The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has described the media as a viable tool for combating misinformation, fake news and malicious falsehood which deserve its continued partnership with the media as a key stakeholder in the electoral process.
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INEC believes that the only solution to fake news and misinformation is by working closely with the media and availing it of all facts that need to be in the public domain, with immediacy too and strengthening of the media to play its constitutional role in a democratic line.
Barrister Festus Okoye, INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education, made this known at a ‘Roundtable’ programme organized by the Nigeria Union of Journalists on Conflict Sensitive Reporting and the 2023 general election in Bauchi State.
Okoye emphasized on the need for the media to avoid deliberate falsehood aimed at drawing traffic to particular sites which is a huge challenge. In strategic communication, rumors and falsehood are sometimes very difficult to manage.
“The media must avoid the breaking news syndrome. Some of the mainstream media are gradually gravitating towards online journalism with the attendant quest for breaking news, which are sometimes not properly verified and processed”.
“The media must be circumspect in casting headlines and the thirst for sensational headlines. Sometimes people look at the headlines and draw conclusions without looking at the body of the report. The media must find the right balance in casting headlines”.
According to the INEC Information and Voter Education Commissioner, the media must hold a balance between all the contending parties, as candidates Section 95(2) of the Electoral Act, 2022 is categorical that state apparatus including the media shall not be employed to the advantage or disadvantage of any political party or candidate at any election.
Barrister Okoye explained that the media and its practitioners must have basic understanding and a working knowledge of the constitutive constitutional legal and regulatory instruments that guide and underpin the work of the electoral commission, having the constitution gone through several amendments.
He said that the conduct of electoral business has national security implications, hence reporting elections needs to be handled with an eye on conflict sensitivity and national peace and cohesion, as one false report that goes viral may have the potential of triggering a breakdown of law and order in a part or the whole of the country.
The Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) which organized the programme in collaboration with INEC emphasized that the emergence of our country as a democratic nation in 1999 was a product of collective efforts of Nigerians as represented by the mass media and civil society. And despite its challenges, democracy has provided Nigerians with space to freely discuss their affairs.
The NUJ National President, Chris Isiguzo said that the media is an essential factor in the process of democracy, expected not only to monitor governance and make government accountable, but also help to mobilize the populace to participate in the process of governance and development.
Isiguzo stated that every single day of democratic governance in Nigeria helps further deepen democratic values in the country, assuring that journalists would work towards the advancement of the right of freedom of expression, access to information, freedom of the press, media independence, conflict transformation and peace building as prerequisites for open governance and development.
He added that in order to properly advance public interests, earn public trust and be watchdogs of the society, the pursuit of truth and public good must be the cornerstone of journalism practice in Nigeria, thereby making it obligatory for every journalist to maximally comply with ethical principles and professional standards.
