By Destiny Obinna
With election coverage increasingly exposing journalists to violence and other security threats, media professionals and security agencies have warned that no story is worth a journalist’s life, calling for a safety-first approach ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The warning formed the centrepiece of a symposium organised by the Media Centre for Promotion of Safety Awareness (MCPOSA) and Safety&SecurityWatch magazine in Lagos to mark the 2026 International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists.
In a communique jointly signed by Dr. Chinyere Amaechi for MCPOSA and Mr. Ugo Onuoha, former Managing Director of Champion Newspapers, the participants at the event, held at the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, LCCI, Alausa-Ikeja, said journalists must stop treating personal safety as an afterthought, insisting that election reporting should be approached as a workplace health and safety responsibility.
With the theme, “Election Safety: Reporting Without Being the Casualty,” the symposium brought together journalists, media managers, police representatives and other stakeholders to examine professional conduct, peace and conflict prevention, and public safety.
The gathering observed that election reporting had become a high-risk assignment requiring adequate preparation, professional discipline and cooperation with security agencies.
It resolved that no media house should deploy a journalist for election duty without a safety briefing and basic personal protective equipment.
“Every journalist is first responsible for his/her own safety before any other person. Do not relegate your safety to your editor, your media house, the police, or anyone else,” the communique stated.
The participants urged journalists to cultivate a safety-first mindset, monitor their environment for warning signs, assess crowd behaviour and identify escape routes before emergencies arise.
They also recommended that journalists liaise with security agencies assigned to their locations and that both sides agree on communication signals, safe movement zones and evacuation procedures before election operations.
A major concern raised at the symposium was the growing number of individuals presenting themselves as journalists without the professional ethics required for responsible reporting.
Participants warned that the trend endangered professional journalists, security operatives and the public, while weakening trust in the media.
They called on media organisations and professional associations, including the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), to enforce minimum ethical and accreditation standards for election coverage.
The symposium also emphasised that journalism and policing should be complementary rather than adversarial.
The police, at formation, command and Force Headquarters levels, affirmed that policing could not be done alone, noting that the media remained important in projecting police activities and communicating security information.
Similarly, journalists need the police for access, protection and credible information.
The participants therefore urged security agencies to provide timely, non-panic briefings, while media organisations should respect operational confidentiality whenever disclosure could put lives at risk.
They further noted that journalists and security operatives must understand the demands of different operational environments, stressing that conduct at political rallies should differ from reporting at protest grounds or security operations.
The symposium identified peace and conflict prevention, professional conduct, and security and public safety as the three pillars that should guide election reporting.
However, participants expressed disappointment that none of the five political parties invited to the symposium attended the discussion.
The event also endorsed the commencement of nominations for the 2027 Nigeria Safety and Security (NSAS) Awards for HSE Excellence in the Workplace, urging organisations in the media, security, banking, ports, manufacturing, oil and gas sectors, among others, to nominate outstanding safety champions.
Partners included UNESCO, NUJ, Fidelity Bank, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and Skyway Aviation Handling Company (SAHCO).
Participants commended MCPOSA and its partners for convening the symposium and pledged stronger collaboration between the media and security agencies.
