Barbara Trionfi, the Executive Director, International Press Institute (IPI), on Wednesday advised media owners and the government to ensure adequate protection for journalists, their equipment and families to enhance quality and accuracy.
Trionfi gave the advice in Abuja while briefing newsmen on the upcoming the World Congress of IPI scheduled to hold in Abuja in June from June 21 to June 23.
She said that most journalists in the course of discharging their duties were increasingly exposed to dangerous environment.
According to her, journalists have put themselves in danger because that is the only way they can secure income and reports in some cases.
Trionfi, therefore, stressed the need for Editors, Managers, Proprietors and Media Organisations to ensure the safety of not only their staff but also the freelance journalists because they work well.
She noted that poor remuneration puts journalists on pressure to get other sources of means of livelihood, which took them away from their main occupation.
“ This, of course, is a challenge that limits the ability of journalists to focus on quality, accuracy and to remain independent,“ Trionfi said.
She promised that IPI World Congress of would have a strong focus on investigative journalism, the legislative aspect of it, press freedom aspect and look at some example of good investigative journalists.
She said that some investigative journalists had done amusing work in terms of revealing corruption, wrong doing and anything that was going wrong in their countries that was not in the interest of the people.
The director also said that the congress would look at Hate speech, which was one of the most problematic issue not only to journalists but had become common among politicians.
She said that hate speech had become common in the words of many political leaders, saying that journalists had to cover such politicians without given too much attention to their hate speech.
She said that the congress would ensure that news media were not used to disseminate hate and that it does not become a way for people in government to clampdown to press freedom.
“ We will also look at the limit of press freedom from legislative and ethical preparative and what are the best practices.
“ We shall also be looking at new technologies for investigative journalism and how it can be used to do our work better.
“ Gender issue will also be a strong topic in the congress, we will look at gender balance in the newsroom and how do we balance gender issue in our report,“ she said.
The director disclosed that the congress would avail IPI the opportunity to train some local journalists on elections coverage and journalist safety.
This, according to her, is with the view to encourage dialogue and best practices around the world.
Malam Kabiru Yusuf, member Programme and Event Committee, IPI 2018 Congress, who expressed the readiness of the committee to host the congress, noted with optimism that the programme would record tremendous success.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the 2018 IPI World Congress, which would hold in Abuja from June 21 to 23, would attract hundreds of leading editors and journalists from across the world to discuss numerous challenges facing journalists.