By Austin Ogwuda
Delta Online Publishers Forum (DOPF) has inducted seven new members with a charge to all members to take the issue of ethical journalism seriously and to remain responsible and accountable to the reading public.
The induction ceremony which was held at the Conference Hall of the Delta State Ministry of Information, Tuesday, was part of the activities lined up for the 4th Convention and Lecture Series of the Forum.
Today, Wednesday 22nd of November 2023 is the D-DAY.
DOPF Chairman, Mr. Emmanuel Enebeli in his opening remark during the induction noted that the Forum has a rich history of excellence and enjoined members to uphold the ethics of the journalism profession at all times.
While advising the new inductees to always carry themselves as Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of their different organisations, Mr Enebeli pleaded that members should continue to pursue one common aim.
The Vice chairman of the Forum, Deacon Chukwudi Abiandu in a lecture preceding the induction stated that you must understand that DOPF is not NUJ neither is it a chapel of the NUJ.
“DOPF is a forum of entrepreneurs in the business of online newspaper publishing. DOPF members are employers of labour. What Proprietors of hard copy newspapers are to the Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN) is what online newspapers are to DOPF and we are backed up by the the Constitution Section 39”.
Abiandu further stated that “we encourage members to strive in their work to be accountable to the public who read them by keeping their news organizations honest and accountable to the public.
“Here, for this purpose, DOPF will once in a while serve as Ombudsman for our members to foster self-criticism and to encourage adherence to both codified and uncodified ethics and standards”.
Those inducted were Mr Oweh Julius, publisher of The Pond News, Mr Jikeme Smart, publisher of Fidelity Reporters, Ogwuda Austin, publisher of The Town Hall and Dr. Paul Bebenimibo, publisher of Pebnews.Others include Mr. Daniel Oji, publisher of Actual News, Mr. Celestine Ukah, publisher of Area News, and Mrs. Christy Aboghe, publisher of The Hill Nigeria.
As part of strategies to boost media business of the publishers, two financial institutions, Bank of Industry (BoI) and Premium Trust Bank were invited to give pep talk to members on how raise funds to grow their publishing outfits.
