By Ademola Ade
Media expert and Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Image Merchants Promotions Limited, Yushau Shuaib, has reiterated his commitment to training a new generation of ethical media practitioners as a way of tackling professional misconduct and misinformation in the industry.
Shuaib spoke during the graduation of 10 young media practitioners selected from more than 700 applicants for a two-week intensive fellowship organised and fully funded by Image Merchants Promotions Limited.
The fellows, selected on merit from Abuja, Ilorin and Kano, received training in public relations, strategic communication, branding, investigative journalism, data journalism and other areas of media practice.
Represented at the event by Muhammad Dahir Lawal, Head of Investigations, Fact-Checking and Special Projects at the organisation, Shuaib said the programme was designed to develop practitioners with the knowledge, skills and ethical standards required in modern journalism and public relations.
He said: “One of the key things we hope to achieve is to ensure that we groom the next generation of ethical communicators.
“The field of journalism and public relations is filled with ‘I too sabi’ people, if I may use the word, who do not have the necessary knowledge, qualifications or even ethical conduct to be able to practise, but yet they are practising.
“So we want to see how we can bring a pool of people who not only practise from the point of view of knowledge, but also from the point of view of skills, understanding and ethical conduct.”
Shuaib said strengthening professional standards in journalism and public relations would improve the quality of information available to the public and contribute to better decision-making.
According to him, ethical media practice has implications for governance, accountability, the economy and democracy because citizens rely on credible information to make informed decisions.
He charged the graduands to apply the knowledge and skills acquired during the fellowship in their respective fields.
He said the two-week programme at the PR Nigeria Centre in Ilorin exposed participants to various aspects of media and communication, including public relations, strategic communications, branding, investigative journalism and data journalism.
“My message for the graduates is that they should go ahead and apply what they have learned within these intensive two weeks in order to make impactful contributions in their various fields and also impact the lives of people,” he said.
Also speaking, Assistant Editor-in-Chief of the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, Alhaji Abdulfatai Beki, called on the Federal Government and National Assembly to strengthen the welfare of journalists by ensuring that media organisations meet their obligations to workers.
Beki urged the government to consider regulations that would require prospective media owners to demonstrate their capacity to pay workers’ salaries and provide adequate welfare before establishing media organisations.
“I congratulate you all, but I want to appeal to the Federal Government and the National Assembly to enact a law that anybody establishing a media house should be able to pay salaries and take care of the welfare of workers, so that journalists can work without hindrance,” he said.
He also called for stronger regulation of media ownership, drawing a comparison with the regulatory framework governing the establishment of universities through the National Universities Commission, NUC.
