The Nigerian press practice has hit the wall. All that Sahara Reporters stood for as shining example of good example of good practice all the years just crumbled, shattered by the insatiable ambition of one man. You build an institution and it must stand beyond everything you stand for.
But that man chose to kill an institution along with their personal, selfish ambition. May I never live to watch our young stars like WikkiTimes turn to this. May its vision stand out every test of time. God save our young men in hold of our wishes and hopes from the riding temptation of the astray.
Today we open an existing controversy. The typical Nigerian journalist is allergic to self criticism. So we have come to risk everything in relation to the class-field courtesies to help the people from this abuse of tools meant for national progress and development turned into hands of desperate, destructive elements. We are tired of this cruel long process of misleading the ignorant, fooling of the educated and ganging of the true truth, all for selfish ends for the few. What is this?
The Publisher/owner of Sahara Reporters, Sowore, a Nigerian, a good example for every aspiring journalist in the world, days back, has brought the media in Nigeria to a long question, dampening its good history and unfolding of the advancement of personal interest to a personal agenda. If we don’t write, it will look all is well with what has happened with a journalists turned to a revolutionist.
I have read a number of opinions on the issue, and I have to conclude that even the ideas of those writers supporting the protest for a revolution as treasonable, talk more of the call for a revolution, from a renowned journalists. It is first a betrayal of the creed of the noblest profession and abuse of the facility of its value of practice. It is also a breach of public trust punishable by first a crisis of conscience in someone’s mind.
But here is Nigeria: anybody does anything treason and gets away with it. At such a critical time at which I have avoided any controversial words for all the years I have researched the media for national unity. I am glad that the conclusions of my thesis and some of my publications, writings about the attitude of journalists/editors and how that influences their work to constitute national risks and threat to integration, was, afterall, true for all the years since 1999.
It is now huge fact the Nigerian press is largely corrupt. It is a fact, too, that journalists are the first criminals against the press and its standing norms of practice. The maxim, “journalism is not a crime is an ideal. It can only be seen working in what we do with the practice in given circumstances or contexts. Such explanations will usually be avoided as long delve into history by the compromising ideas in support of treason under democracy.
But it only exposes the dirt that is there beneath the pants of the man in extreme white dress, parading open neatness. We are like that in this part of the world. We shine from outside and stink beneath. Our undies are the opposite of what we wear on top. This amounts to the foolish idea that if the car body is clean, the engine can smoke no problem.
In this context, we can say, that journalists are the enemies of the profession they abuse to get cheap popularity; to attain political office or power; to unleash personal anger against a government in order to avenge a loss of election. Anything. And from all I read since the call for revolution conception and attempt of treason unpunished by law of the land, it seems to me that many are aggrieved by the Buhari time that ganged personal interest and ambition for the national interest.
I said that many times since the PMB years started but little cared to notice because the fact of their concealments manifested in their attitude would eventually speak their intended action. Now it they have. What more? The will see the same formula they operated to survive the PMB might to date: ignore, deny and change the subject. They are very good at it. And many more are learning the tact, fast.
To be fair to all and to the press, a delve into the past is necessary in order to appreciate the long way we have come and to thank the same men misbehaving today for their services of the past; where they derailed, how and why. This will give fairness to the accused; knowledge to the ignorant and will serve as reminder to the forgetful.
The Press has survived key challenges in Nigeria’s nation struggle, ranging from political, social, legal and economic constraints of different types, characterising the three epochs of its history: pre-, during, and post-colonial. But the press had survived all through that because of steadfast commitment to the founding principles underlying its conducts, operation and behavior of its houses, organisations and journalists.
In doing so, the press had balanced the three pillars of interest – the publisher or owner, the advertiser and the reader. Moderating the three interests in a publication is the first editorial responsibility which determines the future of the press in any society. Where such balancing is lacked, success’ graph will begin to descend. No press in any society losses its vision and no press succeeds on fallacy.
The founding fertility for the growth of the press in Nigeria, and the gap in such growth between the southern and northern regions was the commercial nature of Lagos where the industry started and supported by the flourishing businesses, the advantages of the southern axis of the press over the northern is a remarkable point of academic interests for many years, remembered by the phrase, “the Lagos/Ibadan axis of the press” and the rest, fundamentally the northern..
