By Bose Adelaja
CITIZENS COMPASS–Lagos State Government on Friday, August 28, 2024, played host to community media practitioners across the 20 local governments and 37 local council development areas in the State at an interactive session which was held at its state secretariat in Alausa, Ikeja.
The event charged the practitioners to be objective in their reportage while carrying out their duties as gatekeepers when disseminating news at the grassroots.
Themed, “Community Media Practitioners: Gatekeepers between the Government and the Grassroots”, was organized by the Ministry of Local Government, Chieftaincy Affairs and Rural Development under the leadership of Mr. Bolaji Kayode Robert.
In his Keynote address, the Senior Special Adviser (SSA) to the Governor on Local Government and Rural Development; Mr Babatunde Durojaiye, said that the interactive session was aimed towards equipping community media practitioners with prerequisite knowledge on how to disseminate information at the grassroots to project the policies, programmes, and achievements of the State Governor, Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu, his cabinet and projects implemented through his T.H.E.M.E.S. Plus Agenda.
While enumerating the roles of community media practitioners, he said they ensure that the masses are properly informed about what the government is doing to bring development to their doorstep.
He said, “There is no doubt that Community Media Practitioners play salient roles as intercultural gatekeepers who help cascade information on government’s programmes, policies, and achievements to the grassroots.
“As privileged actors between the government and the people, community media practitioners bear so much responsibility and power that one wrong information could result in the total collapse of a nation; hence the need for Community Media Practitioners to always ensure government information that reaches them is carefully gate-kept for the peace and overall development of the State.”
The SSA noted that the role of the community media practitioner is crucial in shaping the mindset of the people about their government, hence the need for them to always ensure that the public is exposed to the numerous projects and policies being executed by the Government both in rural and urban areas, and should also ensure that the government is informed about the plights and needs of the people.
“It is worthy to state here that the administration of Mr Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu appreciates the pivotal role that Community Media Practitioners play in ensuring that the people of Lagos State, especially at the grassroots are kept abreast on the activities of Government; this is the reason Lagos State holds this the periodic interaction meetings with Community Media Practitioners.
“With the development of the Media and its constantly evolving nature, accessing news has become faster than before when reliance was majorly on the traditional media and this has made it easier for people to be kept abreast of the activities of the government in their various communities.
“But with this laudable development comes the burden of verifying information to ascertain its credibility, as the New-Media space is oftentimes plagued with false and misleading news that can incite violence, create conflict, cause mayhem, and sometimes, misrepresent the policies and programmes of the Government.
“Since this New Media challenge is intrinsically linked to problems of communication, it behooves the professional Community Media Practitioner to ensure that the information he disseminates is veracity.
“Lagos State Government, in its efforts at ensuring grassroots dissemination of Government policies, programmes and projects, initiated and accommodated Community Media Practitioners to promote effective and efficient information dissemination to the grassroots across the State.”
In the interactive session, he said,
“The interactive sessions will also intellectually equip community media practitioners with requisite knowledge on grassroots information dissemination that will foster goodwill for this administration, especially in projecting the policies, programmes, and achievements of the Sanwo-Olu led Administration, implemented through the T.H.E.M.E.S. Plus Agenda.”
In his welcome address, the Assistant Director, of Public Affairs in the Ministry, Mr Kehinde Adebayo, thanked Mr Governor for approving the interactive session since his assumption into office.
He stated that Interactive sessions such as this allow the Ministry to have periodic interfaces with community media practitioners.
‘As Community Media Practitioners, today’s topic: ‘Community Media Practitioners: Gatekeepers between the Government and the Grassroots’ reiterates the role we play as community media practitioners in enlightening the people and also disseminating the policies and programmes of the government to them while informing the government of the social, infrastructural and economic needs of the people.
“While performing this role, we must ensure we are transparent about our biases and conflicts of interest, and ensure we do not use them to paint the government in a bad light or create agitations in our Communities. As an unbiased gatekeeper, we need to be accountable to our communities, as community media journalists as well as the Government by ensuring we amplify the voices of those who need to be heard.
“As I round off, let me remind you to always bear in mind that the essence of gatekeeping as community media practitioners is to ensure the public is kept abreast of the programmes and policies of the Government, while also informing Government of the yearnings of the populace.”
Publisher of the Lead Lagos Community Newspaper in Amuwo-Odofin; Adejumo Abayomi, while speaking on behalf of the participants, applauded the administration of Mr Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu for the continued inclusion of Community Media in information dissemination channels of the State.
He assured that community media practitioners would continue to project the policies, programmes, and achievements of this administration across the 57 Councils of the State.
The interactive session which is the third of its kind since the inception of the administration of Mr Governor was well attended by seasoned facilitators and community media practitioners across the 57 Councils of the State.
