By Dada Ahmed.
Mal.Isiyaku Ahmed,
MD, Stallion Times.
Stallion Times,Kano, on Saturday in Lokoja kogi state, trained about 40 journalists and Civil Society Organizations members on how to use social media to enhance their knowledge of media practise for self and societal development.
In his address of welcome, the Managing Director of the media organisation, Mal. Isiyaku Ahmed, said that the One-Day Training, with the theme,”Effective Use of social Media for Media and CSOs”,aimed at enabling participants appreciate best practices for creating social media content.
He added that the interactive training was also to give participants the opportunity to get the best of social media for news and story telling, as well as for them to know how to use social to reach wider target audience.
Our correspondent, who attended the training, reports that the participants were trained on the basics of social media, social media and effective content development and how to use social media to build relationships and tell stories.
Mal.Isa Ali Musa,the resource person at the occasion.
Mal.Isa Ali Musa, a Research Scholar and an expert in digital forensic, Lab.Antlantic Council, USA, who lectured participants on all the aspects of training, stressed the importance of social media to the workings of journalists, especially in kogi state.
The expert enumerated the gains of using social media by journalists to include assisting them getting captivating headlines, enriching the content of their stories, helping them boost quality of their news content in reaching wider audience and enable them to be the first to break the news among others.
Participants at the event.
He, therefore, called on journalists to develop keen interest in using social media to boost their work, adding that social media plays pivotal role in shaping news content, dissemination and story telling and urged them to keep learning on the job.
Musa,however, urged journalists to shun misinformation and other unprofessional practices in the course of trying to be the first to break the news, which he noted constitutes serious threat to their profession and their integrity and the organization they represent.
The digital forensic expert reminded journalists on the need to adhere strictly to the ethics of their profession by being transparent, objective, attribute sources, retract and correct news, where necessary and fact-check their stories to ensure their authenticity, before publishing, among other measures.
Ali also called on journalists to be conversant with cyber crime laws in order not go against the law guiding the practice of their profession.
The Reporters recalls that for the past one year or so, Stallion Times has availed journalists and members of Civil Society Organisations in kogi state, series of training aimed at boosting their professional competence to perform better.
This the media outfit has been doing in active collaboration with Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism and MacArthur Foundation, in terms of funding under the ‘Get Involved, Dialogue and Improved Project'(GDRIP).
Some of the journalists in their separate interview with our correspondent, thanked the three organizations for the training, adding that the exercise had improved their technics and competence in reporting events in the state.
