As the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) joins the global community to mark World Press Freedom Day 2026, media professionals have been called upon to adopt conflict-sensitive reporting, as well as uphold responsible journalism in line with professional and constitutional standards.
This call was made on Monday, May 4, 2026 by a Professor in the Department of Journalism and Media Studies at the University of Port Harcourt, Christopher Ochonogor, at an event to mark the day held at the Ernest Ikoli Press Centre, Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Prof. Ochonogor, who delivered a keynote address to mark the occasion, emphasized the critical role journalists play in fueling or reducing tensions in society, saying that media practitioners must be deliberate and responsible in their reporting to help reduce sources of conflict.
“Media practitioners should be conflict sensitive so that they’ll be able to mitigate sources of conflict. Conflict is not bad in it because it sets boundaries and so that people don’t overstep their influence.”
“But as a reporter, you must have to be sensitive so that you don’t, in the course of doing your legitimate work, promote conflict. You have to be fair to both sides, be objective, be interested in resolution rather than who first to vote.
“The media are supposed to promote peace the way they report. This can be from the framing of the stories, the angles from which they pick the stories, and then they are using choice of words.”
“All of us are old enough to remember what happened in Rwanda, where radio was used to mobilize an ethnic group against the other. And between 800,000 and 1,000,000, persons were killed over 100 days because the media was used to encourage one group against the other.”
“So, we must be very, very careful because while trying to carry out our legitimate function as reporters, we might be endangering society by the way we present those reports.”
The guest speaker at the event, Pastor Pious Idume, who spoke on the theme: “Fact-Checking As A Tool For Peace Building”, charged journalists as members of the Fourth Estate of the Realm to embrace ethical reporting such that does not become the subject of scandal, contempt or conflict but prioritises peace and mutual edification.
Pastor Idume, who is the Overseer of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry (DCLM), Rivers State (Central) and Coordinating Overseer of DCLM, South-South, enjoined media professionals to engage in diligent inquisition to determine the validity and accuracy of a statement or information before circulating it.
A former lawmaker, Ogbonna Nwuke stressed the importance of distinguishing professional journalism from misinformation, urging practitioners to maintain their gatekeeping role.
In his welcome address, Chairman of NUJ Rivers State Council, Paul Bazia-Nsaneh called for greater freedom for journalists to perform their duties as guaranteed by law.
“The freedom we are talking about here is not only the freedom of journalists going about their duties, but even economic freedom.”
“In this era of economics of news, how do media houses even navigate that freedom with government being their major financiers? So even economic strangulation can also impede on the freedom of the press.”
This year’s event had the theme, “Shaping the Future at Peace, Promoting Press Freedom for Human Rights, Development, and Security”.