Olusegun Osoba, veteran journalist and former governor of Ogun State, will chair the 10th anniversary of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) Report Women! Programme and public presentation of the ‘Report Women! Experts’ source guide website, scheduled for Thursday, 3 October 2024, at the Metropolitan Club, Victoria Island, Lagos, by 10am.
The event will feature Chinyere Okunna Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Paul University, Awka, Michel Deelen, Consul General, Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands; Amina Salihu, Deputy Director, MacArthur Foundation, Julie McKay, Public Affairs Officer, United States Consulate General, Lagos; Dickens Olewe, Programme Officer, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; and Eze Anaba, President, Nigerian Guild of Editors.
Other confirmed speakers include Adeola Ekine, Chairperson, Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) Lagos, Omowunmi Akingbohungbe, Executive Director, Women in Management, Business, and Public Service (WIMBIZ); and Kofi Bartels, Broadcast Journalist, Nigeria Info 99.3 FMT who will Compere the event. The speakers will contribute to conversations on the leadership of women in the newsroom, their representation as expert sources in the news and the impact that a dedicated source guide will have on gender equity across sectors.
At the event, WSCIJ will unveil the ‘Report Women! Experts’ website, a platform with over 500 curated profiles of female experts from diverse fields including agriculture, business and economy, education, health and science, law and human rights, politics and governance, media, and security. The source guide aims to support journalism’s quest for human rights, freedom of expression, equity and democratic representation and participation with easy access to female expert sources. It is an intentional follow up to the ‘Who leads the newsroom and news’ report by the WSCIJ and other similar researches, that show that the face and voice of news are predominantly male.
Beyond the public presentation, the day will serve as a celebration of the impact of the Report Women! initiative, which over the last decade has trained journalists, mentored female reporters to be leaders in newsrooms, and influenced improved investigative reports on gender parity and issues of access and abuse that affect girls and women in Nigeria and beyond. Guests will include representatives of the media, private sector, diplomatic corps, government, civil society, donor organisations, and other stakeholders.
The Report Women! is WSCIJ’s intervention to increase the quality and quantum of reports on issues of access and abuse about girls and women and the leadership of women in the news and newsroom through the female reporters’ leadership programme, its fellowship and champion building, strategic news media management engagement, media monitoring and research, development of the women expert’s source guide and other resources. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation currently supports its News and Newsroom Engagement component.
