By Rufus Oseji
Asaba: The Delta Online Publishers Forum (DOPF) has called for synergy between members of the group, the government and corporate bodies in the state as they are all stakeholders in development.
This was stated during a meeting between the Commissioner of Information, Mr Patrick Ukah and members of the Delta Online Publishers Forum, on Wednesday April 19, 2017 in Asaba.
DOPF through the Chairman, Mr Emmanuel Ochonogor Enebeli, said that the online news business is fast and real, which can be authenticated, because it is organisational based and these are the factors that make it imperative for synergy, between the government, her agencies, and corporate bodies, and this will remove intimidation from any quarter.
“There must be room for co-operation rather than intimidation,” Enebeli said
He pointed out that government as a matter of urgency see that in their public private policies they should ensure that the operators of these platforms, and who have formed themselves into a group to check the effect of social media operators in the society are not only recognized, but that the enabling environment is provided for business to thrive for them in the state.
Enebeli stated that the members are professional business men and women, and their news media are world ranked by search engines, and other news media around the world take news from them.
“The members of DOPF are professional business men and women, who own websites, which even the main news media often depend on for further news. They take the news from all sources and angles, including the rural communities to the world, as their websites are world ranked by Google signature and other world search engines.
“This makes it different from just social media platforms like a page in Facebook, Twitter handle, Google plus, Instagram and many of such, as the individual social media account has no world ranking, and no such Google signature.”
He reminded the government that the online news operators in the state are not only news providers, but also employers of labour, as many people are directly and indirectly engaged by members, thus helping the state economy in its growth.
Enebeli urged the government and other organizations to see online news platforms, which DOPR stands for as real business operators, and accord due recognition to them, and as they are not just into news reporting. “We should be partners to grow the state, and the Government of Delta State should see DOPF as one of those partners,” he declared.
While welcome the members, the state Commissioner for Information, Hon. Patrick Ukah, advised the members of Delta Online Publishers Forum (DOPF) to ensure that they always adopt the basic tenets of journalism, discipline, based on accurate reporting and determination to build lasting goodwill, cautioning that it is impossible for them to use bad news to attract government patronage, saying that other strategies could be preferable.
He lauded the people for coming together as a united body, which he said, makes it easy for any aggrieved or offended person or group to seek redress, if it becomes necessary, using their corporate names as a platform.
Ukah lamented the situation where some online publishers shun professional ethics of journalism in their writings, either because they are new on the job or just merely interested in online business to attract negative attention from the public, adding that it is very surprising that despite the numerous good works of the Governor Okowa administration within the past two years, despite the obvious economic recession, most online writers pretend not to know about these performances of government, urging them to redirect their focus for positivity.
He stated that “there is need to do proper accreditation of media houses, whether hard or online publisher for effective monitoring of their activities, stressing that by so doing, it is easier to pin down a defective body among them and seek legal redress or determine when or how to use the good ones as the need arises.
Ukah assured the them that with effective and acceptable performance, his office could recommend some of them for government attention as partners in progress.
