Popular Blogger Ono Bello has called for a regulatory structure in the country to checkmate malicious content and other unprofessional ethics from online media platforms.
Bello, founder of onobello.com made said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abuja.
“With the way things are going on now, I think it will be a great idea if the online communities can have a body or a structure to put in place a code of ethic.
“We need to come together to create a structure so that if there is any information that is posted and is false, the public knows the body to approach and lay complaints.
“I think we need to have a similar body like the NUJ; the online communities needs to have one body where we can be able to regulate our activities,’’ she reiterated.
On posting obnoxious materials on the internet especially on social media, the blogger said the fact that individuals have accounts does not give them licence to post everything online.
She explained that whatever anyone post could go a long way either in making or breaking someone adding that social media users should maintain ethical conduct at their individual levels.
“For example before you post anything online, you need to consider the feelings of others; and if you want to post some sensitive information, you need to warn viewers about it.
“If you are going to post pictures of dead bodies of humans on social media, you need to warn people before you let them see it.
“This is because people might just be going about their normal business on social media and the next thing is to see something horrible and it affects them negatively.
“So we need to be principled and have some certain rules as human beings; you need to be kind to humanity,’’ Bello stressed.
She emphasised that the rush to break stories online should not lead to damaging someone’s reputation or bringing a personality down adding that her online magazine published correct and authentic news.
“We have not had issues where we are taken to court for reporting fake news because we always do our background checks before we post any news.’’
She however said, as a blogger, managing information was not easy, because one need to be on ground, network with people and make calls to get the sense of the stories and the sources.
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