“The phenomenon of “press release journalism” in the Middle belt region has overtime, hindered the uncovering of valuable facts and realities of critical sectors in the area. thereby limiting the effect of the people’s will – a menace he frequently said must be halted.”
By: Bryan Ula.
A bid to respond to the clamors for quality reportage in the middle belt region of Nigeria births a sustainable initiative and regional news media, “Middlebelt Reporters.”
The online media platform on Friday 9th December 2022, commenced a 3Days compulsory virtual Capacity Training for 28 selected early career journalists on high-quality reportage focusing on investigative reporting and human interest stories among others emanating from the region.
North Central Nigeria also regarded as a middle-belt region consists of six states Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau, and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT Abuja.
Speaking during the training, the host and founding partner of Middle belt reporters, Jairus Awo, emphasized the essence of its existence noting that the phenomenon of “press release journalism” in the Middle belt region has overtime, hindered the uncovering of valuable facts and realities of critical sectors in the area. thereby limiting the effect of the people’s will – a menace he frequently said must be halted.
According to Mr. Jairus, the dilapidating realities of the middle-belt states in Nigeria ought to be exposed in order to attract relevant interventions hence, the need to give the voiceless (people) a voice to foster positive change and development.
Mr. Jairus further added that the era of press release journalists has lasted long enough and is due for extinction as early career journalists must endeavor to expose themselves to the current realities of the evolving nature of the journalistic profession while upholding ethical standards and competing highly with reporters/journalist from other regions who are obviously setting the pace already.
This he said can only be achieved when journalists within the region move from their comfort zones to ask propelling questions, find relevant answers to these questions through research and meaningful investigations, and expose those realities to the public through their writings.
He assured that Middle Belt reporters would serve as a home and platform for all volunteers to learn and express themselves while contributing their quota to developing their respective communities through fact-based reporting.
A facilitator at the online capacity training, Nanji Nangdang a freelance journalist and a fact checker lectured on the holistic approaches employed in carrying out investigations and reporting facts.
Nanji further encouraged the story-telling approach of news reporting for early career journalists to help give meaning and a seamless flow of ideas to their reportage.
Also, James Ojo, a reporter with TheCable newspaper challenged participants to dare to grow from conventional to more sophisticated styles and means of news gathering and reporting by writing compelling stories on valuable or high-interest topics with accurate data and analysis which she believes will serve as a springboard for their respective careers.
Other facilitators at the online training were the Middlebelt Reporters’ Associate Editor, Linus Egwu, and Oche Emmanuel, the Managing Editor.
The MiddleBelt Reporters is a regional online news platform documenting grassroots news, features, investigations, developments, solutions, tech, and social justice as well as fact-checking in the North-Central. Nigeria
