Grace Egila
Lokoja – No fewer than 40 Journalists have been trained on reporting disability in the media on Thursday under the Participatory Governance and Media Literacy project tagged “Get Involved, Dialogue and Improve (G-DRIP)” being implemented by Stallion Times Media Service in Kano and Kogi states.
The G-DRIP is in collaboration with the Wole Soyinka Center for Investigative Journalism under the Collaborative Media Project (Collaborating for media independence and government accountability), with support from the MacArthur Foundation.
Speaking to Journalists at the event, the Chief Executive Officer, Editor-in-Chief, Isiyaku Ahmed said: “This training is necessary because of the common and negative stereotypes of persons with disabilities which have penetrated the public, the media, and the governance eco-system in Kogi and other states of Nigeria.
“The objectives among others are to promote issues-focused reporting on disability in the mainstream media so as to influence national action towards disability, to train Journalists to report on issues of People living with Disability (PlwD), and to engage journalists to write stories on PwDs issues in such ways that highlight their concerns on everyday happenings in the society.
Ahmed noted that though the media is faced with challenges in terms of funding and capacity, it is still in a unique position to reshape the negative public image and improve the living condition of persons with disabilities through well researched and proper reporting of critical issues that affect people with disabilities in Nigeria.
“The goal is to build the capacity of media practitioners in disability-inclusive reporting with the hope that it will be brought to the forefront to prompt government action for improved service delivery.
“Use this knowledge transfer training to share your experiences, learn and write disability issues to make Kogi a better place for the minority and marginalized groups,” he added.
Ahmed encouraged media practitioners in the state to keep the disability conversation alive and step down the knowledge of the training to other colleagues in the industry.
In one of his training sessions, the media consultant, Mr Anselm Okolo encouraged Journalists to write well-researched issue-based stories on disability.
He took participants through story ideas development on issues of disability. Fourteen story ideas were developed for Journalists to take away to help them continue reporting on issues on disability long after the end of the workshop.
Mr. Anselm committed to mentoring Journalists to write any of the developed story ideas any time after the training workshop.
A participant, Ishaq Dan-Imam of the Voice of Nigeria who is also living with a disability urged Journalists to write stories that will reveal the ability of disability in human endeavors in places of work and the academics.
He also called on Journalists to write feature stories that encourage marriages between abled persons and persons with disability in society to promote integration.
Earlier, in his goodwill message, the Chairman of the Kogi State Council, National Union of Journalists, Adaeiza Momoh-Jimoh thanked Stallion Times Media Services for conducting the training in Kogi.
He said the training will improve the knowledge of Journalists on the subject matter to write compelling stories that would amplify and make good issues of disability in the state.
The training had in attendance Journalists cutting across broadcast, print, and online media platforms.
