2015: Ekpu advocates code for poll coverage for journalists

Veteran journalist, Ray Ekpu, on Friday advocated the establishment of electoral coverage code to ensure fairness for all contestants ahead of the 2015 general elections.
Ekpu made the call in a paper entitled: :Media and Society: Imperative for Reporting,” presented at the 10th All Nigerian Editors Conference in Katsina.
Ekpu said that the code would make the media accountable to the people.
He said that a committee comprising representatives of the Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria, the Nigerian Guild of Editors, the Nigeria Union of Journalists, some NGOs and the Independent National Electoral Commission should be set up to come up with the proposed code.
“We need such a code to enhance our credibility, improve our coverage of the campaigns and elections and help our democracy to grow,” he said.
He cautioned journalists against accepting bribes and other forms of gratifications from political parties and contestants before or after elections.
In her presentation, a human rights activist, Ayo Obe, said that transparency and good governance would help to sustain democracy in Nigeria.
Obe, who spoke in a paper entitled: “Good Governance as a panacea for Sustainable Democracy,” said that credible, free and fair elections would also sustain democracy in the country.
She, however, observed that even some military regimes also ensure good governance, noting that good governance per se could not ensure sustainable democracy.
The activist expressed concern over the indiscriminate defection of political office holders in the country as well as the imposition of candidates by all the parties.