Being talking points By Martins Oloja, Editor, The Guardian, Nigeria (http://www.ngrguardiannews.com) at the 2012 CAMPUSLIFE Student Writers Workshop by The Nation sponsored by the Coca Cola Nigeria Limited and the Nigerian Bottling Company Limited at Citilodge Hotel, Goshen Estate, Lekki-Epe Road Expressway, Lagos, Nigeria.
I want to thank the executive committee for the invitation to handle this discussion question on “the role of mass media in fostering national rebirth”. I would like students and young practitioners here to note the fact that journalism is still generally considered the best profession in the world. A World Bank Institute’s publication and the legendary Larry King of the famous Larry King Live have acknowledged this thesis. Accept my heartfelt gratitude for the honour and the privilege to be part of this discussion on journalism education and practice in Nigeria.
The challenge beyond stereotypes of the many journalism ‘teachers’ in Nigeria: (Everybody teaches journalism in Nigeria, unlike law, engineering, etc)
I am fully persuaded that the challenge before us today is how to tell ourselves some home truth about journalism. The facts of the truth we would like to tell ourselves revolve around this thread: that today, forces of globalisation have significantly changed the face of journalism – and it is irreversible! That is why this talking points will centre on the following issues to remind us that our profession is indeed facing some huge challenges even in global context. I told our colleagues on the platform of the correspondents’ chapel the same truth on 14th July 2012 at their July Congress when I was invited to give a talk for the month at the Abuja NUJ Family House in Utako, Abuja. I reiterated the same message on 26 July, 2012 in Umuahia at a Senate Press Corps Retreat.
The relevance of the message here is that we are discussing in the context of our very old tertiary education curricula being used to train and teach undergraduates we expect to fit into the 21st Century industry and market that forces of globalization shape daily!
Besides, we are aware that many of you in journalism and mass communication schools are being trained by trainers that have never practised anywhere. That is a huge challenge to all of you in our media environment where there is a mysterious disconnect between the media industry and the training institutions. We practitioners should be part of the teaching and training on writing and working for the mass media.
The issues & the context:
o Where we are (in global context)
o Our complacency/ignorance;
o Where we are going;
o Why we may be jobless sooner than later;
o Journalism and the Nigeria’s economy;
o How to survive this threat and remain alive to continue reporting;
o What are the threats to us: the economy, the polity, the flashpoints;
Some facts we must face now in global context:
o Globalisation that has changed the way business is being done, the way unethical politicians are falling all over the world too has changed the face of journalism.
o Now before our very eyes, readers, listeners and viewers can no longer wait till tomorrow before getting the details of the newsbreaks.
o So, sooner than later, market forces will tell our proprietors that they may not be able to rely on regular streams of incomes to pay salaries and allowances and even run their operations.
o The hardest hit is the printed word: that print journalism is in trouble already all over the world.
o Even the world’s best English language newspaper, The New York Times, is not healthy at the moment. By the end of the year, one of the most influential news magazines, Newsweek will migrate to a digital platform as only an online journal. Not too long ago, a Mexican billionaire, Carlos Slim, had to rescue the NYT paper about around 2007.
o Today’s news consumer can no longer be satisfied with the old style of journalism: what happened, where, when, how and who was involved?
o Now social media, Bloggers’ news feeds even from Yahoo, Google, The Huffington Post, Sahara Reporters, Premium Times, etc and others have taken over the news business! Even Twitter has opened up its site for anybody anywhere in the world to report events as they occur. There is trouble already for every journalist.
o The G-1 (United States) is the most affected. Every day, journalists lose jobs there. In September, this year (2012) the New Orleans, in Louisiana, joined the infamous league of old cities in the U.S state without a daily newspaper. The Times Picayune, the only daily newspaper there is no longer able to publish daily. There are many others like that.
o In the U.K, telephone hacking scandals in the media business family of The man who owns the news, Rupert Murdock, has added to the challenges of the news business there. Judicial inquiry on this has put the British Prime Minister in the dock.
o It is only in India and Nigeria, among others that newspaper business still ‘booms’ and there is complacency, but thanks to absence of broadband Internet service in these countries.
