In case you missed the report, Sahara Reporters posted a news item that Godswill Akpabio’s election was nullified whereas the Appeal Court didn't even seat that day, but the a day after the report was posted.
The report was a sharp contrast from the verdict delivered. The election was upheld not nullified as posited by SaharaReporters.
The reason for the post can only be told by the Sahara management. But some lessons are there to be learnt.
People were hoodwinked because of the trust in the online media outfit.
The hard lessons are:
1. Our media practitioners can now be regarded as 'Copy and Paste journalists'. They are not ready to do any bit of research again, that is why the same thing you see on a website, you will same stuff on hundreds of websites cum blogs verbatim.We should desist from this, reportage shouldn't be one sided or from a source. If a post by a media outfit can shake Nigeria like that, then we are in a hot soup.
2. People are not ready to engage in investigative journalism any longer. I'm not saying that you should visit the scene of the happening always but you can make use of the search engines to ascertain the veracity of the said report.
It doesn't matter when you post your news, because I'm have come to know that everyone wants to be breaking news but if the type of news you break are not always correct, you will lose your credibility and integrity.
Take your time to do little research on the news items before you post anything.
3. Mind the kind of 'words' you use when reporting. I guess the main reason why people fell for that crap was the one of the words used. "authoritatively"
Authoritatively means having confidence and be sure of something, whereas the story was false at the end of the day.
Sahara should have simply put it like this, Godswill Akpabio has allegedly loses his seat in the senate.
People will know that it is still sketchy or you can say a rumour yet to be confirmed or debunked.
We should be careful on our usage of words, because it counts.
4. Negative news moves faster than good ones. This has been proved to be truism over the centuries.
For instance, I know of a reputable media outfit in Nigeria that is yet to report Senator Buruji Kashamu’s Appeal Court verdict but his sack by the tribunal was very echoed by same outfit.
News items shouldn't always be negative or written to attack personalities, organisations, political parties, just to mention but few.
Though I can't shy away from the fact that people love such news items but they should not be based on lies.
5. Be unbiased in your reportage. Though we all have our interest on certain issues, that is, vested interest.
But we should be trying to balance the reports, leaning too much on your line of interest may make you to lose your credibility.
I read a lot of posts and comments on daily basis, Nigeria is now very divided along ethnic groups and political inclinations.
This indeed has patterned the ways and manners that such people write but the fact is that, as a good information manager, you should be able to strike a balance between your interest and the real happenings.
You should not allow your emotions to dictate what you write, be objective to your best of knowledge. Remember that your op-ed can be accessed all over the world.
6. Admittance of mistake. I was very happy when I saw an apology post by Sahara. Stating that they erred on Akpabio’s story.
That is a welcome development, some people are too big to admit their mistake, instead they will be looking for someone to blame for it, like the Biblical Adam.
We all err at a point, but maturity is when you admit your mistake(s) and you apologise.
Simple 'Sorry' can avert a war from taking place if rendered at a crucial time.
Learn how to take responsibility for all your actions and inactions.
#NigeriaWillBeABetterPlace
-ADC
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