AS a journalist, when you are asked: What is your tribe You are likely to disclose your place of origin. However, when it comes to issues bordering on election reporting, your tribe is Journalism.That was the submission at a workshop organised for journalists recently by the International Press Centre (IPC), Lagos and the Institute of War and Peace Reporting, United Kingdom, with the support of USAID, at the International Conference Centre, University of Ibadan.At the workshop titled, Fair Media, Fair Elections it was pointed out that for the media to perform responsibly, the role of election coverage, the journalists and the media houses must be non-partisan; there must be no allegiance to any party or its cause, or to any politician, which is why the journalist must remember that his only allegiance is to his profession, journalism. So, a journalists tribe is Journalism and therefore, he must conform with all the ethical codes of the profession in discharging his duty.The codes include being fair and objective, doing away with ambiguity, making balanced reports, eschewing any form of gratification, which may hinder truthful reporting and making timely and relevant reports.According to the resource person from the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Professor Ivor Gaber, election reporting can be equated with conflict reporting because elections are essentially about conflictconflict of views, conflict of solutions, conflict of ideas and ideologies, conflict of interests and conflict of personalities.Therefore, Gaber said, the duty of the journalist is to ensure that reporting of politics is geared towards resolution of these conflicts. In other words, the listed conflicts serves as guides for journalists on what to report during elections.It was underscored that beyond the traditional functions, todays media are expected to be conflict sensitive because across the globe, media have been used as tools to inflame grievances and accelerate violent conflict. In Rwanda, radio was used to lay the groundwork for genocide, while in Serbia, television was manipulated to stir ethnic tension prior to civil war.Because of this, Gaber stated that to be able to report accurately, on time, it is important for a journalist to prepare adequately by engaging in conflict mapping and analysis; recognise likely areas of sensitivity; watch out for danger signals in election reportinglikely hot spots; report differences without exacerbating them and then, to try to establish contact with all sides.He explained: To perform his duty responsibly, a journalist must understand that the central purpose of journalism is to provide citizens with accurate and reliable information they need to make decisions; he must understand that there is good and bad journalism and that one is development oriented, while the other is unduly sensational; conflict resolution and peace building must be accorded highly priority without burying the facts or ignoring the problems.Due to the perceived power of the media to influence the society, the news media in a democracy, according to the resource person, should relay the information citizens require to enable them to make informed judgments; monitor government and others and reveal abuses of political power; report politics day-to-day as well as during election campaigns; provide information about registration and voting; crystalise the main currents of public opinion; give a voice to a wide range of interest groups and provide a forum within which the public debate can take place.Among the challenges listed that could hinder the journalist in performing his functions efficiently during election periods were the issues of ownership, self-censorship, corruption, intimidation and other ethnic/religious biases. Others include the journalists level of awareness of electoral laws and issues; competence in using new media technology and security.The resource person from the International Press Centre, Lagos, Mr Lanre Arogundade, enjoined participants to always look out for stories behind the scene which could make election interesting and at the same time, impact knowledge. He admonished journalists to endeavour to do exclusive stories rather than the everyday reporting of politicians activities because, in the long run, these type of stories give more information than the ordinary day-to-day news by tracing the genesis of an issue and relating it to current occurrences.Apart from this, these type of stories tend to be safer and less sensational, he added. The issue of providing security for journalists on election coverage was emphasised while it was agreed that despite the fact that journalists are constantly hindered by ownership and personal interests, the media can still perform their roles responsibly and professionally by imbibing the cardinal tenets of journalism in dealing with political parties, politicians and the audience.
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