Premium Times Academy, the capacity building arm of Premium Times Services Limited, has completed a two-day training of journalists from various media outlets in the country on business, economy and financial reporting.
Held in Lagos between 26 and 27 November, the programme took participants through reporting areas like monetary policy tools and indicators, recent reforms at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigeria’s economic system, open source data, fact-checking and verification tools, among others.
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The initiative was delivered by Premium Times Academy with support from the CBN, and focused on improving the skills of Nigerian journalists in ethical, data-driven and impactful reporting.
Facilitators ranged from financial advisors and consultants to CBN officials and top media practitioners.
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The Abuja version of the training was held two weeks earlier. A total of 25 journalists were trained in the course of the two-day programme.
Crafting informed stories
Ray Echebiri, the CEO of the Centre for Financial Journalism, led the discussion on how developing a deep understanding of the Nigerian financial system can help journalists write fact-based and accurate stories that are educative and engaging to the audience.
“You should be able to craft informed stories and analysis about the events in the system with a view to informing, educating and entertaining the audience. That is the most important thing we want to achieve today,” he said.
His session also dwelled on monetary policy, macroeconomic variables, banking regulation and operation as well as the roles of regulatory bodies in the Nigerian financial system.
Access to data and authoritative reporting
Musikilu Mojeed, the editor-in-chief of PREMIUM TIMES shared with participants resources for open-source data than can be leveraged in business, financial and economy reporting to enhance stories.
The thrust of the session was the place of data in earning credibility and accuracy for new stories, analyses and investigative reports.
According to Mr Mojeed, financial journalists must have ample access to data for them to report authoritatively on business and economic matters.
“Every thing you write or you do, the information that you provide has to be factual, has to be accurate, has to be data-backed,” he said.
“If you want to analyse budgets, you should be able to look at patterns, what has happened, what sector in the past 10 years is, what sector is getting more, what sector is getting less. You should be able to look at that.”
He pointed reporters to the importance of aggregating data and trying to spot trends from them, which can help in generating story ideas.
But he enjoined reporters to take the pain of establishing the original sources of data rather than relying on secondary in order to avoid misinformation and inaccuracies.
Data analysis and data presentation
The need for journalists to avoid telling the truth out of context was the focus of the discussion on data analysis and presentation, led by Zeal Akaraiwe, the CEO of Graeme Blaque Advisory.
He encouraged reporters to always consider every aspect of the subjects they are reporting in other to achieve fair, balanced and objective reporting in such a way that no part of the story is left out.
“A lot of reforms are being done at the CBN. The way journalists choose to present it can make a world of difference,” he said.
Mr Akaraiwe remarked that the media has a duty to use its power, backed with data and proper analysis, to hold governments accountable.
Ethical principles and standards
Mr Mojeed drew participants’ attention to the imperative of maintaining high code of conduct and standard of behaviour that adhere to global best practices in the field of journalism.
He highlighted key qualities that reporters need to embrace, including truthfulness, accuracy, objectivity, impartiality and fairness.
The PREMIUM TIMES’ editor-in-chief encouraged participants to get a copy of Code of Ethics for Nigerian Journalists (1998), which is available in digital format.
He lamented the fact that many reporters around the country are not familiar with the code of ethics of the profession, yet practise journalism.
“How do you practice a profession whose ethics you are not familiar with?” he asked.
According to him, it is morally imperative for all journalists and media organisations to uphold the highest professional and ethical standards in the conduct of their duty and to also have high regard for public interest.
“The public has a right to know factual accurate, balance and fair reporting. This is the ultimate objective of good journalism and the basis of having public trust and confidence,” he said.
Countering disinformation with fact-checking
David Ajikobi, the Nigeria Editor at Africa Check, highlighted strategies that could be employed in countering disinformation and for checking the accuracy of claims already in public domain.
Mr Akinjobi stated that participants need to understand that journalists themselves can be a target of disinformation and misinformation.
He enjoined participants to avoid bias in all its forms in their reporting.
“Always ask yourself, ‘Am I objective?’ Sometimes even your objectivity might be biased. Am I giving all sides to the story? Sometimes even giving all sides to story might not be I don’t check all the facts, whether I personally agree with them or not,” he said.
According to him, any gap in a big story is a potential tool for disinformation.
CBN as lender of last resort
Fidelis Odia, a deputy director at the CBN who represented Akinwunmi Olubukola, the CBN’s director of banking supervision, provided insights into the functions and structure of the banking industry regulator.
His presentation centred on the CBN’s regulatory roles as well as its economic and financial stability functions, monetary policy, risk management and foreign exchange management.
Mr Odia highlighted the significance of the CBN in the monetary economy, some of the recent developments in the industry and the ongoing recapitalisation of banks in the country, which is aimed at supporting the push for a $1 trillion economy.
It is a major role of the central bank “to ensure that the banks are adequately capitalised. Capital is the life-wire of any institution,” he said.
“Liquidity is there, but capital is the main thing, because capital provides buffer to absorb losses. So if it’s not there, what happens is the institution can go under, and we want our institution to be strong,” he added.
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