The third edition of the Online Publishers Association of Nigeria (OPAN) Annual New Media Conference will hold at the Sandralia Hotel, Abuja, on Wednesday 16, January 2019, Austyn Ogannah, OPAN President has announced. OPAN is an umbrella body for organizations in digital media to maintain standards and best practice in the digital media industry.
A statement from the OPAN boss said the theme of this year’s conference is: Free Press and Objective Reporting in the 2019 Election year. The one-day conference, according to him will provide a platform for interaction between new media practitioners, publishers, bloggers, social media influencers and government and state institutions on issues bothering on legal and regulatory frameworks for reporting elections, corruption in elections, ethics and professionalism in reporting elections in Nigeria and the independence and media literacy of the judicial system. The Conference will also look at conflict sensitiveness and hate speech, the dangers of fake news in a multi-ethnic society in an election year, digitally reporting election results, the social media and INEC rules, among other topics.
Ogannah said top officials including vice presidential candidates of the two leading political parties – Vice President Yemi Osinbajo SAN (APC), Mr. Peter Obi (PDP), INEC chairman, Mr. Mahmood Yakubu, EFCC Chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, candidates of other political parties, lawmakers, lawyers, and representatives from civil society groups and the judiciary will participate at the conference.
