BAYELSA: Journalists Urged to Be Community Watchdogs, Hold Local Governments Accountable Through Their Reportage
By Missang AKPET
Journalist have been enjoined to see themselves as watchdogs of the communities as well as agents of accountability and development.
This was stated in a one day media training on Strengthening Local Government Administration in Niger Delta through Investigations, Data and Solution Reporting which was held in Yenagoa, Bayelsa state, organised by National Point/Forward Communications Limited in collaboration with The Wole Soyinka Center for Investigative Journalism and MacArthur Foundation.
Speaking at the training, the Managing Director of Forward Communications, Ibiba Don Pedro, said the idea of training journalists on local government administration reporting was borne out of the fact that the rural areas are under-reported as most journalist focus on the city centers abandoning the rural areas where the crust of stories are.
She stated that the local government administration is the closest form of government to the communities and the lowest strata of administration hence the urgent need to beam more light on it.
Presenting a paper on 'investigative reporting, Inclusivity and Solution Reporting to enhance accountable governance to promote local government administration', the editor in-chief of THE BEAGLE NEWS, Dr. Judex Okoro, hinted that community reportage fills the void left by national newspapers as it brings news closer to the grassroots people that need it.
Okoro maintained that investigative journalism is a reportage that exposes public matters that are deliberately concealed, highlighting the importance of applying it in the local government system as it is the lowest unit of administration responsible for the day to day running of the community and responsible for providing basic amenities hence the duty of holding local governments accountable.
He advocated the application of solution reporting to tackle the widely- known challenges especially at local government level, adding that journalism has gone beyond looking for what is wrong to finding responses, insights and impacts.
Speaking on data-assisted reporting tools for investigative, inclusive and accountable governance', a resource person, Mr Sunny Dada, said technology has made investigative community reporting very easy for journalists as there are tools and sites that provide realtime data and statistics.
He explained that using investigative reporting tools brings about detailed reportage as every income and expenditure undertaken by the government can be tracked accordingly thereby bringing to bare accountability in the system.
Participants at the workshop while commending the organisers for the opportunity given to them, said the workshop has impacted positively on them as it has helped to rediscover their hidden talents.
The workshop had participants from Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Rivers and Bayelsa States.
