Thursday, July 16, 2015

Nigeria: Media Executives Advocate Proper Checks for Online Media Practice



Media experts in the country have advocated for adequate monitoring and regulation of online media practice in Nigeria to maximise the great potentials of the Internet in disseminating accurate information to the general public.

The advocacy came at the heels of the official unveiling of Sundiata Post Media, an online media platform, in Abuja.

Participants at the event demanded for the establishment of a regulatory body and framework that would guide online practitioners across the nation's cyber space to check the increasing abuse of the journalism profession and dissemination of false news.

They also demanded that online publishers should sustain the confidence of their audience by pushing balanced, credible, edited and verified news content to their readers.

The chairman of the Occasion, Mr. Tony Ojobo represented by Reuben Mouka said "the online platform had evolved and will continue to evolve but the major challenge of online journalism is the problem of control".

He noted that most online platforms lack the key values of news, which includes credibility, objectivity, trust, meaning and context.

A panel of media executives led by a former Group Managing Director, Leadership Group Limited, Mr. Azubike Ishiekwene, while discussing on a topic, "Has Online Journalism Come of Age" submitted that online publication is future of information dissemination, but acknowledged the impact of the mainstream media.

However, Isiekwene said that the traditional media tends to be more reliable, because of its strict compliance with ethics and guidelines of the profession. He said these guidelines demand balance in news stories.

The Chairman of the occasion and Director General, National Broadcasting Corporation, NBC, Mr. Emeka Mba, represented by Awwalu Salihu, lauded the publisher of the online news platform for his innovation that resulted in the establishment of the platform.

Source: allafrica.com


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