Seminar participants call for regulation of social media

Participants at a two-day workshop on responsible media coverage of elections have called for urgent regulation of the activities of ‘new media’ to guide against dissemination of embarrasing information to the public.

The participants gave the advice in a communique issued at the end of the workshop organised by the Nigerian Press Council in collaboration with Hammersmith Training Consult in Owerri on Friday.

In the nine-point communique, signed by Mr Nnamdi Njemanze, the Executive Secretary of Nigerian Press Council and Mr Innocent Igwe, Chairman, Nigeria Union of Journalists, Imo Council, participants noted that the workshop was timely and apt.

They commended the Nigerian Press Council and the facilitator for the programme.

They harped on the need for politicians and Nigerians in general to desist from hate actions and its attendant hate speech.

They advised journalists not to engage in spreading hate speech in order not to jeopardize Nigeria’s democracy and unity.

The participants called on INEC to ensure equal treatment of all political parties and players and also guide its actions or inactions to ensure that all parties were properly represented.

The participants advised both public and private media houses to provide equal and impartial coverage to all political activities.

They said they underscored the need for media practitioners to be very knowledgeable of the Electoral Laws and be guided by the extant rules in the exercise of their duties.

The communique harped on the need for media houses to be properly funded to enable them buy state-of-the-art equipment that would bring about and facilitate productive and effective output.

The participants said that the media practitioners should be well remunerated and salaries paid as and when due so that they won’t indulge in unethical practices.

According to them, journalists must ensure that they exhibit professionalism in the excercise of their duties through strict adherence to the professional code of ethics.

They urged government to equip the Nigerian Press Council and amend its enabling laws to enable it perform its regulatory functions.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the workshop was attended by 52 participants consisting journalists from the five South-east states of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo as well as federal and state government officials and the academia.