Celebrated Nigerian journalist and prolific editor, Ray Ekpu has urged journalists to not throw caution to winds while reporting on conflict.
Ekpu, a former editor-in-chief and a co-founder of Newswatch magazine, noted that reporting from conflict areas is often the most dangerous assignment in journalism, urging reporters to always prioritize their safety ahead of the story in such perilous situation.
He spoke in Abuja at a 2-day parley on Conflict-Sensitive Reporting organised by the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) which had a pool of Editors from across Nigeria in attendance.
The renowned journalist, writer and columnist who spoke with The New Diplomat at the parley accused authorities in Nigeria and media houses of not doing enough to protect reporters working in the hotbeds of violence in the country.
The New Diplomat reports that a 2021 Press Freedom Report released in July 2021 had said eight Nigerian journalists had been killed in the last six years.
The report added that apart from the unresolved killings, the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has recorded 300 violations, affecting about 500 journalists, media workers, and media houses in the country.
It would be recalled during the #ENDSARS memorial protest which held recently in parts of the country, there were cases of harassment against journalists covering the proceedings. Two journalists were arrested and later freed in Lagos at the Lekki toll gate. The memorial was held in honour of Nigerians who were killed and brutalised at the venue on 20th October, 2020 while protesing the excesses of the now disbanded notorious Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) and other victims of police brutality in the country.
Ray Ekpu lamented the travails of journalists in the hands of Nigerian security operatives and bad elements in the society as he urged all journalists to be smart and prepare for eventualities while performing their duties.
In Ekpu’s words: “It’s a very difficult assignment. When I was a young reporter, before we go out to cover a demonstration, we already know police will be there. They will attack us, they will fire teargas, so you must carry your own handkerchief, several handkerchiefs and you must carry small bottle in which you put kerosene because kerosene is an antidote to teargas. You just put kerosene in your handkerchief and wipe your face and the teargas will not affect you.
“And secondly, do not die for conflict because you want to cover more conflict. Flee to cover another conflict some other day. Use your head, don’t die for any conflict. No conflict is worth your blood as a reporter, because you will be a better reporter if you gain experience to continue to cover some other conflicts. In this part of the world, journalists who cover conflicts are not well paid, are not well protected. Companies like CNN, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, they take absolute care of journalists who cover conflicts. We want you guys who cover conflicts to put pressure on various authorities, media authorities in Nigeria (government) to do more for covering conflict.”
Emphasising on the need to sanitize the media profession and weed out bad eggs, Ekpu said all fake journalists should be identified, exposed and handed over to law enforcement agents for prosecution.
At the parley, Editors identified fake news as the world’s most lethargic weapon, more potent than nuclear weapon. Participants also decried the weaponisation of falsehood and mis/disinformation amid the deepening divisions and escalating tension across the country, while others tasked members of the fourth estate of the realm to embrace non-conventional methods of storytelling like solution and peace journalism to strategically save the country from the constant threats of war, implosion, Jihadism and secessionist agitations that have continued to loom over Africa’s most populous nation and largest economy, with unsettling daily consequences.
