A media practitioner, Lekan Otufodunrin, has urged Nigerian journalists to renew value addition to dissemination of information.
Otufodunrin, who is the Executive Director, Media Career Development Network, made the call in an interview.
In the interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Friday in Lagos, Otufodunrin said the audience expects more valuable information than the ones that are generally available.
He said: “Everybody is probably publishing now and, unfortunately, people are just publishing the same thing.
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“So, there is information overload that is not getting to the point where people are getting a lot of value.
“So, media houses and journalists need to begin to review what they publish, share, and broadcast in a way that information is valuable for people to use.”
The practitioner said that such a review called for a lot of in-depth reporting and research so that information could be provided in ways people could use to improve their lives.
According to Otufodurin, the media is supposed to inform and educate, that is not just sharing any information without verification.
He added: “We are also at a time where disinformation has become so big, more than ever before.
“Therefore, the real journalists have to step up to be able to provide information.
“You cannot just be content with saying that ‘I am not the one sharing’; when things are not going well, journalists need to speak up.
“More journalists need to be on the new media platform and increasingly, media organisations need to become multimedia and not be content to just broadcast and print again.”
Otufodunrin said there were more opportunities for people to explore, which required random, improved training.
He said a major challenge facing the industry was that many people worked in media houses with old knowledge and were not able to compete in the digital era.
He said: “More importantly, training and retraining is very important; value addition is critical; you should not be content by sharing the same information.
“How do we cover society in a more robust way than before?
“What is the basic information people want?
“Many journalists have worked for 10, 15, 20 years and have a lot of knowledge.
“But how do you utilise that in a digital era?
“How do you become a person that can influence decisions?
“So, if there is discussion going on X or Facebook, how can you have an informed discussion?
“It is not only good for the organisation, but also good for the individuals so that they can fit into some of these opportunities.”
Otufodunrin urged media practitioners to come up with things that matter to people more than ever before.
He said the practitioners also needed to help people to understand how the government works.
According to him, many young people do not understand how the government works, so there is a lot of tantrums, and name calling going on.
He said: “However, they need to understand this is democracy; there is a procedure, participation; they need to also play their roles to be able to hold the government accountable.
“For example, the budget is announced and it is being compiled and there is a public sitting and you could not go; you cannot now complain after it has been done.
“That civil education is very important; sometimes we should prioritise because at the end of the day, if democracy survives, all of us will benefit from it and that is what can guarantee development.”
