Top Tips for Balanced Reporting about Nigeria
Your words matter. What you say and what you don't say. Who you include and who you leave out.
Your words have the power to harm or to heal. To incite fear, hatred and danger, or to promote peace and harmony.
Here at Whole Truth Nigeria, we believe that ALL voices matter, that every person should be heard, that each story matters, regardless of the language, ethnicity or faith of the people involved.
We are particularly concerned that the Western media is only telling part of the story (the suffering people groups who are primarily Christian). However, the reality in Nigeria is that people of every faith and every ethnicity are suffering. When only part of the story is told, it tells a false story, it portrays a wrong narrative. This is dangerous because decisions are being made both nationally and internationally based on the stories we write and tell. In order to make wise decisions for lasting peace, the whole story needs to be known, the Whole Truth.
WHOLE TRUTH NIGERIA longs for
ALL voices to be heard:
Christian and Muslim, farmer and herder, English speaking and non-English speaking
ALL people to know justice:
farmers and herders, Christians and Muslims
ALL violence to be condemned,
including the many violent attacks done by “Christian” communities against Fulani, their homes and their animals (i.e. their livelihood), so that
ALL people can live in peace and harmony
It is good that the suffering of Christians is being highlighted. But please follow these suggestions for a more balanced perspective that tells the full story of the suffering in Nigeria:
1. Acknowledge in articles and reports that many Christians are involved in hate speech and violent attacks, sermons inciting violence, church collections raising money for weapons etc.
2. Ask prayer supporters to pray that Christians would live as Christ calls them to in the face of difficulties, looking to him for comfort and healing and reaching out in love and peace, not attacks.
3. Write about the attacks that Christians are doing (not only the ones done to them) so that it does not look all one sided but is clear that the story is more complex than is often presented.
4. Ask your readers to pray for the millions of Fulani that are rejected, struggling to know where to go with their cattle since farms are fertilised by chemicals now so they are unwanted, displaced and made to feel unwelcome.
5. Write about Fulani Christians who are suffering tremendously – rejected by their own people for following Christ, rejected by Christians in Nigeria because they are Fulani, rejected by the Christian media and society in the west who should be supporting these suffering Christians but instead are writing one sided media that makes their lives more difficult and their efforts to share Christ more difficult. We would be happy to introduce you to some.
6. Get a wider circle of inputs on issues relating to Nigeria. Talk to Muslims, to Christians, to people on both sides of these issues so you can understand and present the full picture. We would be happy to introduce you to people who can share with you if you would like.
7. Train staff who are doing presentations raising awareness about the situation in Nigeria to speak in a balanced way. We continually hear stories of people perpetuating an unbalanced perspective which incites fear and hatred of Fulani and ignores their suffering.
8. In your articles and reports, use ethnic names for ALL attacks or none, it is not fair to single out only Fulani. Bandits are bandits, regardless of which tribe they come from (and many are pretending to be Fulani – see our list exposing this wholetruthnigeria.net/false-accusations-against-fulani).
Suggested resources to help:
wholetruthnigeria.net/both-farmers-and-herders-are-suffering
wholetruthnigeria.net/attacks-on-herders
wholetruthnigeria.net/false-accusations-against-fulani
wholetruthnigeria.net/is-there-genocide-in-nigeria
wholetruthnigeria.net/both-farmers-and-herders-are-suffering,
wholetruthnigeria.net/interview-mr-sambo
You can find many other resources on our website, blog and social media pages:
www.wholetruthnigeria.net/blog
facebook.com/WholeTruthNigeria
instagram.com/wholetruthnigeria
truthsocial.com/@wholetruthnigeria
youtube.com/@WholeTruthNigeria/videos
If you have questions or would like to interview any of our team or others we can recommend to you, please contact us at wholetruthnigeria@gmail.com