You practice churnalism, not journalism- Media expert, Ajibola Amzat knocks Nigerian journalists

A media expert, Ajibola Amzat, has identified why journalism practice in Nigeria, has failed to meet the modern trend across the globe, saying what is practiced in the country is churnalism, not journalism.

Our Kogi State Correspondent, reports that Amzat spoke during day- two of the retreat/ training workshop on investigative journalism, organized by National Record, with support from MacArthur Foundation, through Wole Soyinka Center for Investigative Journalism.

Amzat, who is the Africa Editor, Center for Collaborative Investigative Journalism, CCIJ, lamented that practicing journalists in Nigeria, have derailed from the conventional practice of getting evidence to back reports, to focusing on information given by a third party, without any iota of journalistic truth.

The media exponent, who spoke on the topic, ‘Procedure and Techniques of Evidence-Driven Reporting’, described evidence as an important tools, to remain relevant in the media realm.

While describing most practice among the conventional media in Nigeria as 'churnalism and not journalism', Amzat posited that, journalism is the best tool to sharpen Nigeria democracy.

"Most journalism practice today are public relations. They just give them information, package it to Nigerians, without verifying them. All the things we package as news, have no basis of fact checking.

"Journalists holds a powerful tool to correct wrong data that has been put out to the public. Always question authorities’ methodology to know if the data they are releasing contains falsehood. Journalists must have a questioning mind. Question everything. Doubt everything given, until someone provide the truth. Never stop querying your data", he stated.

For practicing journalists in Nigeria to stop playing into the gallery of reporting information hook-line and sinker, without any proper evidence to back up their claims, Amzat suggested that, they must embark on consistent research, conduct interviews, observe, obtain verifiable documents, conduct survey and report their findings, without bias.

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