o The social media have killed interest in the old style of investigative journalism: the social media even publish outright lies that are sometimes believed by gullible consumers.
o What is more, there are websites such as Wiki-leaks that publish what used to be noted as classified documents.
o So, accountability journalism/investigative journalism that used to be the pride of the profession is also in big trouble here as the social media are already disclosing details of official corruption even in high places
o But in Nigeria, we still value accountability journalism because of where we are, although our circulation figures are dismally low at the moment and readers and advertisers should not know yet. But they will soon know. That will worsen our troubles.
o In the West they are already saying the 2006 prophecy of The Economist that asked a thought-provoking question: Who Killed The Newspaper? is being fulfilled and recently the same news magazine did a cover on Back to the coffee house (July 9th– 15th 2011). The news world-class journal did a 14-page special report on the future of the news…in the same issue. The synopsis to the cover reads: The Internet is taking the news industry back to the conversational culture of the era before the mass media…(p.11).
o So, there is need for us to scale up, square up to the challenges before we can think of how to remain on top of the game to be part of a national rebirth, if any.
o Now it appears the game is up. But is it?
Lessons from the West:
o In anticipation of the trouble, the world’s best journalism school that administers the Pulitzer Prize, Columbia Journalism School has introduced a dual (PG) degree to produce a 21st century digital journalist: they now combine journalism with computer science.
o Journalism associations such as American Society of Editors and indeed National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) are taking steps to bridge the digital divide by educating their members and even students about the dangers of the moment and the ones ahead.
o They build up a link between the training institutions and the industry
o The training institutions employ the services of the veterans as professors of journalism.
o The proprietors fund major operations and special reports/investigations.
o They encourage all their members to own websites and conduct workshops on freelancing and opportunities.
What to do to remain relevant in the face of threat to our jobs:
Study of the Nigerian business environment (most of us
do not know Nigeria enough).
Renewing of our mind-set about why we are poor.
Attitude to work and knowledge of the forces of
globalisation that have changed the world of
international business, journalism, politics, etc.
Attitude to Reading, Writing & Research (Reading BRICS)
Retraining culture.
Handling documents (such as Vision 20-20-20, NASS Reports, etc)
Relationship with the state authorities/ Our independence/ Our ethical values (this diminishes us every day).
Handling of awards to politically exposed persons in the polity
Attitude to PG courses in other disciplines (such as Economics, Accounting, Management, Computer Science, Law, etc.
Power of our organisation/personal discipline.
Power of friendships/contacts in high places.
Attitude to further learning of the English language…
Re-capitalisation of NUJ (will reduce dependency syndrome) and will affect our standing before the authorities in politics and business.
Now the needful:
Strategic thinking about what the readers, listeners
and viewers want: they have choices in the new century
(now they can get the breaking news anyhow.
Strengthening our investigative skills with the power of
FOI Act.
How to become digital journalist that can work in any
media houses
How to strengthen freelancing and make money from it
anywhere in the world.
How can we become global reporters/interpreters and
analysts of events and issues around us.
Some reminders about our role as journalists:
Watch-dog Journalism, Agenda Setting & The Road Not Taken
According to Pippa Norris who edited Public Sentinel: News Media & Governance Reform for the World Bank Institute, there is watchdog journalism, agenda setting and democratic accountability role for journalists in global context. This is the way he has puts it in capsule form:
The watchdog role of the media entails exercising some oversight over the public realm in ways that ensure that various actors and agents are kept in check and held to the requirements of their roles in the polity. The watchdog function is closely related to democratic accountability, which is based on the understanding that the only way that the various freedoms, civil liberties, and other constitutional provisions, and indeed democracy itself, can be protected and sustained is when those who occupy positions of responsibility in the state are made to respect those provisions and freedoms. That is to say they must imbibe, protect and practise the tenets of the rule of law, thereby eschewing any inclination toward arbitrariness and abuse. Accountability also flows from the notion of good governance, which is premised on the expectation that the office holders will manifest behaviours, attitudes, and actions that are in conformity with the principles of transparency, efficiency and transparency….P.283). Again, this is the road we hardly take because we are perhaps too undercapitalized to be independent.
