World Press Freedom Day: Buhari urges journalists to recommit to ethics

President Muhammadu Buhari has saluted Nigerian journalists as they join their professional colleagues across the world to mark World Press Freedom Day.

President Buhari, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, in Abuja on Thursday, urged the journalists to use the day to appraise and recommit themselves to the ethics that guide their noble profession.

He said: “Without adherence to ethics, professions turn awry, and become part of national malaise, rather than solutions.

“That is why journalists must constantly recommit to the canons of fairness, accuracy, objectivity, balance, and other ideals that guide their profession.”

While celebrating the World Press Freedom Day, President Buhari urged the journalists to rededicate themselves to the role of being watchdogs of society.

He, however, enjoined them to be “mindful of the cohesion and equilibrium of that same society.

“There are always those who want to use the media to emphasise our fault lines as a people, dwell on primordial sentiments, and keep the country perpetually on the same spot.

“Be wary of such.” He concluded.