The Director General, Nigerian Army Resource Centre (NARC), Maj.-Gen. Garba Wahab (Rtd) has said that there is need to have journalists embedded by the military in planning and execution of its operations.
Wahab gave the advise at a One-Day Seminar organised by Defence Correspondent in Abuja.
The theme of the seminar is, “Civil Military Relations: Non-kinetic efforts of the Nigerian Military in Security Management, Challenges and Prospects”.
He said embedding journalists in the planning and conduct of operations would help greatly in checking negative reports on the activities of security agencies.
Wahab said the seminar was a platform for the military to engrave its friendship with the media and bridge the existing divide between them.
He challenged media practitioners to be patriotic in the performance of their duties and avoid reports that would be detrimental to national interest and security.
Wahab expressed concern that some media organisations opposed to government could not draw a line between politics and national security.
“Today in Nigeria, open your TV, look at some channels and you can easily decipher that this particular channel is against the government.
“And so they go to any length in saying anything that is detrimental to national security and national interest.
“I am not saying cover up what is wrong, but there are ways by which these are done elsewhere.
“The military guys there and the other security agencies are there to save lives, yours is to report and tell it the way it is but there are ethics on both sides.”
Wahab said the media must also find a way of being ethical.
He added that the government and the armed forces should ensure that the interests of the media were taken into consideration during operations.
He said that terrorism and insurgency depended on reportage, adding that the media must be mindful of what they report about terrorists’ or kidnappers’ activities.