By Okechukwu Okechukwu
Journalists practising in South East geopolitical zone have been urged to embrace investigative journalism and factchecking with a view to engender good governance and development.
The Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academics), Paul University Awka, Anambra State, Professor Chinyere Stella Okunna, disclosed this on Wednesday, during a one day training workshop for journalists on reporting in a treacherous and insecure environments, a programme organised by Ikenga Media with support of MacArthur foundation facilitated by Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ).
Okunna, who is the first female Professor of Mass Communication in Nigeria, in a co-presentation with a lecturer in the department of Mass Communication, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Dr Henry Duru, adviced journalists to utilise the opportunities proffered by the new media and others to acquire investigative knowledge, skills and innovations to excel.
According to her, investigative journalism also give journalists an edge over the citizen journalists, creates room for them to set agenda for the society, while unearthing the news behind the news.
The university don, however, noted that this could be possible when journalists are knowledgeable, passionate of the profession, versatile, vigilance, and have nose for news.
She also adviced journalists not to rely solely on artificial intelligence for information gathering because even though it is good and worth leveraging on, it cannot be compared to human brain, even as it generates data from predetermined sources through algorithm which could be biased.
Speaking on ethical issues: what kind of news is news, the Coordinator, Ikenga Media & Cultural Awareness Initiative, Dr Chido Onumah and his colleague, Mr Uzor Maxim Uzoatu, described investigative journalism as hallmark of societal development, but argued that upholding the ethics of journalism profession was needed to excel in the industry.
Earlier, the Editor-in-Chief of Ikenga online, Mr Uche Ugboajah, who explained that the medium established in 2022 was positioned to give voice to the South East, maintained that the training was part of their plans to build the capacity of journalists in the zone, thereby help in promoting good governance, gender equality, inclusion of people living with disabilities, among others.