Speaking during the formal launch of Nigeria’s foremost association of publishers of online newspapers, the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP) on Thursday, October 22, Mr Adesina stated that many Nigerians still wait for the print media to publish their stories on the pages of the newspapers before they believe what they read online.
According to the special adviser to the President, people don’t trust what they read on the internet because:
1. many of the news on the internet are concocted
2. most of the news websites make use of foul languages in their reports
3. many news published online are based on falsehood.
Adesina added that for the public to trust what they read online that GOCOP needs to separate the bad publishers from the good ones.
He said: “Nobody can ignore online publishing because it can lift or pull down a government. But we must always realise that we have the good, the bad and the ugly among us.
“Right now so many people don’t trust online media because of the reliability of the news they read on the internet. That is why they wait for the traditional media before they believe what they read online. We need to make our light shine for people to see us as agents of change and national development.”
He implored online publishers not to see the liberty they enjoy in digital journalism as a license to publish falsehood, adding that GOCOP should serve as checks and balances, peer review and correct members when they are doing something wrong.
“The formation of GOCOP is a duty to separate the bad publishers from the good publishers so that the bad ones won’t drive the good ones from the business.
“The present government is ready to work with GOCOP as long as publishers adhere to tenets of journalism. Online media can criticise government but they need not to be adversaries of the government,” Mr Adesina said.
No comments:
Post a Comment