By
Cece Fadope
Now that news reporting is no longer
simply a matter of journalists deciding what they think the public needs to
know, the mainstream media must make the shift from just reporting about news
events to exploring ideas that move the audience to think and act.
Nowhere is that more true than in
health coverage, where locally relevant engagement with the news can help
individuals and communities identify their health priorities and have a
conversation, offline and online, about solutions that can make a difference in
their lives. Civil society organizations should be key partners in the effort
to engage and inform people about personal and public health.
The ICFJ/HALA
Nigeria Health Project, on which I collaborate as an ICFJ Knight International Journalism Fellow, aims
to strengthen news reporting in Nigeria that helps people engage with and act
on health information.
As my HALA colleagues and I prepared to
launch the project in the spring, I visited and spoke with representatives of
several health-focused civil society organizations based in Abuja and Lagos,
the country’s two largest cities. I've also talked with many reporters around
the country. The two groups share important goals, and it’s time for them to
join forces to raise news coverage and conversations about health to a higher
level.
The media’s role in improving health
information and outcomes
The media are essential for empowering
the public with information about health. According to a recent ICFJ/HALA
Nigeria health project survey report, most Nigerians get their health
information from news media. So journalists have a duty to be credible and
responsible handling information presented to the public.
But in Nigeria and other parts of
Africa where most reporters are poorly paid, they often feel justified in
taking shortcuts by accepting and using ready-made content from health advocacy
groups. Here are some ideas about how to change that.
Civil society’s role
For their part, health advocacy groups
are often eager to “get the word out” about their focus issue, validate the
importance of their issues of concern, or impress their donors by getting
stories placed in the media. To simplify the process, they often provide
ready-made content to reporters, complete with quotes from their own officers.
Such outreach to journalists and news
organizations can seem like a win-win for everyone. Overworked, underpaid
reporters get easy content. Civil society groups get their content and message
out via the media. The question is whether the citizens are well-served by such
pre-packaged information.
They aren't. The information goes just
one way, instead of involving people and communities to find solutions to
public health problems. The content is also sometimes one-dimensional. Using
ready-made content in place of original and factual reporting can undermine the
credibility of reporters and news organizations that use it.
Use ready-made content as a starting
point, not as a news story
Reporters should not accept
pre-packaged information wholesale. When ready-made content is published as
news because of the provider’s expertise on a subject, reporters may compromise
the public trust.
Ready-made content isn't without value.
It can be useful as a starting point for a story. It can include leads to relevant
sources of information. And it can help save time by pointing an angle for the
story especially when it involves breaking news. Journalists can moderate spin
by probing the underlying news value and seeking out more than one source
before publishing any information provided by health advocacy groups.
Move beyond “getting the word out"
Development reporting doesn't need to
take the form of prepackaged news, event stories, or spin as it so often does
in the region.
Instead, civil society and news media
interests can converge around information that connects the public with locally
relevant information. Together, media and civil society groups can engage in
the public in talking about and improving health care systems and services.
Civil society organizations can
strengthen news reporting by facilitating access to senior health professionals
and champions, not just government officials and medical doctors who are the
preferred news sources for Nigerian health reporters. Civil society can also
facilitate media access to data that can help provide context on important
health stories.
The news media and civil society groups
should work together to provide deeper information to the public and to make it
easier for all of us to talk about what works—and what doesn't—in improving
health.
Cece Fadope is an ICFJ Knight International Journalism Fellow in Nigeria.
Photo of Hala Nigeria workshop courtesy
of Cece Fadope.
Source: Ijnet.org
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