2027: IPC urges media to dump event-driven coverage for issue-based reporting

2027: IPC urges media to dump event-driven coverage for issue-based reporting

As the 2027 general elections draw nearer, the International Press Centre (IPC) has called on media practitioners to look beyond event-driven electoral coverage to issue-based and citizen-centred reporting.

Dr Lanre Arogundade, the centre’s Executive Director, made the call in Kano on Monday, during a one-day training organised under Component 4 (Support to Media) of the European Union Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria (EU-SDGN III) Programme.

Represented by the IT and Social Media Officer, Abiodun Adeleke, Arogundade said beyond reporting political activities and electoral events, the media had a responsibility to facilitate informed public discourse and scrutinise political promises.

Others, he said, were holding public officials accountable, and ensuring that citizens’ voices were heard in the democratic process.

According to him, as the country gradually approaches another general election cycle, there is a compelling need for the media to reflect on its responsibilities.

“Reassess its approaches to electoral reporting, and strengthen its capacity to provide citizens with credible, balanced, inclusive, and public-interest information. The media occupies a strategic position in any democratic society.

“Beyond reporting political activities and electoral events, the media has a responsibility to facilitate informed public discourse, scrutinise political promises, hold public officials accountable, and ensure that citizens’ voices are heard in the democratic process.

“However, the effectiveness of this responsibility depends significantly on the quality of electoral reporting,” he said.

According to him, an election period characterised by sensationalism, unverified claims, inflammatory rhetoric, and the unchecked spread of misinformation and disinformation can undermine public confidence, deepen social divisions, and weaken democratic institutions.

“Conversely, a media environment that prioritises accuracy, fairness, verification, conflict-sensitive reporting, and accountability can strengthen public trust and contribute to peaceful, credible, and inclusive elections.

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“This is why we must begin to look beyond event-driven electoral coverage towards more substantive, issue-based, and citizen-centred reporting,” the executive director noted.

Arogundade said the interface came at a particularly significant moment in the nation’s democratic journey.

“Elections are not merely about political campaigns, rallies, candidates, and the eventual announcement of results.

“They are also about citizens, their aspirations, their concerns, their expectations of leadership, and their right to make informed decisions about the future of their country.

“It is against this background that the International Press Centre considers this interface both timely and necessary,” Arogundade said.

Also speaking, Dr Ruquayyah Aliyu, an Associate Professor with the Department of Information and Media Studies, Bayero University Kano (BUK), said the media should change its mode of reportage and treat election as a holistic process, not a one-off event.

She said that the media is not a passive observer, but the success of every election depends on the performance of the media.

Earlier, a fact-checker with Nigeria Democratic Report (NDR), Olusola Oludiran, said the training was to arm media practitioners with tools to combat false information, misinformation and disinformation.

“Especially as the information space becomes overloaded with diverse claims, artificial intelligence images, among others,”  Oludiran said.