Report issues that would improve lives of people with disabilities, Stallion Times tasks journalists

A Non-Governmental Organization, Stallion Times, has tasked journalists in Nigeria to report issues that would help to improve the lives of people living with disabilities, PwDs. 

The Chief Executive Officer and Editor-In-Chief, Stallion Times Media Services Limited, Isiyaku Ahmed, made the appeal today, Thursday June 2 during “a one-day training workshop on disability reporting in the media”, organized for journalists in  Kogi State. 

Our Kogi State Correspondent reports that Ahmed, explained that the training was necessary, because of the common and negative stereotypes of persons with disabilities, which have penetrated the public, the media and the governance eco-system in Kogi and other states of Nigeria. 

He noted that the broad objective of the training was targeted at promoting reports that would focused on Disability, to gain prominence in the mainstream media and ultimately influence National action towards people living with disabilities.

Ahmed, stated: "With all the challenges the media faces in terms of funding and poor capacity, the media is in a unique position to reshape the public image and improve the living condition of persons with disabilities, through research and proper reporting of critical issues that affect disabilities in Nigeria”.

He maintained that, journalists have a role to play in the media space, to professionally increase representation of PwDs and reinforce positive thinking, rather than portray PwDs in stigmatizing ways as objects of pity, or as mere statistics. 

"It is in view of this and in recognition of your contribution towards promoting Gender and Social Inclusion in governance and driving professionalism in the media space, that we have invited you to this knowledge transfer training, share experience, participate actively, learn and report these issues to make the society a better place for the minority and marginalized groups. 

"The idea of this training, is to provoke positive action that would amplify and make good issues of disability in Kogi state and Nigeria through investigative reports. The goal is to build the capacity of media practitioners in disability conclusive reporting, with the hope that it will be brought to the forefront to prompt government action for improved service delivery", he said.

Ahmed noted that the training was under the Participatory Governance and Media Literacy project tagged, “Get Involved, Dialogue and Improve (G-DRIP)” being implemented by Stallion Times Media Service in Kano and Kogi states. 

The G-DRIP according to him, is in collaboration with the Wole Soyinka Center for Investigative Journalism, under the Collaborative Media Project (Collaborating for media independence and government accountability) with support from the MacArthur Foundation. 

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