The meeting commenced with opening prayer by the Secretary of Media for Family Planning Plateau State, Mr. Godwin Moses.
Mr. Wika Gofwen the focal Person DevComs Plateau State and Media Officer Voice for family planning who presided over the session welcomed participants and Panelists mostly consisting of Chief- Executive Officers of five media outfits.
The theme for the Second Media Roundtable is “Family Planning Challenges: Role of the Media in Plateau State”.
The focal Person of DevCom earlier hinted that the media practitioners and team members of Media for Family Planning are serving as Advocates. He added that the objective of the round table is to have an in-depth and robust deliberations on the role of the media towards addressing the challenges of family planning in order to put issues in the right perspective.
On her part, the Chairperson of the group Gwamkat Gwamshi spoke on the gains of the recent training on resources mobilization and proposal writing organized by TCI, She employed all and sundry to put heads together by not only committing time but also physical appearance so as to leverage on opportunities out there to ensure the sustainability of the organization.
Dr. Philemon Mamza Yohanna, the State Coordinator of The Challenge Initiatives (TCI) applauded the group for its passion for reportage of Childbirth spacing stressing that three members of the group were trained by TCI at the capacity building exercise at Abuja. He reiterated the essence of the business unusual model noting that sustainability of the group through funding is of utmost importance and hence the need for the aforementioned training.
The Panelists were representative of the General Manager Plateau Publishing Company Mr. Katdapba Gobum, Martha Asumata Agas who represented the Zonal Director, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Suleiman Hassan who represented the General Manager Unity FM/TV and Friday Bako, a Senior Reporter with Viewpoint Nigeria while Mr. Wika Gofwen the Focal Person DevComs Plateau State and Media Officer Voice for Family Planning moderated the panel discussion.
Speaking to the participants, the General Manager of Plateau Publishing Company Mr. Boniface Gwotbit represented by Mr. Katdapba Gobum underscored the fact that people in the society are not comfortable with the word “Childbirth spacing” making the choice of words key. He insisted that changing reporters handling or assigned to certain beats, kills initiatives and moral of the reporters noting that reporters must be proficient and specialists in what they do (reporting their beat). He further pointed out that Journalist must be conversant with the terminologies used in respect to specific issues under consideration else the report will end up confusing the public.
The Zonal Director, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Jos zone, Abdullahi Yusuf speaking through Martha Asumata Agas affirmed that building terminologies is an integral part of the media advocacy and that the choice of words can’t be overemphasized since we are living in a multi-cultural and religious Nation.
The Editor-in-Chief of a New Media Outfit- View Point, and Public Relations Officer of Media for Family Planning, Mr. Friday Bako who spoke passionately on Childbirth spacing said since the society depend on the media for information it behoves on the media play it role as the watchdog. The media being an intermediary between the health experts and the public should report the extent of challenges, progress on health facilities, and translate and simplify the terminologies used in the Childbirth spacing procedures. He added that the media should target the Teenagers in the rural areas with a view to timely educate and change their mindsets concerning childbirth spacing. According to him budget line, human capital development, structures are key to sustainability of childbirth spacing as well as yielding the desired results which in turn counter myths and misconceptions.
Suleiman Hassan who represented the General Manager Unity FM /TV also pointed out that religion and culture have being sources of challenges towards child birth spacing in some communities insisting that culture is dynamic and there’s need for media to educate people in order to dispel myths and misconception that “childbirth spacing is against a certain religion and therefore, it’s a subtle way to control population”; instead its economical and societal benefits are all encompassing. He further stated that engaging religious leaders is necessary.
The following outcomes and gains were outlined;
1. Ignorance/illiteracy has been identified as a cause or menaced to the childbirth spacing
2. The need to engage the growing population particularly the teenagers in the rural communities with a view to timely get the message across.
3. Change in mindset is one of the effective tools in driving the Childbirth spacing programme.
5. Convincing the male folks to accompany their spouses to hospitals especially during child birth will to a large extent help them to make informed decisions concerning childbirth spacing.
5. The media is urged to spur government to do more in terms of budget by playing the role of watchdog.
6. The organization can develop a blueprint on how to effectively reach out to the targeted public which the government can buy in.
5. The media was advised to always use the right words in communicating to avoid confusion.
6. The Media Practitioners were charged to be more strategic and provoke a positive mindset change in the society.
7. Investigative Journalism was said to be vital in positive mindset change.
8. The need to give attention to adolescents in terms of strategic awareness on childbirth spacing to prepare them as they step into reproductive age was harped.
9. It was agreed that capacity building for media practitioners on childbirth spacing is vital.
10. While the media was commended for its role in disseminating information on Family Planning, there was call for improvement through robust media engagements to sensitize and educate the people on Child Spacing.
Nigeria Star News 