For the 2019 edition of the Future News Worldwide Conference, three Nigerian reporters – Gabriel Ogunjobi, Daniel Whyte and Shola Lawal – were selected.
Messrs Ogunjobi and Whyte are freelance journalists. Mr Whyte, a final year student of Federal University of Oye, Ekiti.
Miss Lawal is a freelance journalist and filmmaker working throughout West Africa on social justice and environmental issues.
The conference was organized by the British Council and will be held at Reuters UK headquarters in Canary Wharf, London, on July 16 and 17.
Participants will receive exclusive coaching from world-leading editors, broadcasters, authors, and journalists, according to the organizers, and will see how publishers around the world use technology to discover stories and introduce them to life like never before.
“The programme centres around a two-day conference in London, with English as the working language. The conference offers aspiring young journalists opportunities to develop practical and editorial skills and hear directly from some of the world’s most high-profile industry leaders, with a mixture of talks, interactive panel sessions, workshops and hands-on experiences.”
“The aim is to support young people to develop a wide range of journalism skills and to establish the UK as a global leader in the nurturing of young journalists and media figures.”
However, delegates will be part of a worldwide alumni network throughout the year after the meeting, assisting them participate with each other, enforce their teaching and continue their professional development.
The participants who spoke with reporters expressed optimism and their opinions about how the conference will contribute to excellent journalism in Nigeria prior to their departure to London.
“Now, I am optimistic to maximise all that will be learnt to produce in-depth investigations to our storytelling such that will straighten our crooked paths in this profession and down to every facet of the country,” Mr Ogunjobi told this reporter.
“I think I will be better equipped to contribute to the fight against fake news in Nigeria as well as give a quality reportage of the underreported travails of victims of crises, insurgency among others prevalent in Nigeria,” Mr Whyte stated.
According to Miss Lawal, this edition’s lineup of workshops refers to the British Council’s dedication to enhancing journalism worldwide.
“We will be trained in areas of trauma reporting and open source investigative journalism, for example. These skills are especially useful to me. My reporting focuses on conflict and fake news. I really look forward to honing my investigative and conflict reporting skills. I’m eager for my work to reflect the learnings at #FNW19,” she said.