Stakeholders across the media industry have endorsed the new Media Code of Election Coverage 2018. The Code got a unanimous approval at the end of a two-day Validation Meeting, convened in Lagos by the International Press Centre (IPC) to ratify the document. The Code is a revised edition of the 2015 Code that also got a wide approval across the media.

Importantly apart from providing for Monitoring, Implementation and Enforcement to strengthen its application, the new Code provides for a Monitoring Group which will be composed by the major stakeholders in the media like the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Radio, Television and Theatre Arts Workers Union (RATTAWU), Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON) and the Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN).

The Code also provides for a section to regulate Hate Speech and other forms of incitement which according to it, “could lead to violence and threaten the democratic fabric of a society”. “The social obligations of the media during elections therefore include the prevention of hate speech”, it says

Essentially the Code provides guidelines for the ethical conduct of journalists and their respective organisations in the coverage of elections. This obligation according to the Code, “entails the performance of oversight, public education, open forum and conflict management roles by the media during elections”.

The Code also says in its preamble that the “effective performance of these important roles requires the observance of the highest standards of professionalism, maximum compliance with regulatory frameworks and deference to the public good and interest”.

It therefore says that “it is desirable to have a set of guidelines that regulates the professional and ethical conduct of the media and journalists during elections” and enjoins practitioners that “compliance with the guidelines will contribute to the conduct of credible elections and corresponding social order”

Apart from making provisions to ensure fairness, balance and accuracy in election reporting, the new Code which benefitted from some preliminary work by Mr Edetaen Ojo, Executive Director, Media Rights Agenda (MRA) and Ms Victoria Ibanga, General Secretary, Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), was given further teeth by the provision on Monitoring, Implementation and Enforcement which were missing in the 2015 Code.

Although there are different views on Hate Speech, the Code prefers the definition by the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights which defines “hate speech as any form of speech which degrades others, promotes hatred and encourages violence against a group on the basis of the following criteria: race, colour, religion, national origin, gender, disability or a number of other traits”.

Section 4.1 of the Code which deals with Hate Speech says “a journalist shall use temperate language and avoid expressions that dehumanize parties, aspirants, candidates or other groups”.

Section 4.2 provides that “A presenter of a programme in any broadcast medium shall refrain from pejorative comments. Section 4.3 says “A journalist shall prior to a programme brief interviewees or guests on the need to avoid hateful comments”

According to section 4.4, “A journalist shall immediately reject hateful comments from guests/speakers in a live or recorded programme, press conference, political gathering, etc”.

Section 4.5 also provides that “A journalist shall immediately request his or her interviewees/guests to withdraw any hateful comments” while section 4.6 says that “A journalist shall not use images or pictures that contain elements of hateful representations of parties, aspirants, candidates or other groups”.

Media organisations also have responsibilities to prevent their medium from being used as harbingers of hate speech. The Code provides in section 4.7 that “media organisations shall have an anti-hate speech reporting policy that clearly states, among others, that hate speech or inciting messages are not permitted on its social media platforms”

Section 4.8 provides that “A media organisation shall reject any material intended for publication or airing by parties, aspirants, candidates and other interests that contains hateful or inciting words or messages;”

Section 4.9 also says that “A media organisation shall refrain from publishing or airing abusive editorial comments or opinions that denigrate individuals or groups on account of disability, race, ethnicity, tribe, gender, belief or other traits;”

The Code provides in section 4.10 that “A media organisation shall meticulously monitor the content of its social media platforms to stop the spread of hate speech or other inciting messages;”

Section 4.11 says that “A media organisation shall take advantage of fact-checking tools to avoid publishing or broadcasting unverified materials from social media platforms;”

Section 4.12 provides that “A broadcast medium shall, prior to a recorded or a live political debate, request participants to endorse a NO-HATE-SPEECH MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING committing them NOT to use words or expressions that disparage others on account of disability, race, ethnicity, tribe, gender, belief or other traits;” while section 4.13 says that “Media organisations shall build the capacity of journalists and other media professionals in their employment to understand hate speech and its implications.”

While thanking the participants for diligently working to produce the new Code, Mr Lanre Arogundade, Director, International Press Centre (IPC) implore media organisations to use their platforms to create awareness on the Code, disclosing that his organisation was implementing the Component 4B, Support for Media of the European Union Support for Democracy and Governance in Nigeria (EU-SDGN) project.

Arogundade said that efforts were on not only to engage both BON and NPAN on the new Code but also to ensure that it receives more organisational endorsement across the media industry and media support groups. “We also want media and communication scholars to use this Code for the training of their students”, he says.

Dr Qasim Akinreti, chairman, Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Lagos state branch says that the NUJ fully endorses the Code as a way to sanitize the media against unethical practices. “We are extremely happy that this is happening at this time. The NUJ is extremely committed to this Code and will be part of the advocacy for its implementation”, says Akinreti, who represented the NUJ President, Mr Waheed Odusile at the event.

Mr Oluwole Osaze –Uzzi, Director, Voter Education, Publicity, Gender and CSO Liason. Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), says the Commission will take this effort very seriously. “We were participants during the fashioning of the first Code. We are also elated to be part of this revised edition. We are enriched by the experience. We’ll definitely assist in the process of implantation since some of the provisions impinge on electoral offences”, he says.

Mr Edetaen Ojo was of the view that the Code can be a basis to regulate the coverage of other aspects of the Nigerian society if it works well. “If the implementation of this Code goes on well, it should provide some stepping stone to fashion out a Code to regulate the coverage of other issues in our society”, he said.

Present at the event were prominent editors, media and communication scholars, media regulators, media support groups, persons with disabilities (PWDs) in the media and a representative of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

They include Mr Oluwole Osaze –Uzzi, Director, Voter Education, Publicity, Gender and CSO Liason INEC, Mr Nnamdi Njemanze, Executive Secretary, Nigerian Press Council (NPC), Dr Qasim Akinreti, Chairman, Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Lagos State branch, Malam Kabir Garba Tsanni, President, Radio, Television and Theatre Arts Workers union (RATTAW), Ms Victoria Ibanga, General Secretary, Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), Mr Edetaen Ojo, Executive Director, Media Rights Agenda (MRA), Prof Nosa Owens-Ibie, a Communications, Media and Development Scholar and Dean, College of Social and Management Sciences, Caleb University, Imota in Ikorodu, Dr Ifeoma Dunu, Associate Professor of Communication, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, and Mr Dapo Olorunyomi, Publisher, Premium Times.

Others are Dr Akin Akingbulu, Executive Director, Institute of Media Studies (IMS), Mr Lekan Otunfodunrin, Online Editor, The Nation, Mrs Funke Treasure-Durodola, Assistant Director Programmes, Radio Nigeria, Lagos Operations, Mr Femi Akintunde –Johnson, Chief Executive Officer, Footprints and Malam Hamza Ibrahim, representative of the Executive Director, Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), Kano,