DSS to journalists: Being partisan will endanger you during election coverage

The Department of State Services ( DSS) says Nigerian journalists should promote national unity with their reports.

Peter Afunanya, the DSS public relations officer, spoke at the ‘Elections 2023: security, media and safety symposium’ in Abuja on Tuesday.

Afunanya said journalists should abide by the highest ethical standards in their profession.

He said journalism practitioners are stakeholders in fostering national unity, adding that journalists should eschew partisanship when it comes to election coverage.

“Journalists are fast to blame others but never get to reflect on their activities. In places like the United States, there are usually red lines, there are ribbons, and the journalist is limited in movement,” he said.

“Once a ribbon is set, nobody would cross it but in Nigeria, journalists don’t abide by this rule. And this simply means that you are putting yourself in harm’s way.

“We have a situation where a journalist published fake news but when I called him, he said he brought up the false narrative because it was September and wanted to pay his children’s school fees.

“So many journalists in this era of fake news, hate speech, social media, and the anonymity of those who carry the narrative, you may not catch them at various times.

“Come to the election, the journalist is covering a place, will it be possible for such a journalist to cover objectively if he is partisan? This endangers journalists.

“Journalists are partners in national development, and partners in the national platform. They must cast their narrative in a manner that constitutes national unity.”