President
Muhammadu Buhari has asked journalists to be responsible, saying the media must
be sensitive to Nigeria’s current situation.
Buhari in a statement issued on
Sunday by his spokesman, Femi Adesina, reiterated his administration’s
commitment to freedom of the press.
“The media must be sensitive to
what we are going through as a country, and anything that would exacerbate the
situation, and further inflame passions and emotions, should be avoided,”
President Buhari said ahead of the World Press Freedom day on May 3.
“The media needs to ensure that
while informing, educating, entertaining and setting agenda for public
discourse, it does not encourage incendiary words and actions that could
further hurt our unity in diversity.”
President Buhari also pledged
greater cooperation with the media to discharge its duties, in line with the
theme of this year’s World Press Freedom Day, ‘Information as a Public Good.’
He noted that freedom of the
press is an irreducible minimum in a democracy that would flourish, adding that
freedom must, however, be used responsibly.
He added, “Licentious freedom,
the President says, is different from freedom with responsibility, and charges
the Nigerian media to embrace the latter, rather than the former.
“He charges those who manage
information for government to do everything in the public interest, while also
encouraging the media to use the Freedom of Information Act available to make
its jobs easier.
“The President submits that it
is very vital to have access to reliable information in an era of
misinformation, disinformation and hate speech, all to cause discord in
society.”
Source: channelstv.com
0 Comments