President Muhammadu Buhari has called on journalists across the world to ensure that they continue to uphold the ethics of their profession and practice good journalism.
This, he said, is because good journalism is critical to the development and growth of societies and is needed to combat the challenges posed by fake news.
The President made the call at the 2018 World Congress of the International Press Institute (IPI), which had the theme ‘Why Good Journalism Matters’ in Abuja, the nation’s capital on Thursday.
He said, “In a world where the borderline between hate speech and free speech has become blurred, good journalism matters.
“In an environment where fake news dwarfs investigative journalism, good journalism matters. For survival in an increasingly competitive field, good journalism matters. Good journalism promotes good governance.”
President Buhari, therefore, called on participants at the Congress “to give depth to the topic” in their discussions and conclusions.
He praised the IPI for giving Nigeria the hosting rights for its world congress for 2018, saying it made the right choice.
“It is our pride that your vision of professional journalism, training institutions in Nigeria has taken firm root,” he said.
“Your annual congress is holding in Nigeria during a period of global terrorism. Nigeria experiences that scourge through Boko Haram which has been technically degraded and has no territorial hold anywhere anymore in its North-East operational base.
“Internally displaced persons are gradually returning to their communities in reasonable safety and security.”
According to him, it is a reflection of the IPI’s assessment of Nigeria as a safe country that it gave the country the hosting rights for this conference.
“As you have seen since your arrival, you made a wise and right choice,” he said.
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