Bayo Onanuga, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, has urged editors of the News Agency of Nigeria to fact-check news reports before publication.
The former Managing Director of NAN, spoke at the agency’s 5th Editorial Management Retreat on Tuesday in Kaduna.
In a paper presentation, tagged: “A subscriber’s expectation of NAN copy,” he analysed some news contents of the agency, highlighting the weaknesses and strengths.
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According to Onanuga, NAN copies are expected to be factual, detailed, contemporaneous, relevant and be delivered in good time.
He said the agency, with its wide network of correspondents, was expected to be the news leader in supplying timely news about Nigeria, Africa and the world in the best of journalism tradition.
He, however, said that many competent journalists had exited the agency, resulting in a vacuum that needed to be filled.
Onanuga said: “Journalists retire when they clock 60 years or 35 years of service.
“NAN lost many good competent hands in this way.”