As part of efforts to upskill journalists and improve the quality of financial reportage in the country, Polaris bank yesterday organised a one-day media training designed to furnish journalists and media practitioners with the latest techniques in the field.
The training which held in Lagos had seasoned Journalist and business expert, Akin Olaniyan who drilled the journalists on delivering a well-balanced and effective report especially as it concerns the sensitive nature of the financial space.
Delivering an inciteful lecture tagged, ‘Reporting Finance in a Depressed Economy’ Olaniyan while using Nigeria’s current economy reality as a case study highlighted some variables that journalists and media practitioners must pay attention to in order to deliver an effective reportage.
While also admitting some of the challenges journalists face on the job which includes media ownership structure, lack of capacity, poor renumeration, regulatory issues, ethnoreligious considerations among others, he noted that these factors affect the quality of their reports,
However, he beckoned that they maintained the ethical values of journalism practice as one single skewed publication could have a devastating impact on its audience, companies and organizations and even the economy country.
He commended the management of Polaris bank for organising the training while adding that continious and on-the-job training of reporters such as this would help them learn and relearn as well as to boost their capacity in delivery of their jobs.
On his part, Sheriff Adekoya, the DG of Edgeforth business solution and brand strategy firm who lectured on “Media Intelligence and Strategy” gave an insight on how technology can be effectively harnessed in journalism, advertising and branding.
According to him, technology is moving at a very fast pace, rapidly shaping our daily activities and journalist and media practitioners alike are expected to hijack the opportunity to innovate and explore new ideas or be swept under the bus in a constantly changing world.
He stressed that journalists who were particular about brand journalism needed to create a unique pattern in their style of writing and that a deep understanding of the brand and product that they wish to promote would enable them create brand believability among their target audience.
The Group Head, Strategies, Brand Management of Polaris bank Ndumeche Ezurike urged the participants to embrace the knowledge acquired from the training to improve on their jobs for the benefit of the society at large and to be conscious of their corporate social responsibility as journalists.
The Sun Newspaper