Investigation, the proprietors, editors & the new market:
Let’s put some facts here in some proper context. Effective investigative journalism is a function of combined efforts of the management and the owners because the consequences are grave. In other words, if the publishers who are now more visible in the newsrooms are complacent about funding and consequences, the gatekeepers (editors) can do nothing about pursuing such deadly or dangerous ventures.
What is Investigative Journalism that FOI Act can enhance at such a time like this? Let’s examine this worn out catchphrase from a United Nations McBride Commission report in the early 1970s. In the report, there is a subhead entitled, Under Rights and Responsibilities of Journalists in which the controversial Commission reiterates the role of the investigative journalist in a very distinctive manner thus:
Those in authorities often tend to conceal that which is convenient or likely to arouse public opinion against them…active pursuit and disclosure of facts, which are of public interest is one of the criteria to judge a journalist’s professional capacities…The role of the investigative journalist is to question and probe the action of those in authority and to expose them whenever there is abuse of power, incompetence, corruption and other deviations…
Let’s look at what some practitioners have made of this genre of journalism and how some others have defined it. The Philippine Centre for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) that did an $8 million dollar worth of 2000 journalistic legwork that brought down their president, Joseph Estrada not too long ago defines Investigative journalism this way as journalism that target systemic errors aiming to right a wrong.
This is how one of the founders of the Centre Ms Sheila Coronel summarises the definition in a case study for the World Bank Institute:
The PCIJ always addresses systemic problems. We never look at individual cases or incidents unless we can out them in wider context of important issues such as environment, corruption or social disintegration. We are always looking at the specific cases as part of a bigger pattern in order to point out what is wrong in the system. this is what makes these investigations possible… For us investigative journalism is not just techniques, it is very important to understand investigative journalism – on a philosophical level – as journalism, which holds powerful individuals and institutions for their actions. We are very conscious of the role investigative journalism can play in a young democracy in terms of enriching public debate, catalysing reforms and holding the powerful to account…
It is important for us to note too that investigative journalism is not about one arm of government even in a democracy. For us in Abuja, we are too obsessed about covering the presidency or the National Assembly. What is more, in the 36 federating states and Abuja, we are too ensconced in covering the state governors and their spouses. We hardly look at what the two other arms are doing. Yet we see the recklessness of the other arms but instead of covering them, we cover them up. Let’s therefore examine our role as journalists in this context as defined by a practitioner cited by Dr Dokun Bojuwade who was once lost to MAMSER and later NOA. In a book he did on The Press & Public Policy in the late eighties, the former executive of the NIJ cited an unidentified practitioner who defines the role of the press in another unique manner this way:
The ideal press is the First Estate of the Realm, not the Fourth…that keeps a watchful eye on the judiciary of the institution is wrongly interpreting the law… that moderates the activities of the executive of found to be presiding over a tyrannical mandate… that keeps the parliament on its toes if the body is putting out repressive legislation…
In this context, we have been hearing a lot of stories about the judiciary but no one gets near them even as we continue to see the lifestyles of Nigerian judges change and they own property too everywhere.
We need to get it right here that Investigative Journalism is not what we claim when we want to hide our adversarial sources and claim in our reports that ‘investigation shows or reveals that so so-and-so happened last night…’ We need to not that thorough investigative reports as it happened in the Philippines, are capable of:
Arousing public opinion against authorities or governments
Questioning actions of those in authorities
Exposing them whenever there are traits of corruption, incompetence and deviations
Drawing attention to tyranny, oppression, wrong interpretation of laws
Exposing hypocrisy, double standard and allied matters…
Exposing what somebody, somewhere in power wants to hide…
Please, note the following specific elements:
The great story from the Philippines, the world-class investigation that the World Bank institute has been showcasing as a masterpiece to the world took the investigators eight months. Tagged, Journalistic Legwork That Tumbled a President, the report documented by Lars Moller and Jack Jackson for the World Bank Institute is just about how a handful of Filipino journalists pulled the red carpet from under their powerful president Joseph Estrada. It has been recommended by the WBI as a brilliant case study for journalists around the world. The Filipino journalists were very focused: they followed some paper trail and targeted the lifestyle and finances of the president and his family…
The core issue before the national rebirth question:
In this kind of journalism, it is like setting up a centre for public integrity. Investigative journalism is all about significant public issues to make institutional power more transparent and accountable. This kind of journalism has the potential to:
- Generate high-quality accessible investigative reports, databases and contextual analysis on issues of public importance.
