The Executive Director, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, has said that quack journalists were mostly responsible for blackmail, fake news and hate speech in Nigeria due to lack of even basic rudiments of journalism.
He said persons who falsely pretend to have knowledge of journalism but only care for money have invaded the profession thereby creating problems for the profession and the society.
The President of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), Malam Mukhtar Zubairu Sirajo, urged the young journalists to embrace the gatekeeping role of journalism to enhance good governance.
He said that these days, the gatekeeping role of journalism was being relegated due to money factor and urged them to shun unethical acts.
Rafsanjani and Sirajo disclosed this yesterday in Abuja, at the Campus Journalism Awards 2019 organised by Youths Digest and the CISLAC.
The editor, Youths Digest, Mr. Gidado Yushau Shuaib, said that 241 entries were received out of which 30 finalists emerged for the awards before the 15 winners were selected.
Also, the Chairman, Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), Justice Danladi Umar, called for specialized training and professionalism on social justice reporting by the media.
Miss Maryam Abdullahi of the Department of European Languages, Uthman Danfodio University Sokoto, emerged the overall winner as the Campus Journalist of the Year.
She was also offered automatic employment by CISLAC and an all-expense-paid trip to attend an International Conference in the United States of America.
Other awardees include Abdulsalam Mahmud, a Mass Communication graduate of Fati Lami Abubakar Institute of General and Administrative Studies (FLAILAS) Minna, who won the ‘Upcoming Writer,’; Ekpali Joseph, 400-Level Mass Communication at the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) won the ‘Best Feature Reporter’; Ibrahim Adeyemi of Usman Dan-Fodio University (UDUS) won the ‘Best Campus Editor,’ while Emmanuel Ayamga of the Ghana Institute of Journalism won the ‘Sports Reporter’ award.