In the north, that fertility was lacking due to dearth of private business and high illiteracy rate then. Readership and adverts were the founding stuff that fueled the press’ growth in any given society, and in Nigeria. And this mainly explains why newspapers survived and progressed more in the south.
With democracy, the press’ commercial leanings were challenged by politics and the press itself was so ‘politicised’ in many respects, including the toying with even the sanctity of the editorial pages. Political figures with political interests turned to the press for promotion, at every cost. Some established their own houses to that end.
A new, strange impetus of revenue for the press emerged from political adverts, overshadowing the incomes from the private sector. But that political patronage was short termed because the adverts stopped coming in when some political ambition and political interests died in, or with, the political ambitions of political figures and killed some press houses as a result.
Ever since, the press’ tastes of political patronage grew with its own interest in democracy and the promotion of its values because the plum of political adverts can only be sustained under democracy. The political landscape in Nigeria gave the press exceptional, unique ways of patronage because of the impossible political behaviours of politicians of the Nigerian type in an American-styled democracy of the Nigerian type..
A tight, intricate web of interests and a strong relationship strengthened, among a threshold of publishers, political editors and political correspondents/reporters, over lots of short and long term plans and ambitions of even the less ambitious, gradually ganging the industry’s public, social or human service to engineer economic growth, social order and political stability.
Over time, the consequences of the web of interests and motives faded the press’ conscience and with the PDP’s style of leadership spanning 16 years, integrity of journalists of the press and the media, worsened.
Ethical considerations of balance, fairness, detachment or involvement only for the public interest, respect for the sanctity of the front page and other editorial spaces, readers’ interests have all waved into the new general culture and behavior of abuse of principles of journalistic practices and traditions, and the negligence of the Nigerian national press’ historical responsibility to the nation, its development and progress.
Journalists and editors become godsons to politicians and topped their payrolls. Editors override political adverts to editorial principles and sold most of the pages for money and that blinded them from the imperative of unearthing the truth and fairness in the schemes socio-economy and political developments.
That has compromised virtually all interests, including the fundamental of all – that of readers and advertisers because the spaces were taken over by political adverts which were highly paid for, with commissions for different interests in the industry.
The relationship between the press and politics and the press and power is not neither new nor strange, rooted in the annals of national history but that it used to be on certain uncompromisable principles yesterday’s journalists and editors lived, defended and died for. What is strange are the undermining consequences of such relationship on the public, social and human interests, national development and political stability.
The then constructive relationship between the press and politics was prided on the condition that the press does not lose readers because advertisers, even the politicians among such, pay the press on the basis of how many and who read them where. Once that imperative is shelved, there can be nothing good in the alignment of forces in the media industry and politicians and the power actors in any given society.
The media scholarship and even the industry in better societies, limits the extent of tamper with the sanctity of readers’ interest, and say it is not negotiable. But in Nigeria, this interest has been disrespected in some sections of the press and sometimes ignored at most critical times of national questions.
This is partly related to the politician’s idea about the average Nigerian, particularly the northerner – even if educated, they can be gullible, manipulable and can be taken for granted on many counts because as instrument of socialisation at the mercy of the rich and the powerful, the press can be the one to so conclude about readers and even advise for that, based on armchair generalization and without conducting any readers’ survey to determine the extent of conclusion.
Editors shared the hindsight of politicians and forgot, dropped most of professional values and shared, subscribed to many ideas of politicians, turned political god sons of the highest capitalist order who paraded open political bias in their editorial decisions to the chagrin of readers; they indulge in reporter/story maltreatment; and turning in-house columns/commentary praises to the patrons, their party or the government, and others.
This was done, sometimes, under the disguise of political consultancy which was silently played by serving editors and writers. The line between news and opinions became blurred, becoming thinner than ever. Unusual questions raised many issues and with all that there is no call to attention from any professional body, sanction or punishment of any kind. Infact the issues are hardly talked about, for the press doesn’t discuss its malaises as it is done in better societies.
Students, aspiring journalists; new intakes and the novices in the media and students on internship come back to tell us about the contempt of their new ideas, new ways of doing things and how their thoughts and fresh ideas are sanctioned, ignored and questioned by the benchers who grew into big editorial positions, and are so insecure, inadequate, shallow and can do anything to protect their positions and environment from the influx of the massive, desperate unemployed.
