstein, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Center for Collaborative Investigative Journalism, CCIJ and Professor Umaru Pate, Vice-Chancellor Federal University, Kashere Gombe State.
Panellists at the event include CCIJ Africa Editor, Ajibola Amzat; ICIR Editor Victoria Bamas; Chief Lecturer Department of Mass Communication Federal Polytechnic Bauchi, Dr Hamid Adamu Muhammad; Publisher and Editor-In-Chief of Solacebase, Abdulateef Abubakar Jos; Principal Partner S G Idrees and Co, Barrister S.G. Idrees; Editor and Newsroom Mentor, Olajide Adelana and Director Disease Control and Immunization, Bauchi State Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dahiru Ibrahim Mahmood.
Others are Spokesperson to Bauchi Speaker, Abdul Ahmed Burra and General Manager Fombina FM Yola, Garba Dahiru while the event was moderated by Fibi Kafi, news anchor and editor at Bauchi Television Authority and Halima Ibrahim Dimis served as master of ceremony during the event
Participants agreed that the media must “hold leaders accountable and mobilize the citizens for national integration”
“Practicing accountability journalism demands a lot of patience, time and resources. This underscores why journalists who subscribed to this brand of journalism must be fearless, brutal and above all careful with their facts; the terrain does not forgive the simplest of errors or ignorance”
“The Nigerian media, through their reportage, must not only fulfil their natural calling of holding leaders accountable but must also strive to effectively inform, educate and mobilize the citizens for national progress and development,” the communique argued.
“Collaboration in accountability journalism is powerful for wider penetration and reach. Media organisations carrying accountability reports must learn to dive into the world of collaboration with other media outlets who share the passion of investigative journalism
“For effective and deeper penetration, news outlets must adopt multiple means of disseminating information in view of the changing pattern of media consumption.
“Stories should be presented in a multimedia format to allow readers to make choices as to how they want to engage with media content; Moreso, because of the idea that audio-visuals summarize and illustrate news stories for easy understanding among readers”
Media outlets were also advised not to ignore grassroots journalism; local actors at local levels must equally be held accountable
“Publishers and owners of broadcast stations were also admonished to make deliberate attempts at training and re-training employees to meet up with current changes in ways of reporting and news presentation.
“The Nigerian media must strongly invest in newer technologies for them to compete favourably. Media technology and reporting tools are evolving, hence the need to have the needed expertise and knowledge of these technologies to stymie contemporary challenges,” it stated.
“Building trust, credibility and believability between media organisations and its audience is critical if the media must remain relevant in the business.
“The Nigerian legacy media must invest heavily in grassroots accountability journalism, the failure of which will relegate them as tools for politicians to exploit”
Participants at the Colloquium praised WikkiTimes for organising such a gathering of professionals and like minds for a discussion on how best to deepen discourse about investigative journalism, especially in Nigerian rural communities, and engender universal and common national growth and progress.
