CJID trains journalists on investigative, ethical health reporting

The workshop, themed “Investigative Skills for Covering Nigeria’s Priority Health Challenges,” held from 19 to 20 May in Abuja, and brought together early-career journalists, mid-level reporters, experienced media professionals, and campus journalists from across the country.

Over 50 journalists from across Nigeria participated in a two-day capacity-building workshop for practitioners on impactful healthcare reporting capable of driving policy reform, organised by the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID).

The workshop, themed “Investigative Skills for Covering Nigeria’s Priority Health Challenges,” held from 19 to 20 May in Abuja, and brought together early-career journalists, mid-level reporters, experienced media professionals, and campus journalists from across the country.

Also present at the workshop was the CEO of CJID and publisher of PREMIUM TIMES, Dapo Olorunyomi, who facilitated a session on “Practical Principles and Ethics in Investigative Health Reporting.”

During the session, Mr Olorunyomi highlighted core principles that should guide investigative journalism, especially in health reporting. These include verification and evidence, independence from bias, contextualisation, transparency, and prioritising accuracy over speed.

He stressed the importance of ethical journalism, noting that the profession relies heavily on personal and institutional credibility.

“The most important currency a platform has is credibility. For the individual journalist, it is integrity,” he said.

He added that ethics remain central to journalism because of the difficulty in regulating the profession compared to other industries.

Also speaking at the training, Nike Adebowale-Tambe, Editor, Health and Development Desk at Premium Times, urged journalists to pay closer attention to Primary Health Care (PHC) centres as an important investigative reporting beat.

Delivering a presentation titled “PHC and Facility Readiness as a Reporting Beat: How to Investigate the Status of Primary Health Care Centres,” she said the condition of PHCs directly affects maternal health, child survival, immunisation, disease outbreaks, and community wellbeing, particularly in underserved communities.

Ms Adebowale-Tambe encouraged journalists to investigate issues such as infrastructure, staffing, availability of essential medicines, equipment functionality, and service delivery at PHCs.

She also urged participants to use direct observation, interviews, budget documents, and procurement records to strengthen accountability reporting in the health sector.

She noted that consistent and evidence-based reporting on PHCs can expose gaps in healthcare delivery, amplify community voices, and push authorities toward reforms that improve health outcomes.

Participation

Speaking at the end of the training, Omosalewa Adesua, the Project Associate for Health Journalism at the CJID, said participants were selected from about 220 applications to ensure diversity and balanced learning.

Ms Adesua said the selection diversity was important in order to get an all-round development of skills in healthcare reporting across various sectors.

She noted that the sessions focused on major health issues affecting Nigerians, including maternal healthcare, child healthcare, nutrition, immunisation, and health financing.

“Our participants have been able to delve deep into these issues and give all of us a very clear understanding of why these issues matter and why journalism is needed in order to shed more light so that there are changes made,” she said.

She stressed that the ultimate goal of the training was to encourage journalism that influences policy in the health sector and improves lives.

“Policy impact is what we need from journalism. We need journalism that has impact, that changes the lives of people,” she added.

Participants highlight digital reporting skills

Participants described the workshop as practical and impactful, noting that the training exposed them to investigative methods, digital verification tools, and solution-oriented reporting approaches.

Hussain Mohammed of Daily Trust said the training reinforced the role of journalists as agents of change.

Mr Mohammed emphasised the importance of integrity and evidence-based reporting in health journalism.

“When you are doing the story, you have to make it balanced, and there is a need for investigation evidence for you to compile your story before publication,” he said.

Promise Eze of The Cable said one of the most valuable aspects of the training was learning to use digital verification tools to combat misinformation.

Mr Promise said, “Misinformation is very rampant, so the DUBAWA chatbot is going to be very useful for me as a journalist to fact-check health claims, especially on social media,” he said.

He also said the training highlighted the need for accountability-focused journalism.

“We should hold specific people to account. It’s not just about calling out the system. We should call names in our reports to put pressure on specific agencies so that we can get the impact we are looking for,” he added.

Focus on solutions journalism

Another participant, Blessing Enebele of the Voice of Nigeria (VON), described the workshop as “illuminating,” adding that it provided an opportunity to “learn, unlearn and relearn.”

Ms Enebele said she intends to integrate the lessons from the workshop into her people-centred reporting approach.

She also stressed the importance of real-time health data systems for journalists, noting that access to accurate and updated information remains a challenge.

Data-driven health journalism

The workshop also introduced participants to the SautiHealth platform, a resource hub designed to help journalists access health reports, data, and public statements from key health institutions and leaders across 58 countries. 

Ms Adesua described the platform as important in addressing misinformation and improving access to reliable health information.

“Information is a necessary thing for journalism anywhere, especially for health, where there is a lot of misinformation,” she said.

Participants also noted that the platform could support research, fact-checking, and investigative reporting on health-related issues across Nigeria and beyond.

The workshop concluded with story lab sessions where participants developed and refined investigative story ideas expected to drive public interest conversations and policy engagement in Nigeria’s healthcare sector.