They are asked to shut up or sit down with punctuate of the archaic idea, ‘what do you know. We have been in this job before you were born’. This intolerance usually kills the spirit and love of the young for the profession. It muffles their dream and ambition, but most importantly, it destroys their good minds, good hearts and the exuberance for public service, which is all about journalism and journalism practice in a better society.
This same posture is responsible for the faceoff, the conflict of classroom/field of practice which brings us in bad eyes of colleagues and friends in the field. This is wrong. We are supposed to be partners and adviser to each other, pure on the ideal and real cardinals of practice.
This shifts us closer to the relationship between corruption and the press in Nigeria. The press’ role in corruption is unmistakable and massive, considering those and many other compromises and malpractices of the press.
The role some part of the press and media played in the campaign and the open contempt to change party and candidates points to the fact that a section of the press was not posed to any popular agenda or demand.
They didn’t look beyond their immediate interests. They knew that was wrong. But they took convenience in the fact that people still played for the PDP and some false claims were played to support their idea.
I have close friend-journalists. Many of them were antagonistic to change. We talked so much about the public sphere, politics, economy and society. But in the heat of the campaign, I later recalled, we stopped talking. And I also thought that some of the much close friends actually never mentioned Buhari in my presence. I was thinking.
I found also that such friends also were quick to any religious idea about corruption. But they deny any classical example in Buhari or anyone which demonstrates anticorruption qualities. With the posture of my conscience, I was mentally disturbed and hijacked by the difference I make in disposing anticorruption ideas and practicing them.
It is sad to live with people who you love so much for the job, for the efforts they make in the normal narrative form but persons who distaste, hate you so much for your idea and your support to the champions of your idea in politics. Same people would do anything; beat you to prayers in the mosque.
But you wonder what is that secret hidden in the holy books about prayer and corrupt tendencies/ acts or the fate of a corrupt life in the hereafter. Or is journalism a cover that guarantees one beyond this life?
There was the case of the regional radio station which ran programme for a state government but the chief manager either partly or never remitted money into the official account. The case died and the person involved was made the national head of the organization.
This is just one of the many cases which point out how corrupt the press was/is and how it aided corruption which is responsible for the predicament of the public press/media in Nigeria for years.
Explaining the current reasons for the cry over lack of political adverts for the survival of the press in Nigeria should not be difficult for the reasons above. This was much expected.
In fact, I raised the alarm at a social group of editors I was privileged to member that with some of the lines of comments, the press are not poised for the current atmosphere and this government is not friendly. The same press will champion a new campaign of discontent against the government.
This started last two weeks with the silently circulated issue of the two point eight billion dollars lost when Buhari was heading NNPC, some issue which was not raised even at the campaigns because of its lack of merit.
But they brought it up because they still ride on the gullibility of the Nigerian reader to believe something out of truth and out of merit and on the blind bias of religion, region, ethnicity and tribe.
They forget that the new media have revolutionized the minds of the typical Nigerian who now can see beyond the lines and beyond any bias because truth has been justified and the pens have dried for politicians over Buhari and the APC for now, at the least.
It is true that with Buhari in charge business will not be as usual for the press because the general business of government is not going to be as usual, as we have seen in some cases so far. That was or should be expected by the press itself more than any arm of society. A change was what the press preached first and the campaign later asked Nigerians for. And in any case, the press should be at the helm of such change.
This means that publishers and editors were expected to redress, long before this transition by exploiting the tradition business base of revenue and other areas democracy and technology brought, instead of waiting for the same corrupt ways of political adverts from desperate government officials, on trivial, sycophantic, blind loyalists, routine greetings, wishes and fetish prayers for politicians, political godfathers and political mentors in government.
Of course the press itself knows that the rates of those adverts were just too much for individuals’ legitimate earnings to pay for them. Press persons should be the first to condemn this and set the agenda for the Buhari government’s quest for sanity.
In crying for such adverts, the press is, in a way, saying that if corruption is stopped persons would not steal anymore and so they cannot afford the spoils of political advert pages editors and publishers enjoyed.
Is the press this corrupt? Has it been so or it is a new phenomenon? And since when the corruption started in the press? Could this be that the press actually helped to perpetuate corruption under the PDP? Where press persons largely PDP members all along, all the while?
