Adhering to the ethics of journalism is crucial for both bloggers and professional journalists, a media expert, Mr Monday Ashibogwu, has said.
“Be it bloggers or professional journalists, adherence to the ethics of the job is imperative, Ashibogwu the Publisher/Managing Editor of Quick News, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
He described blogging as holding conversations on current issues, which must be genuine and add value.
“This is why the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation looked at it as a component of journalism.
“News is current and has value for stakeholders who want to use it for strategic reasons; therefore, anyone who peddles false information is not a blogger.
“Such an individual is a peddler of false information,” he said.
Ashibogwu emphasised the importance of verification of facts in journalism.
He said that there was the need for everyone claiming to be a journalist to go through proper training to understand the ethics of the profession.
He said that those publishing unverified stories, half-truth or and outright falsehood were not trained for journalism.
“Practising journalism without training is like going into medical practice without learning.
“People would actually become casualties of such a practice,” he said.
Ashibogwu said that having an academic certificate in journalism or mass communication should not be the only requirement for practising journalism.
According to him, having an academic certificate lays the basic foundation for one to practise but keeping to the values of the profession and knowing what to do and delivering should actually qualify one to be addressed as a journalist.
“If you have misfits into journalism, what happens is that we will have outputs that will give us misfits.
“People must be trained, people must be good, people must be professional. l believe in getting it right,” Ashibogwu said (NAN)
