BY ABUCHI IFESINACHI, AWKA
The Catholic Bishop of Awka Diocese, His Lordship Most Paulinus Ezeokafor has charged journalists to discharge their responsibilities effectively without fear or favour.
Bishop Ezeokafor who gave the charge at St. Patrick's Catholic Cathedral, Awka while congratulating his media Aide, Mr. Abuchi Onwumelu who was recently honoured by social media journalists for his creative ingenuity and also for creating a Social media forum where media Practitioners interact and socialise, said journalists as purveyors of information occupy an important position in society and held the key to projecting rightful information that would enable the people to see things in the right perspective.
He said the Church would continue to support media practitioners with prayers stressing that the job of the media was to disseminate accurate information while calling on government at all levels to allow the media to practice their profession without any form of molestation, inducement or even threat to life.
According to Bishop Ezeokafor, ' Media practitioners should be given a free hand to operate; people should stop harassing them. They should be encouraged. Truly, journalists are endangered species. I want those in political positions to understand that they cannot do without the media. Even the Church cannot function properly without the media, that's why we are here praying for them,' Bishop Ezeokafor said.