BY CHARLES NWABARDI
The Chairman of Delta State Independent Electoral Commission (DESIEC), Chief Mike Ogbodu has assured Deltans that everything has been put in place to ensure a free and fair Local Government elections slated for March 6, 2021, as he urged journalists to abide by the ethics of their profession by eschewing bias and emotions in their reportage.
The DESIEC chairman said this while declaring open a workshop tagged “ETHICAL JOURNALISM: AN INDISPENSIBLE ASSET FOR EFFECTIVE COVERAGE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS” organized by the Delta State Independent Electoral Commission (DESIEC) in collaboration with the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Delta State Council held today at the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (The Bureaucrat House) Hall, Maryam Babangida Way, Asaba Delta State, Nigeria.
Earlier, in his speech, the head of DESIEC Corporate Affairs appealed to the journalists (participants) present to report the forth-coming Delta State Local Government elections without bias and emotions.
He emphasized that the workshop is not by default but deliberate as it was to ensure that members of the Fourth Estate of the realm were well equipped with all that it would take to report the Local Government elections.
Speaking further, Umukoro reiterated the need to ensure that journalists report in line with the ethics of their profession while also building good working relationship with DESIEC in ensuring free and fair Local Government elections in Delta State.
The organized workshop featured two Resource persons Dr. Emmanuel Akpovweta of Mass Communication Department of Delta State Polytechnic, Ogwashi-uku and Dr. Emmanuel Ufuophu-Biri, Mass Communication Department, Delta State University, Abraka.
The Resource persons paper presentation dwelt more on reminding participants what they had known and encouraging them to uphold the ethics of their profession especially in reporting elections.
The Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Delta State Council, Comrade Mike Ikeogwu on behalf of himself and members of NUJ Delta State Council, expressed gratitude to DESIEC for organizing such important workshop as he gave the assurance of journalists unbiased and objective reportage during the forth-coming Local Government elections in Delta State.
Among those present were the Management Team of DESIEC and journalists that came from various media, print, electronic and social media