The Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism has picked Thursday, 10 November 2022 for the public presentation of its Civic Space Guard media monitoring report titled, ‘Hushed voices and the media’s defence of the civic space.’
This was made known in a statement signed by the CEO of the organization, Mrs. Motunrayo Alaka, saying that report which evaluated civic space infractions as reported in the media, is a section of the Civic Space Guard Project which was launched in December 2012 with support from a number of foundations
“The report, which assesses civic space infractions in Nigeria as reported in the media over a decade (2012-2022), is a component of the Civic Space Guard project launched in December 2021 with support from the Luminate Group, MacArthur Foundation, Ford Foundation and the Open Society Foundations-Africa (OSF-Africa).”
Alaka stated that the organization established the report to give room for conversations on the threats posed at the civic space in Nigeria and also to enhance the role of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), especially the media as guardians of the civic space.
“WSCIJ developed the report to raise conversations on the threats to the civic space in Nigeria and reinforce the role of civil society organisations (CSOs), particularly the media as protectors of civic space. Through the media monitoring efforts, infractions were analysed to gauge the occurrence and identify its forms (violent and non-violent), perpetrators, victims/survivors, scenes of incidents and other variables to present the state of civic space in Nigeria.”
The statement further revealed some guests and stakeholders expected to contribute at the event, some of which include, Zainab Okino- Chairman, Editorial board of BluePrint Newspaper, Yemi Adamolekun- executive director of Enough is Enough and Mary Fatile of Radio Nigeria, Lagos Operations, Abiodun Omotosho of Nigerian Pilot newspaper and Amara Nwankpa who is the Director Public Policy Initiative at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua
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According to her, the event is open to journalists, lawyers and many more Attendance at the event is open to journalists, human rights activists, lawyers, security agencies, ministries, departments, civil society organisations and other stakeholders operating within the civic space.
The Civic Space Guard project was designed to fortify the position of the media as an independent protector of the civic space by hosting conversations, carrying out media monitoring on the status of the civic space and rewarding reward reporters who investigate, calling out the impunity of members of the armed forces.