- Educates, engages and empowers citizens with the
It is accountability journalism that is at the core of a healthy democracy. It is like a vigilant watchdog news media, which is the way to provide the kind of truth and transparency required for self-government. If you are a true investigative journalist, you will believe in what this strong pillar of democracy Abraham Lincoln says of the nexus between the society and citizenship:
I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. This great point is to bring them the real facts…
Besides, this is what the man who establishes the best and most respected journalism prize in the world Joseph Pulitzer once said of investigative journalism (that can win his prize that Columbia Journalism School administers till date:
More crime, immorality and rascality is prevented by fear of exposure in the newspapers than by all laws, morals and statutes ever devised…
Use follow charts to find sources (look at processes of doing something according to codified laws, white papers, rules, etc)
Search for allied sources (human sources on paper trail and accounts of other people)
Shake the tree (others will bring information once you follow up)
Don’t lie t your sources (be open to them what you are doing)
Protect (your sources)
Expose the fine details (of your findings, observations, etc.)
Look for patterns (you could trail patterns of acquisitions that are dubiously done)
Expose front men and companies (used for corruption)
Note the following op prizes other than Naira & Kobo using the PCIJ & Coronel as paradigm shift:
If you do any investigation of impact, note that reports of public inquiry will become part of your report that can produce a great book. In the thriller the WBI has been advertising to journalists around the world, PCIJ and Coronel reached and published a series of stories on the Estrada scandal throughout the impeachment process, In November, the journalists exposed how a protected forest was felled to make way for “Cronyville”, an exclusive enclave for the president and his cronies. Another story documented even more lavish mansions in “An Embarrassment of Houses” summing up the 17 pieces of presidential property. In December of the year of the great story (2000) the Centre published its first major articles in a book Investigating Estrada: Millions, Mansions and Mistresses. Most of the stories are still accessible at the PCIJ’s website (http:www.pcij.org).
It is the investigative pen that is mightier than the sword:
It was reported of the PCIJ and Coronel efforts in the Philippines that of all allegedly corrupt leaders of Asia, Joseph Estrada was the first to face an impeachment trial. The trail was not only brought to a convincing finish to allow for a full legitimacy to the new president’s powers, but even so the mere prosecution of Estrada and later his conviction was called a victory for democracy. The shift in the media climate away from “presidential lap dog” to the Fourth Estate of the Realm (fourth power of the estate) was also seen as a victory. But much more, for PCIJ and Coronel, however, the ultimate goal for them was to: “ develop democracy much further, to the extent where politics and economy will be based on the rule of law”. They said specifically: “we invest our time, talent and resources so that we can bring about a real change”, Coronel remarked when she was named by Asiaweek as one of the top graft-busters of Asia.
Deepening understanding of threat to journalists
Four key issues that provoke attack on journalists:
o investigative journalism;
o covering war zones;
o reporting live events such as disaster and
o hypocrisy and being a double agent in conflict situation.
The real danger zone:
o war zones and conflict areas (including rivals in politics and opposition vs ruling party big guns.
Note that in the danger zone, you should be prepared to work in hostile environments as we now have in Nigeria where media houses have been attacked. There will be more attacks from other sources too around 2015.
What is national rebirth we are challenging journalism to reshape?
The 44th annual conference of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria in Abuja last October (2012) provided leaders an opportunity to deliberate on how the nation could rise again. This is the way a national newspaper reported the institute’s annual conference and it is relevant here:
“Nigeria’s rich history of national values that distinguish her from other nations and the need for a renaissance among the citizenry for the realisation of her vision to be among the 20 largest economies in the world by 2020 was eloquently canvassed by President Goodluck Jonathan and other eminent Nigerians, who spoke at the 44th annual national conference of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria in Abuja.
“The President, who was represented by the Head of Service of the Federation, Alhaji Isah Salli, while declaring open the conference, said Nigeria had passed through various stages of transformation and national development since its independence 52 years ago.
