International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) with support from the US Embassy has trained 20 journalists across the North West states of Kaduna, Kano, Sokoto, Jigawa, Katsina, Kebbi and Zamfara on promoting democratic governance.
The executive director of ICIR, Dayo Aiyetan during the three-day training workshop which was held in Kano explained that the essence of the training was to build the capacity of journalists on investigative reporting.
He urged journalists to expose wrong doings and corruption that affect public interest, adding that their duty is to hold the government accountable.
Aiyetan who presented a paper on investigative journalism, interviewing techniques and conflict sensitive reporting told participating journalists that their story must be evidence based, urging them to dig beyond available information.
He said the role of every journalist is objectivity, adding that journalist’s conflict report should be able to educate conflicting parties and help solve their issues.
Aiyetan also urged journalists to be security conscious whenever they are carrying out any investigation, and ensure to take your security very seriously.
“You must have a communication strategy if you are going on a risky assignment,” he said.
The head, Investigative Desk, ICIR, Olugbenga Adanikin in his presentation on fact-check, urged the participants to always fact-check and verify their report before sending it to the newsroom, adding that they can use tools like Tineye, Revege, Bing, InVID WeVerify and so many other tools to verify their images and videos.
Also, in her presentation on Solution Journalism (SOJO), the editor, ICIR, Victoria Bamas advised journalists to always give solutions to problems raised in their reportage.
“Tell people how to solve the problem after highlighting them. The pillars of SOJO include Response, Insight, Evidence and Limitation.”
