…Engages Stakeholders on Strengthening Human Rights Advocacy in Gombe State
By Imrana Sulaiman Maikanti & Yunusa Isa, Gombe
In an effort to foster peace, unity and religious tolerance amongst diverse communities in Gombe State, TEKAN Peace Desk and the Centre for Community Actions for Peace and Development through their Faith for Peace (F4P) Project co-funded by the European Union and Bread for the World have organized a capacity-building workshop for journalists in Gombe aimed at promoting ethical reporting in conflict-sensitive situations.
The capacity building session was designed to equip media professionals with practical skills to report on sensitive issues responsibly, without exacerbating tensions.
The event brought together journalists from various media organisations across the state for the intensive training session focused on ethical and constructive reporting during conflicts.
In her opening remarks, the programme coordinator, Madam Helen Philemon Haggai, highlighted that the workshop was intended to provide journalists with the necessary skills to cover conflict in a way that helps to de-escalate tensions rather than inflame them.
“Our goal is to strengthen the capacity of journalists to become agents of peace. The way conflict is reported can either aggravate or help resolve it. We want to ensure the media serves as a tool for peacebuilding,” Haggai stated.
The first session, facilitated by media practitioner James D. Mannok, addressed key issues such as fact-checking, avoiding misinformation, and the dangers of profiling in conflict reporting. Mannok emphasised that conflict coverage must be grounded in accuracy, verification of facts, and mindful of language use.
He warned that profiling conflict parties to specific ethnic, religious, or social groups could provoke further violence, promote stigmatization, and compromise journalistic integrity.
“Profiling dehumanises individuals and paints entire communities with the brush of a few. It breaches the ethics of fairness and objectivity,” Mannok said.
To avoid such pitfalls, he urged journalists to focus on individuals’ actions rather than their identities, steer clear of sweeping generalisations, and always verify claims before publishing.
The second session, led by Hauwa Musa, centred on gender-sensitive approaches to conflict reporting. She noted that women and children are often the most common victims in conflict situations, yet their voices are frequently under-represented in media narratives.
“Gender-sensitive reporting means giving voice to all sides, especially the marginalised groups,” Musa explained. “It also involves recognising how conflict impacts people differently depending on gender, and ensuring that coverage neither reinforces harmful stereotypes nor excludes female perspectives.”
She encouraged journalists to deliberately include women’s experiences and viewpoints in their reportage and to be mindful of gendered language that may perpetuate discrimination.
The project has equally organized a similar session for stakeholders on Strengthening Human Rights Advocacy in Gombe State, to improve their advocacy planning skills and strategies to effectively attain set targets.
Participants expressed appreciation for the trainings, noting that the knowledge gained would enhance their professional practice and support peacebuilding efforts in Gombe and beyond.
They assured to put the knowledge into use in their daily reportage.
The Faith for Peace Project is being implemented by TEKAN Peace Desk in six communities of three local government areas (Ɓilliri, Kwami and Yamaltu-Deba) of Gombe State, with support from Bread for the World and the European Union.