WikkiTimes, a Bauchi-based online media outlet on Thursday organized a one-day training for 20 bloggers and broadcast journalists across different media organizations on Data, Investigative and the use of Open Source Intelligence Methods of investigation to unravel corruption and hold power to account.
The training, held at the Nigeria Union of Journalists’ Secretariat in Bauchi, had participants from print, broadcast and online news platforms in the state in attendance.
During the training, participants were exposed to the rudiments of investigative and data journalism as well as the use of Open Source Intelligence OSINT methods of investigation to unearth corruption and hold power to account at the grassroots levels.
The training also culminated in a formal partnership and collaboration between WikkiTimes and the selected bloggers.
The Founder and Publisher of WikkiTimes Haruna Mohammed Salisu, during the training, said; “The idea of this training is to build the capacity of the bloggers and other journalists; which we believe will help them to expose corruption, particularly at the subnational level.
“We believe that the mainstream media have deserted local communities; it is our duty to fill that gap and the only way we would properly unearth corruption and hold power to account is when we have the commensurate expertise and skills”, he said.
WikkiTimes Trains 30 Northeast Journalists On Grassroots Accountability Reporting
Mr. Salisu argued that for leaders to be held accountable, journalists must devise means of unearthing scandals and accessing useful data.
“And that is why we are interested about Open Source Intelligence Method of investigation that will enable journalists to deploy a whole range of skills to exhume and report corruption”, he added.
Civic Media Lab Partners WikkiTimes, Trains 30 Journalists in Bauchi
Eniola Abioye a Blogger and one of the participants said the training put her on her toes to commit herself to report stories that will uncover the hidden facts for public consumption.
“I gained a lot, I now know how to trace money eaten by some people while others are suffering as well as how to be an objective journalist by making balanced stories”.
In his remark, the Chairman, Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Bauchi State chapter, Comrade Umar Sa’id, commended WikkiTimes for its routine training of journalists to equip them with data gathering tactics, which according to him is indispensable in the current trend of the profession.
Comrade Sa’id urged the participants to support and collaborate with WikkiTimes by actively attending routine pieces of training the platform usually organizes.
Recall that WikkiTimes in partnership with the Wole Soyinka Center for Investigative Journalism (WCIJ) with funding from the MacArthur Foundation, in late May also trained over 30 journalists selected from the Northeast on grassroots accountability reporting, held in Gombe, Gombe State.
