As the world today marked the 2020 World Press Freedom Day, the President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Mr. Chris isiguzo has called on the Nigerian journalists to work assiduously towards promoting ethical journalism without fear or favour.
Isiguzo who made this call in his message to Nigerian journalists to mark this year’s edition of the World Press Freedom Day with the theme “Journalism without Fear or Favour” reiterated that that no democracy can grow and flourish without a vibrant independent media that would be a catalyst for good governance and rule of law.
“It is in this regard that today, we celebrate Nigerian Journalists for promoting independent journalism practice despite myriad of challenges”, he said.
He noted with disdain the issue of safety and security of Journalists in the country which had not significantly improved but rather continued to impact negatively on good journalism.
According to him, “It is regrettably that politicians and political office holders and agents of the state are increasingly initiating actions against Journalists which include physical assault and detention all with the sole aim of inducing fear, thus restricting quality independent practice.
“We enjoin journalists on this auspicious ocassion of the 2020 World Press Freedom Day, to work assiduously towards promoting ethical journalism without fear and without any favour.”
The NUJ President recalled that May 3 every year was set aside to celebrate the fundamental principles of press freedom; to evaluate press freedom around the world, to defend the media from attacks on their independence and to pay tribute to journalists who had lost their lives in the exercise of their profession.
He added that this year, the NUJ joined the rest of the world in observing the day with the theme, “Journalism without Fear or Favour”, to focus on taking action to secure independent journalism which he said was one of the fundamental principles of the Windhoek Declaration.
“We salute Nigerian Journalists for their courage and professionalism and call on them to sustain and improve on their professional calling”, he stated.
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