CJID Hosts First West Africa Journalism Innovation Conference
Editorial Thrust by Lady Ejiro Umukoro.
As audiences evolve and adapt to what, why, and how they consume news, this raises the bar for journalists on the need to adopt a new style of reportage: constructive journalism. Research shows people want fresh social stories. Not only gloom and doom.
As such, the lingering emotions a reader should have after reading a news article or investigative report should not be pity. They are not victims but people with complicated lives.
This therefore requires that journalists amd media owners constantly seek stories about hero’s, survival, a vigilante who came to the rescue, what state authorities are doing to prevent reoccurrence, survival mechanism adopted, how they are rehabilitating themselves, and much more. Readers want to consume stories like these, too.*
GENDER ANGLE:
While 92% of men and 8% of women are reported on by journalists and the media, yet more than 40% of those affected as victims, persons displaced, etc., are women.
This implies there aren’t a lot of women reporting on conflicts as it is often seen, assumed, or considered not safe and easy for women. Editors, thus, influence how voices of women are reported by when they prevent female journalists from covering these. Conservatism in the newsroom is now a barrier on open mindedness that needs to be removed.
It has now become imperative, therefore, that the media and journalists alike must become deliberate and intentional in including women voices in report for equal representation.