Paper presented at the Media Summit of the Anambra State Council of the Nigeria Union of
Journalists held in Awka on March 28 & 29, 2017.
I would like to start
with a confession: the title of this paper is not originally mine. I borrowed
it from Prince Tony Momoh, erstwhile Minister of Information and Culture, who
coined it in the late 1980s when he was editor of the Daily
Times, then Nigeria’s leading newspaper. By journalism of conscience
and national commitment, Prince Momoh, a lawyer and one of the first persons to
study journalism at the University of Nigeria at Nsukka and later at the
University of Lagos because of the Nigerian Civil War, was simply advocating
that Nigerian communication practitioners abide by their professional ethics
and live above primordial forces threatening the foundation of the Nigerian
nation. The Momoh call is more urgent today than when it was
made about three and a half decades ago.
To paraphrase the Great
Zik of Africa in an article in the legendary West African Pilot which
was to arouse the passion of a generation of young Nigerian nationalists who
formed the Zikist Movement, these are times that try men’s soul. Indeed, these
are unusual times in the country. The economy is almost a shambles, with all
the social and political implications. There is insurgency in parts of the
country. Religious, ethnic and sectional tensions are high. The list goes on
almost endlessly.
If the Zik generation
used political journalism to win independence for our country and consequently
restored the dignity of Africans, we have a constitutional and historical
obligation to contribute to a better society, stable, peaceful, united and
prosperous. Some journalists have gone beyond mere constitutional provisions to
help build a society which cherishes peaceful co-existence. A group of
Nigerians known as Journalists for Democratic Rights (JODA) on March 13, 2017,
issued a powerful statement urging both the Federal Government and the Osun
State authorities to take immediate steps to stop the circulation of a
dangerous video urging ethnic reprisals in the aftermath of the clashes in Ife,
Osun State, in which, according to the police, 46 Yoruba and Northerners were
killed this month. In contrast, some politicians have openly been stoking the
fire of hate, oblivious that their kinsmen and women are vulnerable in large
numbers in other parts of the country.
Here is another example
of how journalists have been promoting national unity and progress. In
the midst of the extremely dangerous national controversy arising out of the
furtive regularization of Nigeria’s membership of the Organization of Islamic
Countries in the second part of the 1980s, a makeshift mosque used by mostly
Northern Nigerians here in Awka was destroyed by the local government
authorities who did not know it was a mosque. It was at a time the military
government was dedicatedly pulling down shacks and other illegal structures in
towns and cities around the country.
The affected Northern
Muslims quickly hired a minibus and went to Enugu to report to the National
Concordcorrespondent that their mosque had been pulled down. The decision
to go to the National Concord was not fortuitous.
TheConcord publisher, Chief Moshood Abiola, was a major campaigner
for Nigeria’s full OIC membership, so his paper supported the membership.
Perhaps, if the Concordcorrespondent in Enugu, John Akor, had
reported the story, it could have been sensationalized on the front page the
next day. Mr Akor might be promoted, or at least commended for making the front
page. But he was a very thoughtful and farsighted journalist, aware of the
likely severe consequences of the report.
He knew Muslims in Kano
and elsewhere in Northern Nigeria could be infuriated by the report and in
retaliation carry out a savage campaign against mostly Igbo people in their
midst who were in their millions and productively engaged as bankers,
lecturers, accountants, civil servants, lawyers, doctors, journalists and
businessmen and women. So, he asked the protesting Muslims to wait for a while
in his office. He got in touch with Mr Linus Okechi, Press Secretary to Group
Captain Emeka Omeruah, the Anambra State Military Governor, who promptly sent
for the aggrieved persons while investigating the matter. The governor
carefully explained to the Muslims that the bulldozer operator who destroyed
the mosque did not know it was a sacred place; he was merely demolishing all
unapproved structures, especially shacks. Omeruah was convincing and
demonstrated sympathy to them, so they believed him and returned to Awka
satisfied. We thank God that John Akor was not a practitioner of
“publish-and-damn-the-consequences” brand of journalism.
Those who practise this
mass communication brand put their society in grave danger. One of the worst
human tragedies in recent decades was the Rwanda genocide which occurred in the
early 1990s. About 800,000 persons were massacred, mostly Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
The perpetrators were driven by such unimaginable hate and rage that bishops
and priests were enthusiastically killed by members of their congregations.
Fellow Christians who sought sanctuary in churches were murdered with glee in
their thousands. Just last week, Pope Francis apologized to the Rwandan
government and people for the role of church officials and members in the
genocide. The bad news is that journalists, especially those working in radio
stations, were very culpable in the genocide. They made several broadcasts
inciting ordinary people to go after fellow citizens for no more profound
reason than they spoke a different language. In fact, it is generally thought
that without the broadcasts, the Rwandan genocide would not have occurred in the
first place.
Power With
Responsibility
The 1999 Constitution
vests so much power in the mass media in recognition of our role as not just
the Fourth Estate of the Realm but the conscience of society. Our role as
defenders of public interests naturally makes us often be at odds with
political authorities who are in most cases in Africa not good. Therefore, we
keep them on their toes by highlighting their follies. It is hoped our
criticism is not like that associated with a prominent Malaysian politician,
Pakatan Rakyat. In the Corridors of Power, Rakyat is accused
in the following words: “This is what happens when Rakyat opposes everything
the government does just for the sake of opposing. We end up with no clear
policy and we ding-dong from one extreme to the other. When the government does
this, we scream. And when the government does the opposite, we also scream. But
while we scream, we do not suggest a better option other than to just say what
the government does is wrong.”
