Deputy Director/Head Strategic Planning & Corporate Development Department, Voice of Nigeria, Abdulwarees Solanke writes on the need to maintain the sanctity of media based on ethical standards.
In a 1000-word length article, I penned and published in a number of national dailies in 2018, I painted Journalism as an Art of a different genre, arguing that the ideal journalist is an artist.
The title of that illustrative piece as published for instance on the letters page of the Nigerian Tribune of October 10, 2018, was The Ideal Journalist as Artist and Missionary.
But I contended that if the journalist is a true artist, his motivation would not be just for bread, milk and honey but for self-expression, noting that a true or faithful artist thrives on originality because he is a fiercely creative person who has no boundaries in his work. My point was that every artist who excels does so in the expression of his self.
Here is my concluding paragraph of that article:
” Those who crippled themselves in journalism with their indulgence and those who soil the image of the profession are not faithful Artists. The faithful or Ideal Artist is the one who can radiate the beauty of his work and recreate himself from his natural flaws.
Like the Ideal Artist who is always inspired and conscious of his own being, every journalist must always aspire for perfection not only of his art piece but of his person as well by always clarifying his purpose and pursuits in life. Journalism is a missionary profession.
So, every journalist, like the ideal artist must be shaped by a vision to live forever in peoples’ hearts by the fidelity of his character and the eternity of his writings or productions
I am led to return to this theme again today because of the depressing circumstances most journalists find themselves in which they justify their moral hollowness and debasement of journalism ethics by turning themselves into tools and errand boys of those without enduring values of integrity and service or faithful commitment to national development, peace, progress and security especially at the moment of retrieving the nation from the abyss and relaunching on the global pedestal of relevance where Nigeria’s voice can be heard more positively in the shaping of our world.
God bless the soul of the Late Dr Delu Ogunade who took my set of 1985 – 1988 class of Mass Communication that has the likes of erudite Dr Soji Alabi, influential columnist, Azubuikwe Ishiekwene and Media Mogul Momoh of Channels TV fame, Media Laws and Ethics at the University of Lagos.
All our teachers of journalism including the late Professor Alfred, Opubor, Professor Onuora Nwuneli, Professor Idowu Sobowale, Late Professor Luke Uka Uche, Professor Olatunji Dare, Professor Adidi Uyo and Dr Olu Fadeyibi always condemned unethical practices of yellow journalism and pepper soup joint or beer parlour journalism, emphasizing the commitment to the public interest and journalism of conscience.
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It was the late Baba Ogunade as we fondly called him, teacher of the mass communication capstone course who fully opened our eyes to the ideal of journalism as he introduced us to the work of one philosopher and ethicist, Immanuel Kant.
In Kant’s thesis, there are four virtues needed as a responsible professional: These are Wisdom, Courage, Justice and Temperance When the discerning journalist combines these virtues and exercises discretion on what he pushes out as news, features, commentaries and analyses, public safety and national security is assured.
It is for this reason that the Media has been enrobed in the garb of the Watchdog of the Society for the purpose of protecting public interest while it has been assigned a branch in the architecture of governance as the fourth estate of the realm.
This is imperative for the media as an institution and its practitioners as professionals so that there can be in existence an enabling atmosphere of checks and balances that is often parroted should exist in the ideal democratic space having the executive, legislative and judicial arms of government.
Unfortunately, there is a tragedy that is crashing or destroying the Four-estate architecture of governance in a polity or state. This is because this fourth branch which should bear the ultimate public trust, prevent the compromise of democratic ideals and uphold true checks and balances in the three original arms of government is experiencing the gradual dissolution of the media, the societal watchdog and the fourth estate of the realm into the other arms of government, losing its public value or essence.
The question that bothers advocates of public service media is that is the media today truly in the service of the public. Are we protecting or advancing the public interest or national interest and security? Who even defines the public interest for the media to understand, who and how it should partner with other sectors to protect and promote public interest and national security?
In many challenged democracies, including ours, what usually goes for the public interest is nothing but the interest of certain individuals and groups or cabals in the polity – economic, pecuniary, racial, ethnic, tribal, religious, and political – which more often than not, clash against the real or true public interest.
