The Nigerian
online media practitioners have been urged to be prudent in their presentation of
facts in carrying out their responsibility as the fourth arm of the society,
reports ITRealms.
This charge
was given at the PriceWaterHouse Cooper (PwC) Nigeria’s one-day annual 2016 Capability Enhancement Workshop for journalists in Lagos, which centred on “Technology
and Journalism” as highlighted by the Lead, Tax, Technology and Innovation at
PwC Nigeria, Mr. Victor Olorunfemi.
According to
him, media is no doubt the fourth arm of the government in any society, mostly
in democracy and is expected to beam spotlight through investigative journalism
by way of bearing truth and accountability as well as help in thought shaping based
on confirmed facts.
Olorunfemi lamented
that instead of the aforementioned, what is usually available for public consumption
from the media is clumsy presentation of supposed facts, culminating in lazy
fact checking, plagiarism and wrong spelling, thus misleading information out
of poor record keeping.
Media
practitioners, especially online cum new media in Nigeria, he said, need to
evaluate themselves on cyber identity, stressing that “how strangers see you” carries
some weight in this era of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in
the journalism industry.
He explained
that the one day workshop was targeted at journalists across both traditional
and new media platforms, which is on its third year and serves as a component
of PwC’s Corporate Responsibility strategy in recognition of the role of the
media in society and in particular, the role that the media in Nigeria has and
continued to play in informing and educating the public.
ITRealms recollects
that the workshop featured insightful presentations on various topics by
experts, aimed at building the capacity of journalists and enhancing their
ability to execute their duties professionally while also better positioning
themselves to take advantage of future opportunities.
Ujunwa Nweke/GEE
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