Our readers, listeners and
viewers should trust us the way patients trust their doctors and pharmacists
who sell prescription drugs to them. Trust is earned, not purchased. However,
we have sometimes been found wanting in not just Nigeria but around the world.
Two British professors, James Curran and Jean Seaton, became famous in 1981
when they published a book which has so far undergone seven editions; it is
entitled Power Without Responsibility: The Press, Broadcasting and the
Internet in Britain. In 2014, the book caught the attention of many
Americans when some bloggers uploaded nude pictures of about 100 celebrities on
the Internet, much to the embarrassment of the civilized world. The action was
condemned as infra dig, malicious and a sex crime.
I used to think
uploading naked and sex pictures of mostly famous women was the exclusive
preserve of some perverts in Western society until last year when the Miss
Anambra scandal, also known as the cucumber sex scandal, broke out. As it has
now been revealed, journalists or mass communication practitioners were
unfortunately involved in the video scandal. We can ask: Cui
bono, in whose interest, was the video released? The people behind it
have been established by security reports to be blackmailers who were out to
extort a fortune and then ruin the future of a naïve university student who
could have been the daughter or sister of any of us here.
Anambra 2017
And talking of Anambra
State brings to mind that this is the only state which will conduct a
gubernatorial election in Nigeria this year. The media will be central to the
success or failure of the vote in November. Some politicians and their agents
will attempt to capitalize on some of the challenges currently facing the media
industry like nonpayment of salaries for several months to get some journalists
to act in violation of their professional ethics. They may entice some of us to
paint a lurid picture of the state, despite evidence of our own eyes. They may
even “lobby” us with stupendous amounts to publish false election results.
Frankly, it is pretty difficult to resist such temptations in the face of acute
hardships and sustained pressures from family members and friends as well as
peers.
Still, I think each of
us has a conscience and believes in the common good. Conscience is taken to
mean the part of our being which judges our thoughts, actions and inactions but
which we cannot, in turn, judge. Working for the common good entails doing
things which may not benefit us now as individuals but will be beneficial
ultimately to the greater number of society members. I was years ago mocked
more than once by fellow journalists who wanted me to compromise certain values
because of immediate personal gains. As I today look at their stations in life,
I acknowledge that delayed gratification is more than a personal virtue. When
you work selflessly and diligently a lot of people you may not know are
observing your commitment to the common good, and your reward will come sooner
than you may imagine.
Self Development Plans
Contemporary scholars of
management science encourage organizational members to always plan for their
self development. Every ambitious person, whether a journalist or not, should
have such plans. There are more tertiary institutions with programmes which journalists
can benefit from in developing themselves than when I entered journalism, fresh
out of high school. I am glad many have participated in such programmes. But it
seems a lot of us just acquire the necessary certificates as meal tickets and
stop to develop themselves. This is wrong. Journalism is an intensely
intellectual profession. It requires continuous practice and continuous
improvement. In other words, it requires extensive reading, thinking and
writing.
Any person who reads
extensively and continuously improves himself or herself can easily write for
international media, research bodies and other reputable organizations. I made
reasonable money from these organizations in the 1980s and 1990s. Besides, I
got useful contacts by writing for them, and my clout grew in Nigeria and
elsewhere.
Extensive reading and
good thinking will make you expand your universe, enabling you to do things
beyond journalism. Walter Isaacson, the President of Aspen Institute which is
one of the leading think tanks in the United States, was Managing Editor
of Time magazine. Strobe Talbot, the President of the
Brookings Institution which is one of the most prestigious intellectual bodies
in the United States, became President Bill Clinton’s Deputy Secretary of State,
after serving as a journalist with Time. Rupert Pennart-Rea
was in the early 1990s appointed Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, or the
British Central Bank, when he was editing The Economist.Journalism
is taking seriously in some other societies that the immediate past Chancellor
of the Exchequer (British Minister of Finance), George Osborne, who is also a
member of parliament in the United Kingdom, is to edit the Evening
Standard newspaper in England from April 1, 2017.
Here in Nigeria, our own
Tunji Bello is the Secretary to the Lagos State Government, after serving as
Commissioner for the Environment. Our own Abike Dabiri is now the Senior
Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Foreign Affairs. They are
following in the footsteps of Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe and Chief Obafemi Awolowo who
were excellent administrators, and also in the footsteps of Alhaji Lateef
Jakande and Chief Bisi Onabanjo who in the Second Republic were great governors
of Lagos and Ogun states, respectively. Not to be forgotten is that Alhaji
Adamu Ciroma was the Editor of the New Nigerian newspaper
before he became the Central Bank Governor and later President Olusegun
Obasanjo’s first Minister of Finance in 1999.
All these successful
people I have just mentioned are not known for sensational or blackmail
journalism but for robust journalism. Journalism of conscience and national
commitment is the way to go. It is in your interest and for the betterment of
society.
Thank you.
No comments:
Post a Comment