We are swarmed every minute with electoral reporting that moves from the truth to untruth, misinformation, disinformation, sensationalism, and outright lies.

The mass media plays a central role in the electoral process. It is the means by which the election management body; the contestants (parties and candidates); the electorate; campaigners and even the security agencies pass or receive information of a public nature on the election.

The media space has therefore provided the highest number of sources of information during elections. The media also benefits a lot from the electoral process in terms of content, the audience following, adverts, and sponsorship.

Like every profession, media work comes with a code of conduct and ethics, which must be adhered to. Those who report therefore must do so responsibly.

Sadly, with the liberalization of the media space and the power of the internet, any and everybody with a smartphone and access to the internet has become a reporter, an editor, and a publisher of ‘news’, no matter their level of knowledge and motivation.

We are therefore swarmed every minute with reportage that moves from the truth to untruth, misinformation, disinformation, sensationalism, and outright lies.

Although there is or ought to be a difference between regular media and social media in terms of professionalism, standards, and content, the lines seem increasingly blurred. No thanks to the drive for breaking news, to trend, and to capture the market, the basic tenets of reporting get thrown overboard.

Sadly again, many times, social media information sharing even drives the contents of the regular media and sets the agenda for them. This leads to the ubiquitous live phone-in discussions, news analysis, in-depth reports, interviews etc., which may be based on a totally false report or narrative. Talking about narrative, I am always reminded of what I learned in my photojournalism class about 35 years ago that: “photographs don’t lie but they can be used to tell a lie”.

Many times, therefore, I am faced with, presented with, and inundated with photos or videos which may be factual but the person reporting it has mischievously used them to tell a false narrative. As one who puts a premium on the truth, given my professional backgrounds and the nature of my work, I find myself always pointing out those errors. I daresay, it doesn’t particularly make me loved by all in those spaces where I point out the falsehood because many don’t like their bubbles being burst.

There is therefore a need to strengthen professionalism. And this begs the question: how many TRAINED and certified professionals are actually involved in media work/reportage?

It is important for media workers (reporters, commentators, analysts, editors, publishers and entrepreneurs etc.) to be knowledgeable about basic facts and information within the subject area of their coverage, in this case, elections and electoral activities. They should arm themselves with the Constitution, the Electoral Act, and the regulations, guidelines, timetable and deadlines issued by the electoral management body (EMB).

Journalists should know the rules concerning qualifications and determination of winners as well as the electoral cycle and processes. They should know the basic electoral terms and their meanings. These terms include the different kinds of elections such as primary, general election, run-off, re-run, bye-election and supplementary election.

The journalists should know that it is not every claim and statement made by politicians and stakeholders in the electoral process that qualifies to be reported, especially when they know them to be manifestly false. They should take steps to crosscheck or verify facts from relevant sources before reporting.

While interviewing, journalists should be careful not to allow their personal interests to get in the way and expose them as biased. Journalists should avoid slanting the news and be careful of being used to plant ‘news’.

Above all, every journalist should endeavour to be professional and sound it.

• Effanga, a journalist and lawyer, is INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in Edo State.