Abuja, Nigeria – Mr. Kingsley Okeke, the Managing Editor, African Leadership Magazine, has said that development and responsive journalism is key to ending inequalities and building social cohesion in Nigeria, Africa and the world over. Mr. Okeke made this known while speaking as a panelist at the recently held European Development Days, in Brussels, Belgium. The event which held at the Tours & Taxis event center in Brussels was organized by the European Commission and had in attendance over 8000 delegates, 5 heads of states, 30 ministers and other stakeholders.
In his submission, Mr. Okeke maintained that “Journalism comes with enormous responsibility, which requires that practitioners should rise up to the demands of the profession.” He further stated that “Journalism has gone beyond the traditional realm of informing, educating and entertaining, to a more responsive and proactive realm of rallying citizens to take action.” He also decried the low interest in development journalism in the continent, while calling for more commitments from stakeholders towards development issues.
Mr. Okeke was invited by the European Union Commission in Brussels to join a high-level panel debate on Journalism for Development as part of the Special Event for the Lorenzo Natali Media Prize Awards Ceremony. He was joined on the panel by Koen Deons, Deputy-Director General for International Cooperation and Development, European Commission; Heloísa Traiano Mundt, O Globo, Brazil, Shada Islam, Friends of Europe. The panel was moderated by Christina Lamb, Chief Foreign Correspondent for The Sunday Times and best-selling co-author of ‘I Am Malala’, the story of the co-recipient of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize, Malala Yousafzai. The Keynote address was presented by the Kailash Satyarthi, 2014 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, and the EU Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimica.
Kingsley Okeke
The 2019 Lorenzo Natali Media Prize was presented to Glenda Girón Castro, Sébastien Roux and Zoé Tabary, who were chosen from a field of over 1200 candidates for their outstanding reporting on development issues.
The Lorenzo Natali Media Prize was launched in 1992 to recognize excellence in reporting on development issues, inequality, human rights, and poverty eradication. The Prize also gives a voice to those whose story is often overlooked or ignored. It was created by DG DEVCO, and named after former European Commissioner Lorenzo Natali, an early champion of European development policy.
Organized by the European Commission, the European Development Days (EDD) bring the development community together each year to share ideas and experiences in ways that inspire new partnerships and innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges.
