Preamble
Mission
Values
Policy

The Board of Directors of Mulltia Limited issues this Editorial Policy, today 12 June 2019 to guide editorial operations of Enugu Metro and its allied platforms

PREAMBLE

Enugu Metro (https://enugumetro.com) is an online news and web portal operated by Mulltia Limited (RC. 999336), a registered publishing business in Nigeria.

The motto of Enugu Metro is Beyond News to Service. It shall be the duty of editors, staff writers and freelances contributing content to the platform to ensure that we propagate only information that are of utility value to our target communities. We are committed to provide equal access to this information to empower our readers and clients to survive and thrive.

The editorial policy of the platform is set and reviewed by the company’s Board of Directors.

Editors, staff writers and correspondents in the service of the company shall work within the framework of these policy guidelines set by the Board of Directors of Mulltia Limited.

And, whereas Management has final decision on content appearing in the platform in comformity with this policy, the Board hereby sets the following rules which take effect from 4 July 2019, to guide the editorial operation of Enugu Metro and associated online publishing platforms.

1. Vision & Mission

  1. Our vision is to become the most reliable local connection to opportunities that make city life easy.
  2. To achieve this goal, the Enugu Metro mission is “to promote utility information and local connections that guarantee equal access to home, business, and leisure opportunities.”
  3. Enugu Metro will respect and operate within the laws of Nigeria, while discharging the Constitutional mandate to hold public officers accountable to the people.
  4. Consequently, nothing shall be reported or propagated in our platform that does not promote our common aspirations and goals, and lead to healthy development of all aspects of our national, community and individual values.

2. Strategic Objectives

To achieve the goals set in our mission and vision statement, the company pursues three strategic objectives, namely:

  1. To deliver equal access to utility information and social connections that empower home managers and visitors to survive and thrive.
  2. To facilitate women and youth support initiatives that promote SME entrepreneurship and career development.
  3. To collaborate on media investigation and social advocacy projects that protect vulnerable community residents from oppression and discrimination.

3. Core Values

Our core values are embodied in the 3i’s of integrity, innovation, and inclusion.

  1. INTEGRITY: To achieve integrity implies doing everything we can to earn the trust of our stakeholders and customers. Each staff renews this trust every day by acting with honesty and honor in their business and personal dealings while in the service of the company. Integrity comes from discharging our duties with a sense of pride and dignity, empathizing with our customers, and demonstrating a determination to protect our names and leaving a legacy of service. The goal of our integrity value is to meaningfully touch lives, promote the truth, and live contentedly.
  2. INNOVATION: Pursuing new and creative ideas with potential to make life easy for our stakeholders – coworkers, customers, and shareholders – through excellent service. To understand that we cannot deliver excellent service without understanding customer pain points and opportunities they present for new product and service solutions. To believe that the fear of excellent service is the beginning of wisdom to search for new and creative solutions.
  3. INCLUSION: Reimagining and recreating a company that delivers equal access to utility information, local resources and opportunities for our stakeholders. Inclusion extends to diversity in the services we offer, the persons they are delivered to, and in our recruitment and selection process. Beyond selection, the company rewards without discrimination workers that demonstrate integrity and innovation, and look out for ways to protect the dignity of individuals in the community.

EDITORIAL POLICY OF ENUGU METRO

4. Editorial responsibility of the eMetro journalist and freelancer

  1. We hold that journalistic quality, integrity and independence are essential virtues to professionally discharge our responsibility.
  2. Staff journalists and freelancers are enjoined to be objective, analytical and comprehensive in their treatment of content submitted for publication.
  3. Staff journalists and freelancers are enjoined to seek the truth and demonstrate empathy on projects that aim to improve our communities.
  4. Every information submitted must be verified before publication to demonstrate objectivity and fairness at all times.

5. Community Responsibility

Enugu Metro as an organisation shall

  1. Commit to the cause of unity and and peace in Nigeria and actively promote a sense of brotherhood in every Nigerian, and nurture a sense of cooperation and nationalism in all matters affecting the Nigerian state and its people.
  2. Work against forces of division, be they manifest in ethnicity, religious bigotry, racism, or other parochial tendencies that detract from building a united and indivisible nation and our community.
  3. Maintain objectivity and fairness in the presentation of news in the overall interest of the nation and its people.
  4. Be constructive and fair in their criticism or views on all matters of national and community interest published in our platforms.
  5. Reject any story or article considered likely to incite or generate hate, violence, crime, cruelty, ethnic and racial or religious bias.
  6. Resist ethnic, family, religious, friendship, political and monetary influences in the discharge of their functions and particularly in the presentation of news and comments in all our platforms.

6. Editorial Character

  1. Enugu Metro has a character designed to construct its brand: No story, feature, picture, or matter shall be published in any of our platforms unless the editor verifies same to be fair, accurate, and of utility value.
  2. Consequently, only skeptical editors, writers and freelances can save Enugu Metro content from being used to foster narrow interests which are inconsistent with this character.
  3. An editor is therefore not mandated to promote the brand by not allowing uninteresting, irrelevant, or antagonistic content to pass through the gate-keeping wall.

