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A non-governmental organisation, HumAngle, has trained journalists in Benue State on solutions and data journalism as part of efforts to strengthen reporting and counter misinformation in conflict-affected communities.
The training was organised under the project, “Countering Misinformation and Promoting Peace in Nigeria’s Middle Belt” (CMPP), with Benue and Plateau states selected as focal states.
The Programme Officer of HumAngle, Khadijat Oscar, said the project is sponsored by Journalism by Human Rights (JHR) and the Canadian High Commission to put verification, data and solution journalism tools directly into the hands of reporters working in the North-Central region.
Oscar said the initiative was aimed at equipping journalists with the skills to identify and counter misinformation, prevent its escalation and produce balanced, holistic stories, particularly in conflict-affected communities.
According to her, the project goes beyond journalists, as HumAngle also plans to engage state actors, community-based organisations, faith-based organisations and religious leaders who have direct contact with people at the grassroots.
She said the engagement was necessary because combating misinformation required the collective efforts of different stakeholders.
Oscar said: “We believe that it is not just journalists that have a role to play when it comes to countering misinformation. Faith leaders and community-based organisations also have important roles because they interact directly with people at the grassroots.”
Oscar said the organisation hoped to bring the various stakeholders together to discuss ways of countering misinformation and eventually develop a coordinated response framework to help de-escalate situations triggered by false or misleading information.
She said one of the major expectations of the training was to achieve a shift in the mindset of journalists regarding how they report conflict and other sensitive issues.
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She said: “We want journalists to be equipped enough to tell stories that are holistic and not just biased.”
Oscar stressed the importance of accuracy in journalism, particularly when reporting from conflict-affected areas, noting that journalists should not sacrifice accuracy for speed.
She noted: “One of the mantras from one of the training sessions is that it is accuracy before speed. It is not just about breaking the headlines; it is about telling the stories the way they should be told, considering the sensitivity of these conflict-affected areas.”
She also urged journalists to pay greater attention to the human consequences of conflict rather than focusing solely on casualty figures and statistics.
“We want journalists to also look at the human side, the human costs of these conflicts. It is beyond just publishing numbers and putting the numbers out there,” Oscar said.
She said it is expected that the project would also encourage stronger collaboration between journalists and community and faith-based organisations, saying such collaborations would help bridge existing gaps between the media and grassroots organisations and strengthen efforts to counter misinformation within affected communities.
“We want journalists to collaborate effectively with community-based and faith-based organisations within these communities because they can actually work together. It seems there has been a disparity, and that is another gap we hope to eliminate,” she said.
Earlier during the sessions, the Standards and Ethics Editor at HumAngle, Mr Johnstone Kpilaakaa, took journalists on “Context Setting: Scenario Activity” and “Neutrality, Sensitivity, and Preserving Journalistic Standards” packages, while other sessions, “Human Rights Journalism: Finding the Stories and Reporting them Ethically” was by Fidelis Mbah and “Verification in Low-resource Environments” by Hauwa Shaffii Nuhu.
