International Press Institute (IPI) is set to hold its 2018 World Congress in Nigeria.
The Congress which is themed “Why Journalism Matters; Quality Media For Strong Societies” is aimed at discussing hate speeches, press freedom, quality journalism, among other press issues even as Nigeria’s 2019 general elections fast approaches.
The congress is to hold in Nigeria’s capital city, Abuja in June.
Addressing a press conference on Thursday in Abuja, the IPI Director, Barbara Trionfi said journalists will also share ideas about how to report activities of political leaders without using the news medium to spread hate speeches that are increasingly common in the political space.
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“We look at hate speech as a major problem. It is becoming popular among political leaders across the world. How can we conduct elections without hate speeches and how can we also ensure that the media is not used to disseminate hate speech and also to ensure that this does not become a way for anybody occupying government position to clamp down on press freedom.
“We are trying to understand how we can ensure that quality and public interest is upheld in journalism,” she said.
According to the IPI Director, the Congress will also encourage the exchange of best practice among journalists from around the world adding that limit to press freedom, new technologies in investigative journalism and gender issue will also be the highlights for discussion at the congress.
“We will also look at the limit of press freedom from legislative and ethical preparative and what are the best practices. We shall also be looking at new technologies for investigative journalism and how it can be used to do our work better.
“Gender issue will also be a strong topic in the Congress, we will look at gender balance in the newsroom and how do we balance gender issue in our report,” Trionfi said further.
IPI is a global network of journalists, editors and media executives with the mission to defend media freedom and the free flow of news anywhere threatened.
Trionfi is expected to visit leading media houses in Nigeria including Channels Television.
