A Journalism lecturer at the Lagos State University (LASU), Dr. Ganiyat Tijani-Adenle has called on journalism teachers to contribute to the growth of Islamic media in Nigeria.
Dr. Adenle-Tijani made the call on Wednesday while speaking at the ‘Islam and the Media’ webinar (Series 1), commemorating the second anniversary of Muslim News Nigeria.
The webinar, themed; ‘Survival of Islamic Media Institutions: Reflections from Nigeria’, was attended by 400 participants from across the world while thousands of netizens watched it on live broadcast via the official Facebook page of Muslim News, Nigeria’s most authoritative Islamic newspaper.
The former reporter with Voice of Nigeria (VON) said their contribution will assist all future journalists regardless of their faith to respect values of objectivity, balance and fairness.
According to her, Journalism teachers can also help the students to become role models and find their feet in the industry. More importantly, we also need to guide them back to Allah and alert them of their responsibilities to Islam.
Dr. Adenle-Tijani, during her power point presentation revealed that though there is no element of Islamic journalism in the media curriculum, her colleagues can mainstream it in the teaching of specialised reporting and other reporting courses, including courses like media and society.
She said, “Besides, the media curriculum just got edited and courses are many and we can’t stand alone courses for every issue. Students will be overwhelmed. What can be done is for journalism teachers, especially the Muslims among them to include Islamic journalism during specialised reporting classes.”
The multiple award winning media personality noted that there is no doubt that the Nigerian media are largely anti-Islam and unfair to Muslims, calling on Muslims to rise up to the occasion and change the status quo.
Buttressing her point, Dr. Adenle-Tijani referenced Qur’an 13:11 where Allah said He (SWT) would not change the condition of some people until they take up the challenge themselves.
She argued that young Muslims should be trained and mentored in the profession, alluding to the phrase “catch them young”, opining however that their welfare should be catered for in order to encourage them.
Dr. Adenle-Tijani urged Journalism teachers to be role models to their students and educate them on the need to be objective and fair, adding that the consequences of biased reportorial are severe.
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