The Foundation for Investigative Journalism and Social Justice has trained undergraduates and early career journalists on the art of producing quality, critical and impactful social justice stories.
The one-day training was held in Lagos on Tuesday, August 8, with support from the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ)’s Collaborative Media Engagement for Development, Inclusion and Accountability (CMEDIA) project.
About 15 participants selected from a pool of over 132 applicants from across Nigeria were drilled on social justice journalism, its importance and how to profitably practise it.
Fisayo Soyombo, FIJ’s founder and editor-in-chief, revealed that the training was for undergraduates and recent graduates because he believed in the idea of catching journalists young and grooming them to become social justice advocates before they join the rot in society.
“Social justice journalism, among other things, helps to prevent other people from falling victim to fraud and other societal vices,” Soyombo said.
The training was in three sessions centered on the concept of social justice journalism and its impacts in society.
In one of the sessions, Soyombo described social justice journalism as one road less travelled considering the risks involved in it. He revealed that the organisation and its reporters had received threats and unnecessary lawsuits because social justice journalism steps on toes and indicts big organisations and government.
He narrated FIJ’s journey so far and described it as a tough one because it had to survive on personal funds and even loans at some point just to stay afloat without keying into the dictates of ‘sugar daddies‘.
“You cannot be friends with politicians if you want to be unbiased in your reporting, since it would influence your objectivity,” he said.
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Also speaking in one of the sessions, Comfort Adetoye, FIJ’s programmes officer, took the participants through the concept of social impact and the need to measure social impacts for increased productivity.
Comfort said impact measurement helps journalists to see the result of their work, know how successful their stories are and figure out ways to reduce the negative influence and maximise the positive influence their stories have on people and situations.
Nino Obidigbo, one of the trainees, said the event broadened her horizon about using journalism to tackle social injustice in Nigeria.
Nino said she was amazed by the impacts FIJ had been able to make in just two years and envisioned a future where other media organisations would key in to the rare and daring idea of social justice journalism.
Adetayo Adeolu, another participant at the training, said his key takeaway was avoiding monetary appreciations or brown envelope while carrying out his duties as a journalist since it could affect his sense of judgement. Adetayo said he was once a victim of social injustice and police brutality, hence his interest in fighting social injustice.
“I learned that it’s important for journalists to distinguish between real social injustice and things that may only seem like injustice but are not, “ said Mosurah, another trainee.
She said she had learned that journalists need to address the day-to-day challenges and injustices faced by ordinary Nigerians at the grassroots and hold the government and other powerful institutions accountable.
