By Eric Ojo
International Press Centre (IPC), a frontline media development and press freedom organization, will on Tuesday, convene a stakeholders’ roundtable to present the findings from its on-going media monitoring of coverage of elections in Nigeria.
The media monitoring is one of the activities being implemented by IPC under an EU funded project entitled, “Strengthening the media for fair, accurate, ethical, and inclusive coverage of the electoral processes and elections in Nigeria”.
The roundtable event will feature discussions on the findings of the monitoring in October and November 2022 and the presentation of the revised Nigerian Media Code of Election Coverage.
This was disclosed by the Communications Officer, Component 4 (Support to Media) under the auspices of the European Union’s Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria (EUSDGN II Project), Olutoyin Ayoade
The convergence which shall attract stakeholders from the media, civil society, academia, regulatory bodies, and other relevant organisations will present the opportunity for the media monitoring report to be assessed.
Executive Director of IPC, Mr. Lanre Arogundade said In addition to promoting democratic elections, the analysis of the media monitoring report of the 2023 elections is pivotal in determining the extent to which the elections can be said to be inclusive.
“This is why IPC will also present a performance scorecard by the monitored media based on their promotion of inclusive issues in their coverage and reportage of the electoral processes and elections particularly in line with the stipulations of the Media Code of Election Coverage”, he said.
The newspapers monitored are The Punch, The Guardian, Daily Sun, Vanguard, ThisDay, Nigerian Tribune, The Nation, Leadership, Daily Trust, and Daily Independent while the five online media include The Cable, the Premium Times, Eagle Online, RealNews and the Authority.
Also monitored are the News Portal (website) and the twitter handles of Nigeria’s election management body, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Prof. Abigail Ogwezzy-Ndisika of the Department of Mass Communication, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Lagos, shall serve as the reviewer of the reports, while Mr. Iyobosa Uwugiaren, General Secretary, NGE and Dr. Chido Onumah, Coordinator of AFRICMIL, (Vice President, North Central, ACSPN), shall be the lead discussants.
The overall goal of the media component under EUSDGN II of which IPC is the lead partner is to “Support the consolidation of democracy in Nigeria with the media (broadcast, print and online media) helping to facilitate the key ingredient of credible elections through engagement and professionalism in coverage and reportage of the electoral processes”.
The other partner is the Institute of Media Society (IMS).