Therefore, the state or society is always in flux when the pecuniary and primordial compete with the national security or stability interest.
If the society, nation or polity must be stable, the media has the responsibility to be immune from such interests and focus on its public essence as an impartial arbiter, a faithful watchdog that is alert and independent, not beholding to any of the contending interests other than the preservation public interest or in the interest of peace, progress, development, stability and security of the nation at large.
Does the average Nigerian journalist respect these ideals? What is even the motivation for entering journalism? Ask an intern what branch or medium of journalism he or she wants to work for or who is his or her model in journalism. I bet that less than 30 per cent will give any reasonable response.
Many are today attracted to journalism or broadcasting because of the allure of the tube, the paparazzi of the camera, the sonority and beauty of voices and the flawlessness of linguistic grammar and diction of on-air personalities. They are motivated by the connection of the successful ones to big men in politics, business and industry and their expensive lifestyles, the frequency of their foreign trips in reporting or covering events. They are essentially lured to the professional by the circle in which journalists move. The motivation can also be to serve as a stepping stone to some other lucrative heights or careers.
Remove a journalist from a particular lucrative beat and you have to sound his death knell. Recall some journalists to the newsroom to be desk editors and they immediately lose colour.
There is nothing bad to lead a good life as a journalist like any other professional. As in every profession, what is bad is if the journalist lacks ethics, integrity or morality in the pursuit of his ambition.
Unfortunately, it is in the poverty of ethical considerations and commitment to professional ideals that some journalists thrive and arrive as paid agents of primordial and pecuniary interests in their practice of journalism.
In commercializing journalism, the soul of public service in broadcasting and journalism is asphyxiated. Now, the bottom line drives the content of many a newspaper house, online publisher or broadcasting station, always jaundiced or tilting to serve the interest of the highest bidder.
In this misfortune, many journalists become mercenaries and mercantilists trading their conscience for plates of pepper soup or porridge. As paid or hack writers, they are responsible for machinating fake news, jaundiced opinions and analysis and producing prognostic reports that spell doom for the nation.
Many of the so-called investigative reports are not genuinely muckraking but from documents sneaked out or stolen by certain vested interests who find in the susceptible journalist a good instrument to deal with an opponent they want to unseat to be handsomely rewarded for a hatchet job well done.
Now, a legion of the unemployed without journalism education and training has strayed into the media industry damaging the integrity of the ideal journalist as choppy chasers and grabbers of all shades of envelopes. We know them by their habitual hangout at major hotels and conference venues chasing dignitaries for an interview that would never see the light of day.
This situation is not helped either, as publishers and news proprietors without financial muscle and backbone exploit the lack of economic choice and power of job seekers, offering them jobs with peanuts and pittance as pay.
Again, let me stress that Journalism is a missionary profession. So, every journalist, like the ideal artist must be shaped by a vision to live forever in peoples’ hearts by the fidelity of his character and the eternity of his writings or productions.
This was the gist of the message of a senior advocate of Nigeria, Mallam Yusuf Olaolu Ali at a gathering of Muslim professionals in Lagos at a forum of The Companion, an association of Muslim Businessmen and Professionals three years ago. I sum the conditions for any faithful professional to succeed in life or career as follows
Embracing humility
Avoiding vanity
Dedication to charity
Commitment to fidelity or chastity
Adherence to integrity
Passion for consistency and objectivity.
It is tragic that mercenary and mercantilist journalists fall short of these noble expectations in their predilection for fake news, promotion of hate, rebellion and public corruption and so predisposing the nation to insecurity or instability as they fan the embers of national disintegration or dissolution, especially with mischievous campaigns for cultural or traditional revivalism.
Back to my 2018 piece on the Ideal journalist: I have also known journalists who withered too soon in their career because for their talents they shot themselves in their legs. Those who crippled themselves in journalism with their indulgence and those who soil the image of the profession are not faithful Artists.
*Abdulwarees, a Fellow, Chartered Institute of Public Diplomacy & Management is the Deputy Director/Head Strategic Planning & Corporate Development Department, Voice of Nigeria, Broadcasting Glass House, Wuse II, Abuja korewarith@yahoo.com, 08090585723
