The Guild of Corporate Online Publishers has called on members to adhere strictly to the principles of fairness and adequate consideration for national security as they set to cover the political campaigns and elections in the 2015 general elections.
The Guild, in a communiqué issued today, arising from its meeting in Abuja recently, called on journalists to step up the quality of their coverage of political activities as the 2015 elections draw nearer.
The communiqué which was signed by the Guild’s President, Mr. Malachy Agbo and the General Secretary, Mr. Dotun Oladipo, asked journalists not to forget the basic principles guiding journalism, especially in this electioneering campaign era.
The Guild, however decried the harassment of journalists in recent times by security agents, even as it called on the security agents to respect the rights of journalists as well as the constitutional guarantee for the unfettered discharge of their duties.
The Guild expressed the need to work in concert with the Nigerian Copyright Commission to properly articulate steps to take in protecting the intellectual property of writers.
“This stems from the flagrant abuse of the properties of writers, especially journalists. The Guild thus called for professionalism among journalists, top of which should be giving credit to source (s) of information.
“The Guild commiserates with the nation, the executive committee and members of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, co-workers and family members of former presidential spokeswoman and for Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria, Dame Remi Oyo; the Vice Chairman of Sun Publishing Limited, Pastor Dimgba Igwe; and the Editor-in-Chief of Real News magazine, Mike Akpan, all of who died recently. While it wished the departed souls eternal and blissful rest. It also prayed to God to grant all those affected by their departure the fortitude to bear the loss.
Over 20 members of Guild attended the Abuja meeting. [myad]