7. Political Endorsements

  1. Enugu Metro does not endorse or support political parties and governments.
  2. However, it can evaluate and endorse candidates for political office on the basis of an editorial board assessment of their proven capacity, experience, and competence.
  3.  Additionally, if in the opinion of an editor, or members of the editorial board in session, any government or party platform, policy, action, or viewpoint is considered as deserving of support, the editorial board or the editor should give it in a one-off editorial, feature or news.
  4. For purposes of checking abuses in this and other areas that engage the editorial attention of our platforms, there is an ombudsman that  gives unbiased monthly assessment of Enugu Metro content. The monthly assessment are made available to staff and used as a guide for performance assessment and editorial improvement.

8. Defamation and Libel

  1. It is everyone’s responsibility to protect the good name and image of the company by rejecting reckless and compromising content that leads the company to embarrassment in any form.
  2. Any doubt about the legality, veracity, or accuracy of a matter meant for publication should be checked, re-checked, and cross-checked with internal and external authorities, and confirmed before publication.
  3. Matters with legal implications are to be referred to the legal counsel or the company’s solicitor for advice or opinion. Claims for alleged libel published in the platform should equally be referred to the company’s legal adviser, or solicitor.
  4. In all cases, the details of any legal action must be communicated promptly to the Executive Director, and when the issue in dispute is appraised, an agreement will be reached with the chief executive on either out-of-court settlement or direct litigation.
  5. No editor is obliged to go ahead and publish matters with grave legal consequences without first obtaining the permission of the Executive Director to have such a matter published.
  6. The rule of journalism, and the practice at Enugu Metro should be, WHENEVER IN DOUBT ABOUT ANY MATTER TO BE PUBLISHED, PLEASE LEAVE OUT. Caution and vigilance must be exercised in accepting content from staff writers, guest contributors, and news agencies to ensure that, for all times, they reflect the true situation on the issue.

9. Story Treatment

  1.  Notwithstanding the foregoing, it must be understood that editors have discretion over what they consider to be in the interest of their readers, and therefore reserve the initiative to omit, alter or publish whatever they deem fit, and for which each will be held strictly liable.
  2. All content submitted for publication must have breath and depth, and accurately describe to the reader the SIX basic elements of a news report (The WHO said WHAT, to WHOM, WHERE, WHEN and HOW).
  3. A content is not complete until it has received appropriate research backgrounding (from the library or other sources) and with authoritative opinions or comments to elucidate it for the reader.
  4. At all times, the Executive Director must insist on accurate follow-up stories from the newsroom, in order to do justice to each issue and to satisfy the community that we serve.
  5. As already stated in the preamble, every story, article or picture intended for publication must be checked and confirmed before publication. In this connection, editors must maintain a balance by publishing the two sides, or all sides of a story.
  6. To reiterate, under no circumstances must a story that has not been checked at least three times, about an office or a person complained against, find its way into the platform. Editors are to be held responsible for ensuring that this rule is always enforced.

10. Promotion for Staff, Directors, and Consultants

  1. Editorial mention of staff, directors and consultants of the company must have a valuable public relations benefit to the company and must be newsworthy.
  2. Company consultants should be given editorial coverage if they happen to be newsworthy individuals.
  3. The marketing department and its staff should never give any promise of editorial support to advertisers or customers.
  4. Stories and photographs concerning staff, directors, shareholders and consultants of the company have corporate image implications and must therefore be cleared with the Executive Director or her authorized personnel before publication.

11. Advertising

  1. No special reports or regular features must be published without due knowledge and concurrence of the editor of any of our platforms for which the publication is proposed.
  2. No credit adverts are to be carried for individuals, associations, and groups without the guarantee of a senior member of management. Such credit guarantors stand the risk of having the sum deducted from their salaries and allowances in the event of default in payment.
  3. Until reviewed by the relevant association/authority, the advert commission payable to recognized agencies and advertisers is 15 per cent.
  4. The Sales and Marketing Manager or his/her authorized representative(s) has the discretion to grant an extra five percent discount for valued customers.
  5. All other requests for more than 20 percent discount must receive the authorization of the Executive Director, or her designated representative.

12. Training

  1. Training and retraining of staff journalists generally and other editorial staff shall continue to be given priority by the company to maintain a corps of experienced staff on our platforms.
  2. All entry-level editorial staff must undergo a two-week onboarding process, and a period of in-house training lasting six months, after which their appointments may be confirmed upon satisfactory performance.
  3. Non-journalism graduates who wish to work in the newsroom are to undergo a stipulated course of training and obtain a journalism diploma or certificate from a recognized journalism training institution in Nigeria before attaining 18 months service in the company.
  4. Editorial Staff must be prepared to undertake any assignment at the shortest possible time, within and outside the country.

OGBUAGU ANIKWE/Executive Director/Editor-in-Chief

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