U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria Mary Beth Leonard has called on Nigerian media to leverage their right to press freedom by countering propaganda and disinformation through regular and impartial fact-checking.
Mary, while speaking during a Town Hall Meeting hosted by Nigerian Guild of Editors, NGE in Lagos, with the theme: “Agenda Setting for Sustainable Democratic Culture” said that team approach was needed to help improve public trust in the media. The media-focused Town Hall meetings and two-day workshops for over 200 editors will take place in turns in the six geopolitical zones across the country is supported by the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria.
The Envoy also decried financial inducement of journalists, saying that the practice corrodes the institutional position of the media as what is referred to as the Fourth Estate, or one of the pillars of democracy.
Human Rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, who was the guest Speaker, said Nigerian editors had failed to ask pertinent questions while addressing topical issues that affected democracy in the country. According to him, an assault on democracy can occur anywhere in the world and the political elite play a major role in the institutional degeneration.
President of NGE, Mustapha Isah stated that one of the major roles of the media was agenda setting, adding that the more stories the media did on a particular subject, the more importance the audience would attach to it.
