Film highlights plights of Nigerian journalists

Kemi Adetiba, a highly revered Nigerian filmmaker, recently treated film enthusiasts around the world and Nollywood film lovers at large, to the release of King of Boys: The Return of the King, a limited series that follows King of Boys, Nollywood’s 2018 political crime thriller.

The much-talked-about film tells the tale of Alhaja Eniola Salami, a business magnate with political ambitions. The character, played by veteran actress Sola Sobowale, is the eponymous King of Boys, spearheading the affairs of big cheeses in the streets and the underworlds. As seen in the film, she’s so powerful in such a way that ruffians have idolised her and they not only pay her homage, they also ensure her percentage from the proceeds they make from every illegal business like hard drug merchandising and political-related assassinations, are secured even without her input into such deeds.

Having assisted some persons to secure their political ambitions with her street affluence and wealth, Alhaja Salami as suitably referred to was later caught in political tussles, as the thirst for power grew in her. But this didn’t sit well with the public office holders she had helped.

The public office holders shared a common opinion that Alhaja Salami could not be trusted with power. They unanimously agreed that she belongs to the streets and she should rather be there for their sake. Hence, after the politicians have made ceaseless efforts to make her rest her political ambitions, they declared war on her, such that they wanted her dead.

But luckily for Alhaja Salami, she narrowly escaped the incidents that would have led to her death, after which she fled the country. By that time, she had lost everything to the war, including her children. Five years after she escaped, the self-acclaimed Laburu (which means evil) in the Yoruba language, made a grand entrance into the country she was keen on serving.

Laburu’s return littered the country’s news media domain, as it stirred mixed reactions among members of the public and the political elites. While some of them rejoiced over her return, others expressed their dissatisfaction as they believed her return would establish instability and chaos.

In all of this was Dapo Banjo, a role played by talented thespian and singer Efa Iwara. Flanked by Bimbo Manuel, who played the role of Mr. Mogaji, the publisher of Conscience Newspapers, Banjo is a passionate journalist, who would stop at nothing to inform his audience about the country’s political events.

As Adetiba portrays it, Dapo is a young journalist that has the interest of the country at heart. He’s a nationalist that’s more interested in correcting the societal ills that have been unanimously adopted as normalcy, even though it would mean he’s alone. He doesn’t give up, such that he would risk his life to see a story fly.

Unlike Dapo, Mr. Mogaji doesn’t care much about what is right or wrong. He wouldn’t risk his news media publishing business or life, just for the sake of telling a story. Hence, he would continually advise the former to slow down in his reportage. At some points, he had to tell the reporter he has no point in chasing some kind of stories, especially as it relates to the political elites.

After several attempts to discourage Dapo from going after the political elites with his pen, Mr. Mogaji resolved to sabotage the former’s efforts. In fact, he hosted a media parley just to discredit an explosive news report Dapo individually published on his blog; with his affluence, he made members of the public believe the latter is just obsessed and have zero interest in writing good stories about the political class. According to the publisher, his reporter is just envious and as such, he shouldn’t be taken seriously.

Although one might say this is just a film, for someone familiar with the present-day journalism practice, he would agree that the Dapo and Mr. Mogaji’s role is the reality of Nigerian journalists, especially in the era of new media.

In most cases, in the quest for survival and profitability, journalistic values have been thrown to the winds, especially as it is in the new media age. Gone are the days when meaningful reports that have societal values are what is prioritised and merchandised. Now, what is common are aggregating websites that brand themselves as news publishing platforms. These types of publications don’t care about quality news reports, they aim to secure the numbers by all means, even though it would mean empty stories are what their audience would be exposed to. As long as the content has the poise to attract attention in beer parlours or saloons as the case may be, it is good for publishing. Here, fact-finding, accuracy, fairness, and accountability, are often dragged to the mud. After all, who cares as long as salaries are not being owed?

On the other hand, there are also some types of publications that only aid the interests of their principals. For these ones, profitability from the media establishments is the least of their worries. They are either set up to massage the egos of their principals continuously or serve as tools used against their competitors and opponents.

Sadly, journalists only practise partly what they learnt from the classrooms during their school days. Certainly, a lot of them didn’t know they would end up writing gists till they are frustrated out of the noble profession.

It is however pertinent to note that the government of the day in Nigeria has done more damage to the journalism profession. Although one may say it has always been like this in the country, such a person should not shy away from the reality that newspaper sales were just so good that a media outfit’s survival was just too guaranteed. At least, without being used as political tools or serving as an aggregating portal, most of them could ensure their editorial staff members enjoyed the profession.

Now, how many newspapers can pay staff salaries with sales? Magazines have even become things of blessed memories, as we can no longer take pride in any.

So, to be fair, Adetiba has done justice in exposing members of the public to the reality of journalists in Nigeria, and with that, the industry should consider her brave and as a result, should be showered with all the encomiums. This is because nobody has reported the plights of journalists the way she did with KOB.