SOME experts have advised media practitioners in the country to upgrade themselves and embrace new media technologies in order to be relevant in the profession.

The experts gave the advice recently at a one-day training organised by National Point/Forward Communication for Practitioners in Cross River, Edo, Rivers, Delta and Akwa Ibom States in Uyo.

In her keynote address, the Publisher of National Point, Ms Ibiba Don Pedro, noted that the advent of social media had become a threat to the traditional media practitioners in the country.

She said the only way traditional media practitioners could remain relevant was to upgrade and embrace new technologies.

“Though, what they (social media) come out with as news are mostly fake, they have become popular as people tend to believe in them.

“These stories have also provided lead for the traditional media practitioners in most cases.

“This new technological development can also be an additional source of revenue for media practitioners when embraced.

“Lots of opportunities are available for practitioners in the new media. It enhances the job creation as well as opportunity to make money,” she stated.

On his part, Dr Judex Okoro of the University of Calabar, urged the practitioners to shift focus from the routine stories to investigative journalism.

Okoro, who presented a paper entitled, ‘Investigative Reporting Tools to Enhance Exclusivity and Accountable Governance,’ said investigative journalism remained the only way to make leaders accountable and ensure development.

“Investigative journalism also provides additional angles and depth to your stories and this makes it different from the normal routine stories or those on social media or by bloggers,” he said.

Similarly, Mr Sunny Dada, who spoke on ‘Data-Assisted Reporting,’ said practitioners should make their stories more interesting to read with the support of relevant data.

Other resource persons at the training included Mr Emmanuel Obe, who spoke on ‘Communication Tools for Inclusive Development and Accountability’ and Mrs Constance Meju, who delivered paper titled, ‘Gender Reporting and Inclusivity.’

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