By Nicholas Ojo
The Wole Soyinka Center for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ), has disclosed that the 2022 edition of the Wole Soyinka Award for Investigative Journalism will hold on December 8th and 9th 2022 in Lagos.
Addressing journalists in Lagos, on Monday, December 5, 2022, the Executive Director/CEO of the WSCIJ, Motunrayo Alaka, said investigative journalism has exposed corruption, named and shamed corrupt public office holders, hence there is a need to amplify works by journalists, especially in an age of digital technology.
Alaka stressed that investigative journalism influences the outcome of election results and called for the availability of the media at the subnational level.
She said: “We’ll be coming together as investigative journalists and as those who love good governance and democracy, to ensure that the works of journalists do not get buried and are highlighted.
“There is a need to amplify the works journalists do, especially in this age of great technology and advancement,” she said.
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“There are so many platforms that enable digital interaction available. There is news almost at a nanosecond, but how do we ensure it is news that is important to the livelihood of the people and the threats to their lives and developments as well as democracy?
“We want to ensure that the works of journalists do not get buried. It should be highlighted that they contribute to civic education, the robustness of the civil space and that the change we want on the streets of the country, we have them eventually.”
“There will be conversations on how investigative journalism shapes election outcomes in an electoral season,” she said.
“Our call to action is that we hope to have many journalists and students of journalism in the room. That is why we are making it an open event. We want to make it a festival of ideas around the issues that concern us as reporters and journalists.
“We want to highlight the importance of covering local issues and the media being available at the grassroots. There is a need to shift the focus from the federal government and concentrate on the subnational levels.
“Development is local, politics is local and journalism would make a difference must also be local. There is a need to beam searchlights on what is happening to journalism at the local level.”
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Speaking on the structure of the event, Alaka stated that “the event starts at 10:00 am daily. On Thursday, December 8, 2022, Anas, Adamolekun, and Akinbajo will discuss ‘Investigative journalism and democracy in an election season – How IJ shapes election outcomes and deepens good governance’ to be moderated by Saleh.
The afternoon session will commence by 12:30 pm with a plenary session on ‘Local journalism, investigative journalism and democracy. The last plenary session on ‘Audience engagement for sustainable journalism’ will be moderated by Eboigbe.
“Arogundade, Ogwezzy-Ndisika and Busari will lead the conversation at the first plenary session on Friday, December 9, 2022, to explain ‘How to cover elections in a digital age’ between 10 am and noon as the practical session (strictly by registration) on ‘Hands-on fact check misinformation class’ will hold simultaneously. The practical class will resume by 12:30 pm alongside the second plenary session on ‘Practical steps to reporting climate change. The curtain-raiser for the 2022 awards will be a plenary session with Anas, Soyombo and Ovuorie discussing ‘Undercover reporting – Worth it or not?’
“At the awards, WSCIJ will present the 13 finalists earlier announced, their prizes for investigative reports while Stella Din-Jacob, News Director at TVC News and Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, founding Director of Women Advocates Research and Documentation Center (WARDC), will be conferred honorary awards for their contributions to journalism, good governance, rule-of-law and the rights of girls and women as human rights in Nigeria.“