CJID trains journalists on climate change reporting

The Center for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) has rounded off the third phase of its climate change initiative with a two-day capacity-building programme for media practitioners in Nigeria.

The two-day training was held between August 9 and 10, 2023, at the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. 

The CJID trained 20 selected journalists from over 250 applicants across the country. The participants were selected from print, online, and electronic media, with a view to ensuring that the climate change message got to a diverse audience.

The workshop aimed to enhance media practitioners’ skills and knowledge on effective reporting of environmental and climate change issues and holding the government accountable for its sustainable and green climate commitments.

Speaking on the workshop, Project Manager, Ms Felicia Dairo, said the workshop was part of CJID’s efforts aimed at ensuring that the media was adequately informed about climate change-related issues across the region.

She said: “There is a general dearth of knowledge on climate change-related issues across the region, and most times, environmental reporting is misconstrued for climate change reporting. Despite Africa being the most vulnerable to climate change, studies show that the media in Africa pay little attention to climate change reporting.

“The series of capacity building for journalists by CJID is a conscious effort in ensuring we bridge the knowledge and capacity deficit of climate change reporting across West Africa and a way of changing the narrative of low climate change reportage.”

Also, Project Coordinator, Mr Nicholas Adeniyi, said effective policies and sustained socio-political commitments were necessary to mitigate the impacts of climate change in order to guarantee a sustainable future. He noted that the media was crucial in communicating these needs and galvanizing actions.

The Deputy Director of the Journalism Programme, CJID, Ms Busola Ajibola, took the participants through the gender-reporting session. She admonished journalists to embrace an all-inclusive reportage mechanism, advising that no gender and persons should be left out, including persons with disability (PWDs).

She said, “When writing our reports on climate change,  it is important to get our mappings right. Our reports should be all-inclusive without being biased. Every affected person must be represented, including persons with disability (PWDs).”

One of the participants, Mr Hussain Garba Mohammed from Daily Trust, said he felt great because the training was an eye-opener for him.

“I feel great because I have learned different ways to report about climate change, especially  reporting  with data information.”

Also, Ms Udeobassi Blessing, a journalist at Foundation for Investigative Journalism, said the training exposed her to a lot of things that she never knew before. She applauded the efforts of the resource persons towards making the training an easy one. 

“The training was highly impactful and I was exposed to a lot of things that I never knew before. The trainers invited made the training an enjoyable experience for me. “

At the end of the training, the Director of Programs at CJID, Mr Akintunde Babatunde, advised the journalists to keep telling impactful stories, disclosing that 15 journalists would be supported with grants to pursue climate change deep dives across the country.