Media Rights Agenda (MRA) on Thursday announced the publication and official launch of a comprehensive new guide titled “Leveraging Digital Tools for Journalism Practice,” aimed at equipping journalists and other media professionals with essential knowledge and tools for modern-day reporting, investigation, and storytelling. According to Ms Ayomide Eweje, MRA’s Programme Officer and author of the 164-page guide, the publication identifies and explains how to use dozens of digital tools and technologies that can enhance the work of journalists across the entire gamut of the journalistic process, from news and information gathering, to news processing as well as news and information dissemination while also giving them cutting-edge tools to protect themselves, their sources of information, their devices and other journalistic materials. She said in a statement issued in Lagos that “The publication is a necessary response to the realities of journalism in a rapidly evolving digital age. It offers practical, hands-on information for journalists about various digital tools to enable them effectively navigate today’s fast-paced digital environment, covering tools for news gathering, fact-checking, cybersecurity, multimedia storytelling, audience engagement, countering misinformation and disinformation, online harassment, and surveillance.” Ms Eweje explained that the publication is also intended to equip journalists with the tools they need not just to survive, but to lead and innovate in their profession while safeguarding their rights, protecting their sources of information, and ensuring the integrity of their work.” She noted that over the past two decades, the tools, devices and platforms used in journalism have evolved at an extraordinary pace with the traditional reporting methods, across the entire spectrum of information gathering, processing and dissemination now being augmented by an ever-increasing array of digital tools for real-time communication and collaboration, multimedia storytelling, investigative research, verification and fact-checking, among others. These tools, Ms Eweje said, have boosted the capacity of journalists to report from remote locations, tell more compelling stories, and engage directly with audiences in ways that were previously unimaginable, although at the same time, they have introduced new layers of complexity and threats, forcing journalists to pay more attention to data privacy, online harassment, platform algorithms, and digital literacy as integral parts of their work. She argued that as journalism continues to evolve, so too must the knowledge, skills, mindsets and equipment of those who practice it, and urged journalists to use the guide and other resources to build their digital capacity and leverage all available digital tools and technological devices in all aspects of their professional practice. She also called on media organisations to invest in digital literacy programmes for their journalists and, where necessary, provide them with financial resources to acquire the required facilities, since not all the tools and devices are available free of charge. In the Preface to the publication, MRA’s Executive Director, Mr. Edetaen Ojo, said: “For journalists, the digital era presents both unprecedented opportunities and significant challenges – from the ability to report stories in real time and reach global audiences or even previously marginalised communities, to navigating constantly evolving online threats, including surveillance, online harassment and trolling, hacking and account takeovers, misinformation, disinformation, deepfakes, and censorship, among others. Ms Eweje said MRA would make the guide available to media organisations and newsrooms, journalism training institutions, and media development organisations across Nigeria and the continent and also make it accessible on its website.
