Bloggers and social media enthusiasts in the country have been urged to be professional in the dissemination of information.
The Director General of National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mr. Mike Omeri made the call while speaking at the Nigerian Bloggers and Social Media Workshop organised by the Agency in Abuja.
Omeri expressed concern over stories being published on some online publications in “embelished tones” as regards the current security challenges in the country, among other challenges faced by Nigeria.
Omeri noted that it was the role of bloggers and other authors of articles published online, the press, social media users, media focused civil society organisation to promote peace, unity and national development.
He added that Nigeria’s peace was dependent largely on the conduct of media practitioners as well as owners of blogs.
Omeri explained that the workshop was aimed at ensuring the tenets of journalism are strictly adhered to, and not to infringe on the bloggers’ rights of freedom of speech and expression, or impose a regulatory framework on the populace, who are frequent users of these platforms.
”The online media being an emergent critical component of the media also needs to be strengthened to contribute to the effective functioning of the larger body in its quest of building a better society,” he said, stressing therefore, the need to increase the knowledge of bloggers and other participants of the workshop on the importance of ethical principles in their practice.
It’s about time and I completely agree with Mike Omeri.
You see, you cannot run a successful profession where people just jump in and become “members”. Most of the persons who call themselves bloggers make no research and always end up posting anything that comes their way – whether true or false.
Worse, 95% of “bloggers” in Nigeria are copycats! How can an industry survive on theft and misinformation??
A strict regulatory body will not be out of place!
Always,
Terungwa