The publisher of Veracity Desk (veracitydesk.com.ng), a general purpose online news platform, Emmanuel Ajibulu has hailed the organizers of a week training on “ethical online journalism” which held in Accra, Ghana few weeks ago.
According to him the training has significantly helped to strengthen participants on how to avoid abuse of human rights, other pitfalls bedeviling the ethical practice as well as unprofessionalism of quacks who parade as journalists especially those who are mainly in the digital media.
Ajibulu who was accosted at the Lagos airport by some journalists said: “I was really impressed with the contents of the training we had recently in Accra, the key topics and related concepts are wonderful, the outlines are superb, the objectives and goals were also clearly defined by the seasoned organizers who initiated the training. The training was really an eye opener for every serious practitioner to address rapid decline of media ethics, and total disregard of media guidelines and laws by media organisations especially those of the online genre.
“While I agree and fully in support of freedom of the press in line with Section 22 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria of 1999 as amended, I am also worried by the wrongdoings that have continued to emerge and challenge the ways and manners that the media practitioners ought to practice their profession.
“Here in Nigeria, journalism shouldn’t be seen as a trade but a profession. There has to be a way to bring online reporters under some kind of self-regulation as the newspapers and broadcast industries have done with the Broadcasters Organisation of Nigeria and the print media ombudsman.
“The media profession cannot be left in the hands of unqualified individuals who now give the noble profession a name it doesn’t deserve. We now have blackmailers, purveyors of fake news, people with no relevant training or certification etc parading themselves as professionals within the media space, this must stop with no further delay. Meanwhile, I need to give kudos to some stakeholders who are already using their voices, actions and networks to mitigate the preposterous scourge.”
However, Ajibulu while speaking about the strength of the online media and milestones it has recorded by few committed, disciplined and seasoned professionals, he stated:
“The success of digital media has positively built lots of businesses and made information dissemination easier and accessible through the aid of internet. Contrasted with the past, where individuals needed to share an enormous assortment of photographs or magazines, it would occupy a ton of room and would require incredible exertion so as to move it starting with one spot then onto the next. This likewise restricted the access individuals had to certain data.
“The success of digital media in circulation has made it extremely simple to share and access data or information with target audiences in real time and achieving desirous results. In the event that individual wishes to share photographs or magazines in digital form, they can send it to the next individual by means of the web and they would get it instantly.
“Easier strategies for dissemination have significantly improved communication and knowledge on world undertakings among nations, corporate organizations and people and since media can be accessed easily in recent times, the crowd of digital media becomes bigger, richer and profitable, it has also increased reading habits of the met generation.”
The media personality further noted:
“Consumer attention and marketing have moved online, specifically to social media. No matter what industry you are in, what product you sell or what service you offer, social media can help you grow your business. Navigating the intricacies of what works when it comes to generating more business and growing your brand on social media takes knowledge.
“It is not enough to just be on social media going through the motions in confident hopes that it will generate business and build a brand. That is why we have often said quarks don’t have a space at all in the operations of online media, it is only for the serious-minded ones and those who are committed to upholding the ethical standards.” He declared.
