A
abujagirl
Guest
Nigeria's Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, has called for a new media campaign against terrorism and related activities in West Africa and other regions of the continent.
Maku made the call at the opening of the 8th Congress of the West Africa Journalists Association (WAJA) in Abuja on Friday.
He said that the freedom enjoyed by the media in the region should be restricted to the promotion of issues that would advance the region and not to the activities of terrorists. The minister stressed the need for people of the region, including the media to unite against anti-progressive elements operating in their communities.
"We need to defend our countries from the influences of local divisive groups, the first lesson for journalists, therefore, is that we must begin to sensitize our people to the dangers of terrorism. This freedom the media enjoys today in the region must not be extended to terrorists and their activities.
"We should not give terrorists a free reign of publicity; we should not report terrorism from the point of view of celebrating terrorists. There must be some level of control on what goes out to the public about terrorists,’’ he said.
Maku said that the society was increasingly becoming vulnerable and could be divided if the media continued to give publicity to terrorist activities.
He said the domestic media must be propagated and supported to disseminate information from the stand point of promoting societal harmony.
The minister called on governments in West Africa to support the development of a strong and vibrant local media to ensure genuine development of the region. He urged stakeholders in the region to ensure the establishment of strong institutions to regulate the practice of journalism.
Maku said the practitioners in the region must exercise the freedom they enjoyed with responsibility to their nations and people.
He said that operating in a free atmosphere without a strong instrument for professional control was inimical to the development of the profession.
Maku made the call at the opening of the 8th Congress of the West Africa Journalists Association (WAJA) in Abuja on Friday.
He said that the freedom enjoyed by the media in the region should be restricted to the promotion of issues that would advance the region and not to the activities of terrorists. The minister stressed the need for people of the region, including the media to unite against anti-progressive elements operating in their communities.
"We need to defend our countries from the influences of local divisive groups, the first lesson for journalists, therefore, is that we must begin to sensitize our people to the dangers of terrorism. This freedom the media enjoys today in the region must not be extended to terrorists and their activities.
"We should not give terrorists a free reign of publicity; we should not report terrorism from the point of view of celebrating terrorists. There must be some level of control on what goes out to the public about terrorists,’’ he said.
Maku said that the society was increasingly becoming vulnerable and could be divided if the media continued to give publicity to terrorist activities.
He said the domestic media must be propagated and supported to disseminate information from the stand point of promoting societal harmony.
The minister called on governments in West Africa to support the development of a strong and vibrant local media to ensure genuine development of the region. He urged stakeholders in the region to ensure the establishment of strong institutions to regulate the practice of journalism.
Maku said the practitioners in the region must exercise the freedom they enjoyed with responsibility to their nations and people.
He said that operating in a free atmosphere without a strong instrument for professional control was inimical to the development of the profession.
