Editor-in-Chief of Stallion Times and Project Coordinator of G-DRIP
To improve their investigative reporting skills, Stallion Times on September 14, 2023, trained 40 journalists on data journalism, and media standards through its project “Get Involved, Dialogue and Improve (G-DRIP)”.
Mr. Isiyaku Ahmed, Editor-in-Chief of Stallion Times and Project Coordinator of G-DRIP told participants in his welcome remarks that: data journalists use numerical data, digital information, and online analytics to discover and write stories, adding “Through the use of technology and software programmes, journalists can develop and include infographics and data visualizations to develop a report’s narrative.”
Isiyaku said it is not in spreadsheets alone that journalists can find information worthy of the news, saying “Other data acquisition methods include website scraping, filing freedom of information requests, hunting and gathering different complex data formats.”
Making his presentation on Media Standards, Isiyaku explained that Media standards comprise codes of ethics and good practices applicable to broadcasters and print journalists.
He stated that: “A professional journalist understands these standards and judiciously applies them in his day-to-day work and reportage.”
The editor called on journalists to promote anti-corruption, gender and social inclusion, and transparency and accountability.
Isah Ali Musa, a Research Scholar, at Digital Forensic Research Lab. Atlantic Council, took the participants through the process of data gathering, analysis, and visualization of data in storytelling.
Isah said data journalism, which represented facts, would aid the public to get the right information that they could use to hold the government accountable.
The training was carried out under the Collaborative Media Engagement for Development, Inclusion and Accountability (CMEDIA) Project, a multi-level intervention that supports media independence, improved transparency, accountability, and good governance in state and local governments with more public awareness on the need for accountability, and amplified marginalised voices. The three-year project is being implemented with support from the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) and is funded by the MacArthur Foundation.
