Varsity Don Tasks Media On Conflict Mitigation

An associate professor of Journalism at the Faculty of Communication and Media Studies, Lagos State University, Dr Tunde Akanni has stressed the need for media professionals to be supportive of conflict mitigation to foster seamless conflict prevention and resolution.

Akanni who spoke with journalists at the closing ceremony of a workshop with the theme, “Emergency and Risk Communication Reporting Workshop” organised for journalists by the Victims Support Fund (VSF) and the unveiling of a book entitled, “No Need For Alarm: A Hand Book of Risk and Crisis Communication,” argued that the role of media in conflict prevention cannot be overemphasized.

According to him, the media contributes to the retention or creation of peace and stability in conflict-affected and threatened areas, emphasizing the need for media professionals to be supportive of media mitigations.

He said, “We don’t have an alternative than to be supportive of media mitigation. We must consciously, as journalists, be supportive of conflict mitigation because if there is no peace in the society, we cannot even function; no place for any organisation in the society to function, including the media. We must be conscious and bold enough with our media for conflict mitigation for peace to reign in the society.”

He added that for media professionals, now with the convergence of all media genres that limits the differences between their operations, they have to do more than what they used to do in the past. “For us as professionals, we must brace up with the tide, the technological feat that has come to aid and propel our practices. We must make up our minds and consciously too, to tell our stories. It is up to us to ensure that we must put correct information about ourselves in public space more than anyone will do.

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“This programme is about the need for journalists to pay attention to the need to ensure that in the course of their activities as professionals, they must always have it in mind that what they do should be supportive of the civilisational growth of the society/ humanity.

“They must recognise the fact that it is only through the media that the generality of the people can have access to authoritative information,” he said.

Also, the former spokesperson of Victims Support Funds (VCF), Covid-19 Taskforce, Alkasim Abdulkadir said the workshop became imperative because “We live in a society that is plagued with pandemics from time to time. As we talk now, Monkeypox is ravaging the African continent and we have already reported cases in Nigeria.

“So, it means that reskilling and up-tooling of reporters and content creators is very important. It means that they have to be adequately equipped to be able to learn the strategies and do their jobs creditably, reaching audiences on how to take care of themselves when there is a pandemic.”