Global Rights, an international human rights and governance capacity-building organisation, has called on journalists to embrace caution when reporting conflicts.
Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, Chair of the Global Rights Board, made the call at a two-day training on Conflict-Sensitive Reporting for Journalists in Abuja.
Odinkalu, a former Chair of the Governing Council of the National Human Rights Commission, said the call became necessary because “we believe that objective reporting is a virtue.
“It is the right thing to do, as much as possible. Pursue the facts.
“Wherever there is the need to report conflict-related issues, the journalist should try and reflect them in a balanced and informed manner and allow members of the public to make up their minds.
“It entails protecting everything about your digital life, your relationships, where you live, your movements and friendships, how you look out for your families, what you eat, what you drink, and where you hang out.
“If the journalist is going to be reporting conflict in Nigeria, then nothing is too insignificant.
“He or she has to review how they live.”
He decried election-related conflicts, saying they have a way of hindering credible reporting.
He also advised reporters to take protective measures during conflicts.
Speaking, Mr. Musikilu Mojeed, Editor-in-Chief of Premium Times, urged journalists to always verify the authenticity of their sources of information before reporting.
Mojeed, who delivered a lecture with the title “Tapping sources for investigating conflicts and atrocities”, said disseminating the wrong information about conflicts could cause an escalation.
“This could further degenerate into conflicts and atrocities.
“Some of us journalists take sides when reporting conflicts, and when reporters take sides at times like that, they end up worsening the crisis.
“This then increases tension. The thing journalists should always remember is that if they do anything to make the crisis escalate anywhere, they could be consumed by it.
" So, we have a responsibility as journalists to ensure that we are conflict-sensitive all the time.
“When you are writing or posting on social media, think about it. Ask yourself whether you are helping to diffuse conflict or worsening the crisis by taking sides.
Meanwhile, Mr. Dayo Aiyetan, Executive Director, International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR), attributed conflict to corruption, saying it needed to be curbed.
Aiyetan tutored on “Introspection to Investigative Journalism,” saying the training was designed to develop critical reporting capacity for the Nigerian media.
“The reason our main focus is to develop critical reporting capacity for the media is that we are not doing enough to hold the government accountable.
“If we don’t tackle corruption management and insecurity now, fifty years from now, our children’s children will continue to suffer what we suffer.
“They will continue to deal with what we are dealing with now; this is why Journalists must try to understand the issues."