Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — The Media Awareness and Justice Initiative, MAJI, has trained media practitioners on the use of data and technology to investigate, gather and report environmental issues in the Niger Delta region, particularly oil and gas pollution.
MAJI during the one-day training in Port Harcourt, titled Citizen Science for Newsroom Project (Citisn Project) with support from the United States Consular Office, said the project was imperative due to the numerous challenges experienced by journalists and members of civil society in the course of gathering accurate data and information in telling their stories.
Speaking, the Executive Director of MAJI, Mr. Okoro Onyekachi Emmanuel, said the project will see to the launching of a software application which will serve as the most reliable database for all incidents of oil and gas pollution and other environmental issues in the region with in-built analysis.
Okoro while highlighting the importance of using data and technology to tell stories, explained that the credibility of data collection and technology has made it efficient and possible to kill any form of distortions and third-party distortion that might be posed to the reports.
He said the training which will be continuous and last over a period of time, was borne out of empathy for journalists to be able to use data to tell quantitative and qualitative reports devoid of any distortion.
He said, “The citizen project is a project borne out of empathy for newsroom journalists to be able to use data to tell quantitative and qualitative news reports. We have over the years seen that most of the stories that have been put out to the public space are more of a narrative style reporting approach that is based on key witness interviews, and we feel that such reports will be distorted based on either the passion or affiliation of the person that was interviewed.
“For us, the usage of data is paramount, it is a key that gives independence to journalists, it provides professionalism for the work that is being done and it further creates some level of independence that journalists can use to further tell stories that affect the environment, communities, lives and also affect the wellbeing of the social structure of Rivers State, Niger Delta and Nigeria at large.
“So as a project, we looked at it and with the support from the US Consular Office in Lagos, we were able to deploy this aim of training journalists and also build an app that will support journalists and also create the platform for an expansive journalism.”
Also, a facilitator of the training, Mr. Kentebe Ebiaridor, speaking on the challenges being faced by journalists in the course of dispensing their duties, expressed optimism that despite the internal and external restrictions facing the freedom of the press, there was still hope as synergy among CSOs, journalists and the citizens can make the job easier.
“If you look at the challenges we have had in environmental reporting, data has been an issue. The creation of this app will fill that gap and also ensure accuracy, data and enable one to get environmental reports on the field in real-time.
“I think the challenges that are facing journalists are enormous, but going beyond the issues we must look at press freedom, how can the press be free to carry out their reporting task with enormous issues ranging from security, challenges within and outside their own media platforms. Most importantly I think if we can all work together in synergy, I think we can make the work of journalists very easy for them to do.”