Ahead of the 2019 general elections, the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON) has advised media practitioners to be responsible in the discharge of their duties.
At its 70th Annual General Meeting on Thursday, the Chairman of BON, Mr John Momoh (OON), called all members of the media to reflect on how to serve the audience and the country.
Mr Momoh gave this advice on Thursday at the 70th General Assembly of BON in Abuja.
“Responsibility should be the beacon for media managers, editors, reporters, presenters and the whole media value chain,” Mr Momoh who is also the Chairman/CEO of Channels Media Group said.
“Responsibility connotes objectivity, it connotes fairness, decorum, finance, partisan, patriotism, sacrifice, balance, truth and trust. I will recommend one or all of the following codes to journalists, the Nigerian Media Code on election coverage, the NBC Code on election reporting and the Global Journalistic Code.”
On his part, Veteran Broadcaster, Tony Iredia, said journalists must be committed to the truth and uphold the ethics of the profession.
“Are we following the ethical values of the profession? Ethical values are things we all know; decency, fairness, objectivity, and so on, but the most important of them is the truth,” he said.
This, he explained, is because the truth is an absolute defence to defamation.
He urged journalists who would be covering the election to bear in mind that election coverage is a special assignment.
