The Dataphyte Foundation trained 20 journalists from major media organisations on digital rights reporting in a one-day masterclass held on August 28, 2025.
This masterclass trained journalists on how to report the issues around Nigeria’s digital governance, including digital rights violations, digital surveillance, and other acts that threaten civic actors in the course of their civic engagement for a freer and safer civic space.
As digital penetration continues to evolve and the online presence of citizens, especially youths and civic actors, increases, the digital space has provided a platform for information sharing, with both the media and civic-minded citizens leveraging it to air their views on government policies, advocacy efforts, and other civic engagements to hold governments to account for their actions and inactions. However, amidst these, state actors are using the state's security agenda to silence the voices of civic actors. While all this is ongoing, media coverage of attacks on the civic space, whether physical or digital, varies, with editorial focus spotlighting some issues while overlooking others.
In 2024, Dataphyte conducted a Media Monitoring Report on how the media reports attacks on civic space and actors. The report examined how selected newspapers (Leadership, Tribune, ThisDay, Guardian, and Daily Trust) reported vital issues regarding attacks on civic space, assessing the language, the framing of incidents, and the overall impact such coverage has on public perception and discourse. The report's findings reveal a disparity and a gap in how the media perceive and report attacks on civic space, with differing editorial focuses.
As a build-up to this report, this Masterclass, with support from Spaces for Change, trained journalists and editors across media houses on reporting digital rights violations and enhancing digital rights literacy among citizens.
During the session on Digital Rights relating to the Free Civic Space and its abuses by governments, businesses, and individuals, the Technology Officer at Spaces for Change, Michael Itegbe, enlightened participants about digital rights and the importance of the civic space in strengthening the democratic system. He guided participants through various legal frameworks that govern the digital space in Nigeria.
Mr Itegbe highlighted that digital rights are, in fact, human rights within the online space. He noted that while laws & regulations exist in Nigeria, implementation is often weak. He pointed out that major violators of digital rights are governments, companies, and non-state actors who commonly engage in abuses such as surveillance, censorship, misinformation, harassment, and data theft.
Participants were trained in specific techniques to effectively conduct evidence-based reporting on digital rights violations. The training also emphasised the importance of collecting, verifying, and presenting data in a manner that highlights the impact of these violations on individual rights and freedoms. By equipping them with practical tools and methodologies, participants aimed to enhance their ability to document and advocate against digital rights abuses systematically.
Journalists present at the masterclass were drawn from media platforms such as Daily Trust, WikkiTimes, Primorg, Blueprint Newspapers, Dubawa, Global Voices, Media Trust Group Limited, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Pointblank News, African Culture TV, International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR), Global Sentinel, among others.
In the coming days, some of the participants will be supported to write data-driven stories on different digital rights violations as they relate to the shrinking civic space.
