LGBT Samoa Deal: Media Trust Tenders Apology
By Juliet Vincent
Media Trust Limited, publishers of Daily Trust, Weekend Trust and Trust TV among other publications have formally apologise for its lead story published in the July 4, 2024 edition of the Daily Trust with the headline: “LGBT: Nigeria Signs $150 Billion Samoa Deal.”
The Federal Government lodged a formal complaint with the National Media Complaints Commission (NMCC), an independent Ombudsman, on the story which ruled that salient parts of the story were inaccurate and fell short of the high journalistic standards with which all newspapers should adhere to.
In a formal remorse published in Daily Trust edition of October 2, 2024, titled “Samoa Agreement: Our Apology”, the media organization accepted the verdict of the NMCC without any equivocation.
“We apologise to the Federal Government for any inconveniences the story might have caused to it. We also apologise to our readers and the public for getting the story wrong in the first place,” it said.
Media Trust Limited pointed out that its internal editorial mechanisms for reporting, editing, and approving news stories for publication are robust and have served well for more than a quarter-century but following the Samoa story, it has taken more steps to improve these mechanisms and enhance their effectiveness.
According to it, “As a newspaper, we strive to serve the interests of our readers and to promote the unity, security, and development of our country. We do these by producing content that help readers understand the world in which they live, promote a healthy debate between competing parties on any issue, and holding leaders accountable to the led.
”The media house explained that they neither favour nor bear a grudge against any government, party, or individual but simply seek the truth wherever it leads them and publish the result in the public interest.
It confessed that like all newspapers the world over, they sometimes make mistakes or get some facts wrong stressing that even before the advent of the National Ombusdman, they have had internal ones, in the persons of late Hajia Bilkisu Yusuf (2007) and Mr. Dan Agbese (2015).