“He urged the citizens to go back to the basics and re-imbibe the values that made Nigeria the pride of the world at the dawn of independence.
“These set of values, according the President, include respect for human dignity and the right to life, service to the nation, hardwork, loyalty, honesty, selfless service, religious tolerance, accountability and dedication that shaped the way and manner the citizens behaved and how other nations of the world perceived Nigerians as a people.
“He, however, regretted that these set of values had been eroded by various negative factors ranging from corruption, abuse of power, lack of respect for human life, lack of dignity, drug abuse, kidnapping, religious intolerance, ethnic wars and suicide bombings.
“All these, according to him, have slowed down the pace of transformation and national development.
A Vice Chancellor’s definition of national rebirth
This is how another national newspaper reported another event in January this year (2012) where “national rebirth” was a discussion point at issue.
“The Vice-Chancellor, Caleb University, Imota, Lagos, Prof. Ayodeji Olukoju, has advocated national rebirth as solution to the problems facing Nigeria.
“Olukoju’s position was contained in a statement signed by the institution’s Public Relations Officer, Mr. Abimbola Odulesi, after the VC presented his New Year message to the university community.
“According to him, a national rebirth in the New Year will usher in new sets of values based on probity, tolerance, dialogue and respect for human lives rather than the orgy of violence, destruction and insecurity that characterised much of 2011.
“To give fillip to his call, Olukoju said the university had started an initiative whereby these new values were being inculcated into the students since the institution commenced academic activities in 2007.
“As a university we have been playing a leading role in fostering national re-birth and noble values in our students since inception of this institution in 2007…
“One of such programmes, according to Olukoju, is the CALEB Leadership Academy, where students receive quality training in selfless service, teamwork, dignity of labour and respect for human lives.
You can see what need to be born again in our national life in Nigeria where corruption has been elevated to a genre of fundamental objective and directive principle of state policy.
What can the mass media do here in the context of national orientation and rebirth?
Lincoln, Jefferson Answer part of the question.
Although not all leaders and communication experts at all levels agree with the views of two former American leaders Mr Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson who expressed strong views long ago on the indispensability of the media in a democratic setting, yet their views are still relevant to our discussion here.
To Lincoln, a self-governing society, by definition, needs to make known its own decisions. He had felt that such a democratic society cannot do that without hard information, leavened with an open exchange of views. The great Lincoln had articulated this concept quite succinctly when he said: “Let the people know the facts, and the country will be safe”.
But This is Nigeria!
In our country today, many public officers and leaders still regard Lincoln’s view as somewhat naïve, given the complexities and technologies of the 21st century; but then the need for public news has been a cornerstone of the America’s system almost from the start.
In the same vein, Thomas Jefferson, the United States first Secretary of State felt so strongly about the principle of free press in a democratic setting when he said something that non-democrats would regard as an absurdity: His words:
“If it were left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter”.
Still on the relevance of the media in a democracy James Madison warned in the first year of the 19th Century, “A popular government without popular information or the means of acquiring it is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives”.
But most Americans now feel that the press in their milieu has had a remarkable disconnect between the government and the people. They are pained that their press is serving only the interest of mega corporations and non-performing government that wastes their resources in a needless war in Iraq. And so it is paradox of development that even the some US media organizations are being frustrated by the tyranny of the American press. For instance, an American newspaper Madison Capital Times/Wisconsin had on Saturday 5 March 2005 written an Editorial on Media and Democracy in which the paper opined seriously that:
Media as cesspool of spin?
“American media have become a cesspool of political spin, product of placement and celebrity gossip. Popular information that matters, and means of acquiring it is being choked off by the handful of corporations that have come to control the vast majority of American broadcast and print communications. And the consolidation of media ownership-about which the founder of this newspaper, Williams T.Evjue, began warning in 1917-is growing dramatically more prophetic”.
The editorial continues: “In other words, Madison is being proven right as we watch and listen and read the media that serve the interests of the powerful and wealthy while denying the vast majority of American citizens the power that knowledge gives. The tragedy is evident in a was sold as both easy and necessary but that continues to claim Iraqi and American lives and that it is emptying the public treasury of the funds that should pay for school, health care and other basic needs….”
