Guild of Digital Journalists (GDJ), Vanguard of Online Media Professionalism

The Guild of Digital Journalists has been described as a group of professionals, leading the way in the new development of strict ethics, in online media practice.

This was disclosed by Mr Opeyemi Daniel Adeoti, the protem Chairman of the body, when he was featured Thursday morning on AM Drive, a Kwara TV morning talk show.

While emphasizing the membership structure of GDJ, Mr Adeoti stated that every member had a prior stint with one main stream media organization or another before carrying their wealth of experiences into the digital space, where they continue to exhibit sterling professional ethics.

According to the chairman, the GDJ membership comprises of Editors, Editors-in-Chief and publishers of digital media platforms that are based primarily in Kwara and some neighboring states like Osun, Kogi, Lagos and others. “This calibre of members is largely the main reason incidences of fake news and other unethical practices have never been reported of GDJ members,” Mr Adeoti asserted.

On the issues of harassment of Journalists, the protem Chairman of GDJ expressly condemned any form of harassment of Journalists or gag of the press.

He advocated that: “the men of the pen profession should be allowed to carry out their constitutionally assigned role without fear or favour.”

Explaining this balanced view of Journalists’ harassment, he said, “in a democratic setting, anybody that is aggrieved can approach the court and seek a redress in which the court will decide according to the law, but harassment is when journalists are been detained more than the stipulated time allowed in the constitution.”

He however charged journalists to shun slanderous and libelous reportage, while paying heed to balance their information before publishing.