Emeka Odogwu, Chairman of the NUJ, Anambra State Council
By Magnus Aluma
Chairman of the Anambra State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Dr Emeka Odogwu, has called on journalists in the southeast zone of Nigeria to always stand by the truth and ensure stories are thoroughly investigated before going to press.
Dr Odogwu made the call in an interview with NewsBits, shortly after a memorial lecture in honour of late veteran journalist and broadcaster, Senator Anyim Ude, held in Enugu, Southeast of Nigeria. He charged practicing journalists in the southeast zone, to imbibe the culture of punctuality, honesty and investigative journalism as exemplified by life of late veteran journalist.
He said: “I enjoin my colleagues who are still active in the field, to borrow from the legacy of the late journalist and broadcaster. He never joked with time, he lived for the truth and had always insisted that a news material be well investigated before publishing.”
Dr Odogwu encouraged media practitioners, to concentrate more on positive and developmental journalism, while insisting that facts must be verified and confirmed to be credible enough, before dishing them out to public as news.
He said: “the era of negative journalism is over as it is obvious that this can only pull an entire system down. It is time for us in the media, to help in nation building and I believe that our reports can do a lot in this regard.”