The remarkable editorial had also asserted: If America had better media, we would have a better president. And we would not be stuck in the quagmire that is Iraq”
In this American scenario not resonating in our democratic society today? I mean, if critics today say the Nigerian media have become a cesspool of political spin, product of placement and celebrity gossip and gubernatorial supplements, are they wrong? Do Nigerian citizens too get popular information pieces that matter? Are the means of acquiring them not being choked off by the handful of corporations that have come to control the vast majority of Nigerian broadcast and print media? How much of relevant business, political, environmental and even healthcare news do citizens get now in the Nigerian media?
Journalists as necessary evil?
Despite all the cynicism about the media in Nigeria, they represent an ‘evil’ that we have to live with and understand. Though some electronic media occasionally broadcast some images that are allegedly ‘obscene’ and ‘offensive’, the newspapers in our milieu are generally believed to be more influential. It is not only in Nigeria. Even in the developed economies, people complain about the print media. This is what William Randolph Hearst said long ago about the ‘power’ of the newspaper:
The force of the newspaper is the greatest force in civilization. Under republican government, newspapers force and express public opinion. They suggest and control legislation. They declare wars. They punish criminals, especially the powerful. They reward with approving publicity the good deeds of citizens everywhere. The newspapers control the nation because they represent the people….
In other words, the universal value recognises one common thread that runs through all the ethical values of journalism bodies such as our own NUJ as Public Interest. Yes, any medium whether public or private that ignores public interest as a value is bound to die or be unpopular. Therefore, editors of the brand new Pointer Newspapers, allow public interest spirit to rule your judgment. And by doing so, it shall be well with you in the market proper and the market place of ideas. Let me leave you with these nuggets that:
- The central purpose of journalism is to provide citizens with accurate, reliable information they need to function in a free society….
- Journalism’s first obligation is to the truth as our Code of Ethics provides
- Journalism’s first loyalty is to citizens
- Its essence is a discipline of verification
- Its practitioner must maintain an independence from those they cover
- It must serve as an independent monitor of power (and business enterprises)
- It must provide a forum for public criticism and compromise
- It must strive to make the significant events interesting and relevant.
- It must keep the news comprehensive and proportional. Journalism is a form of cartography: it creates a map for us to navigate the society, which includes news of all communities.
- Its practitioners must be allowed to exercise their personal conscience
So, it does not matter really whether it is political or financial journalism. Its primary purpose is to serve the public. Our Journalism at such a time like this should be ‘public service journalism’ too.
But then we should note that we need to hone our skills on how to cover democratic institutions in Nigeria.
Conclusion…& back to the future…
My younger and older colleagues, I have noted some seemingly provocative issues here that can be challenged by scholars. I have challenged us to think about the fact that the forces of globalization has posed more threat to our jobs than the forces of the insurgents and all the freedom fighters all over the Niger Delta and the North. And accordingly, we should see it as Victor Hugo once noted, “…It is an idea whose time has come”.
What is more, I have pointed out that because of our low Internet penetration, social media networks have not destroyed the power of “accountability or investigative journalism. We (journalists) enjoy here writing columns and opinions than thorough investigations to the extent that if you attempt to do something extra-ordinary, some state and non-state actors can even impute motives and blame enemies that are believed to be sponsoring us (reporters). But without it now we will be absolutely irrelevant in the 21st century that digital journalism has taken over from the traditional media.
What is more, reporters do not feel that investigative reports can change career and even fortunes beyond the obnoxious ‘brown envelopes’ that cannot change anybody’s life. From the case study from the Philippines, we can see that our stories can take us to the uttermost parts of the earth. Besides, your well-investigated stories can bring you big money through autographing of good books that can arise from the consequences. Your report can make you rich too!
