Nigeria Health Watch trains Kano journalists on ‘solution journalism’
By Uzair Adam Imam
An online media platform, Nigeria Health Watch, has organised a workshop on promoting media adoption on Solutions Journalism (SOJO) in Kano state.
The one-day workshop titled “Integrating Solutions Journalism Practices in Media Production in Kano State” took place Saturday, May 28, 2022, at the GearHub, 45 Lamido Crescent, Nassarawa GRA, in the state.
The intent of the workshop was said to equip participants with the knowledge, skills, and networks they would need to consciously discover and report stories about people’s responses to social issues in their news bulletins and other forms of reporting.
However, solutions journalism is understood to mean investigating and explaining how people try to solve widely shared problems.
The idea was reportedly aimed at adding rigorous coverage of solutions rather than just reporting problems as “responses to problems are also newsworthy”.
Speaking at the event, the convener, Misbahu El-Hamza, stated that there was a need for journalists to embrace solutions journalism (SOJO) instead of the normal way of just reporting issues.
However, El-Hamza lamented that many people resisted patronising news to escape heartbreaking reports that ended in scaring people.
The participants that graced the event included journalists from various media organisations from Kano State.