The chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ Rivers State Chapter, Mr. Paul Bazia, has identified the wrong use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) as the main problem bedeviling twenty-first-century journalism.
Mr. Bazia, who said this in an interview with newsmen in Port Harcourt, lamented the ill treatment meted out to journalists in the course of their duty. He called for an adequate enlightenment campaign to educate the public on the need to aid press freedom to thrive.
“In trying to do more of our own engagement we understand what we do is for their own good. If you are asking for transparency in governance, it is for the good of the people. Among the security agencies, you also have to make them understand that we are partners and not rivals or enemies.
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The public needs to understand that the journalist have to report news of development and corruption. And so if they understand what we do their perception of what we do would change”, he stated.
Another journalist from Rivers State NUJ, Mr. Paul Damgbor decried the unprofessional use of Information Communication Technology in journalistic profession.
“Most Special Assisters to social media for one local government or the other do not have the basic journalistic norms or training. We have a lot of people who just gatecrashed into this profession, which is a noble one, like other noble professions.
And they just post things, some of them at the comfort of their homes, think something out, and just throw it out there”, he stated.
They noted that the NUJ Rivers State journalists would organize programmes on how to employ Artificial Intelligence and other ICT applications, to enrich modern journalism.