I have also not failed to point out to us that as whistle blowers, we should beware of the sympathizers and contractors and even consultants that can be more deadly than the regular operatives in office and in power. Besides, I have advertised to us here the concept of safety consciousness and conflict- sensitivity. I would like to add here that we need to secure our future too by not allowing the politically exposed people we cover to think always that we are part of them. Behold there is honour for us if we are regarded as legislative reporters rather than legislator-reporters. If we remain too rooted or complacent on the spot we are now without scaling up on our entrepreneurship journalism and indeed digital journalism, we will be left behind when others transit to the next century. What is more, we need to emphasise here too that the leaders we cover even in the National Assembly should be constantly reminded that as long as they do not consider national security implications in their spending patterns that has resulted in 70 % recurrent and 30 % capital, there will be no national security. And without national security, there will ne no security for anyone including journalists and federal legislators.
So, remember that the work we do is the best in the world. Yes journalism is the most exciting profession but it is also one of the most dangerous as we are covering one of the most corrupt countries too in the world. Covering corruption poses insecurity to us and covering it up poses more insecurity to the future of our children. Either way, we lose. But then we need to know that any time, we can be wasted by so many winds against our souls! But the task of rebuilding our country remains a fundamental objective for the mass media and Section 22 of the 199 Constitution as amended guarantees that.
Still on the power of reading & research:
So, let’ s first begin from reading the following often-ignored documents: the 1999 constitution as amended, the budget speeches and appropriation details from 1999 to date, all the Acts of Parliaments and resolutions, MDGs projects…
Besides, to broaden our outlook and perspectives about governance issues and development paradigm changers, we should buy academic journals and books to read about BRICS: Brazil, Russia, India, China and now South Africa. From our improved perspectives on these emerging markets and destinations of FDIs in international business now in global context, we will know why we should take advantage of the new opportunity we have in FOIA 2011 to investigate why the most populated black nation in the world in being described as a failing state.
No, we are not empowering you to target individuals. We are indeed encouraging you to forget about lack of funding for a moment and investigate even little, little foxes that have spoilt our vines as a country. Yes, you should begin with specific stories with short scopes and then advance. FOI may not be a perfect document, but it is a good document that can empower you to make not only money but a name and a purpose-driven journalism life as Pastor Rick Warren (author of The Purpose Driven Life) has noted. FOIA has paved the way for power and glory. But the glory will begin with good and well-written stories now that we can even sell to foreign media if editors fail or refuse to publish them. But we must be ready to return to our reading tables. Let me quote a master-class teacher of all time about two thousand years ago wrote to his boy: Study to show yourself approved to God, a workman that needs not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15)
Then the power of proficiency in English language
But then if you want to make or create some impact in journalism or writing for the mass media, you must continually read grammar of English books, especially the ones written by the native speakers. Note what the late English language teacher, author and publisher Chief S.M.O Aka wrote years ago about the power of proficiency in what has become the language of international politics and business: the English language:
Though English language is not a passport to heaven, it is a passport to some heavenly places such as the university, handsome pay packets, etc…
My younger colleagues who would like to live by writing should please take their English language lessons very seriously. That is one of the most important tools of writing, oh yes, writing that works, writing that can be remarkable and recognized by consumers of our products that have become very sophisticated, no thanks to globalization!
Besides, now for us to make journalism safe, we need to target issues and not individuals. We need to recognise that journalism world has changed and we too need to change our attitude to it, notably how to use our knowledge to survive. We need to re-skill, revive our reading and research culture and then explore opportunities for freelancing around the world.
Soon and very soon, when broadband revolution arrives, our employers may not need us anymore as they may want to run virtual newsrooms and ask us to file our stories from homes and pay us for such stories. That will pose more insecurity to us and our families. Therefore, we need to role up our sleeves to do more serious, well-researched stories as we begin to find out what we can do too without our present jobs. Thanks for listening to this discussion question to the only point at issue today: that only the mass media as an institution can force the hand of the wicked ones in Nigeria to start thinking about national rebirth, I mean through public service journalism! Thanks again for listening!
Some References:
Pippa Norris (2010) Public Sentinel: News Media & Governance Reform. Washington D.C, The World Bank.
Poynter Institute (can be accessed online at http.//www.poynter.org/howtos/digital-strategies/web-tips7624/journalists-safety-guide/
CPJ: can be accessed online at http://www.cpj/org/reports2012/04/information-security.php
(Martins Oloja can be challenged on this via m.oloja@aol.com).