But then are we saying that government will stop the patronage of the press, the private press? How possible is that? Is there or is there going to be a policy to that effect. No. Of course government adverts will come with the planned needs of publicity for official programmes, and if government decides to choose media or its own media or the social media, it has the right.
In fact the choice of media for any campaign for development will be professionally decided by professionals, without the bias of any politician in government. We know that Buhari has the impeccable discipline to ensure that. We are beginning to see it soon when projects begin. This is a challenge the change we begot and courtesy of the democracy we celebrate.
Long ago, we asked the traditional press and the media to stand up because the new/social media and citizenship journalism were posing serious challenges which would ask for continuous training and retraining, skill building and editorial rethinking in the public media particularly.
This was largely ignored and as we saw in the campaign that brought Buhari to power, citizenship journalism and the social media played a key part worth a mention in the acceptance and inaugural speeches of the President.
It was an opportunity of time in the currency of history of the press and the country you cannot blame on anyone, and which is bound to go on the pages of books for the record.
The private media now use payment of staff as a reason in their struggle for survival. But that was false. The character of nonpayment of salaries remains the hallmarks of those politicians and the political media.
Even in the last government when the press had it most, some media houses were getting stray billions of Naira but they never cared to pay salary arrears of workers. One private conglomerate claimed billions from the Jonathan Government in campaign fees but it still owes workers over a year’s salary.
Some of these workers are our students and friends. They come to us to cry off their travails and questioning the guts, nature, integrity and future of the noble profession we proclaim in the classroom, away from the realities in media organisations and the on the fields of practice.
But we have fewer answers to give because most of the questions need impossible answers we do not have. And the limitations of Mass Communication theory is that no issue, condition can be addressed by any theoretical idea at a given place, in a given time, under a given context.
The press in Nigeria needs to wake up. Publishers need to rethink the founding principles of their organisations. And editors need to return to the founding values which are now more seen in the nonprofessional citizen journalists who give raw but accurate, true in formation most government agents deny journalists. We need to look inwards and restrategise to survive the currents of change.
We cannot ask for exemption from the policies of this government against corruption. It was the press in history that asked for decency, sanity, order, respect to law from the public and government. Can the same press turn it round to advocate for abuse of public funds in the name of adverts for survival of the media houses? No.
The reliance on government must be reduced to the barest because government patronage will come but meagre. But other sources remain in the private sector and many social outlets/events. Life must continue as usual. There will still be celebrations, ceremonies, parties, AGMs and many others. They will bring some form of revenue that will run the business with little profit.
We must not forget that this profession is known for its noble cause, not for money. Journalism affords you to serve humanity on the plane of truth, honesty, fairness and justice. Y our gratification is the prayer, wishes and goodwill of fans in the public. And in the end you will get a decent burial. Those who lost the track actually lost everything.
They compromised integrity and dignity for money. The money never came and they died without glory. Double tragedy. Those who are inclined to money making should change to other businesses for plum turnarounds, and leave the sanctity of journalism intact.
If they don’t they will continue to expose themselves and the inadequacies in the profession that everyone will practice in the next world – because even there we will communicate and visits as well. But in this world, we should know that sanctity is the first act of respect for the public interest the press advocates.
Remember, journalism and everything in its practice is a public trust we cannot afford to undermine. If we do, readers and the public will revolt, this time against the traditional practice especially that now, society seems to get almost a replacement in the social media. The best way is to either shape in or shape out.
The last piece I read was Professor Jibrin Ibrahim, a Daily Trust columnist, political economist and a democracy activists and I have been heartbroken since. It is sad that scholarship declines to a level where the limits of freedoms and rights as principles of human life are ignored and avoid in fundamental matters of state security which the government is spending much to keep. Where is the scholarship’s responsibility to Nigerians?
With the Sowore’s treason, we now need to find serious laws to use to watch some the journalists in Nigeria, or Nigerian journalists, who may go beyond corruption to act as enemies of the public and the nation. It is only well for Nigeria when human rights and freedom of the press is limited, because the nation cannot trust some journalists whose excess is a human enmity.
But first, someone must be tried and served the conviction for treason to tell others that the state is always supreme to personal, selfish interests of the servants and apologies of individualism and the practice of polytheism in serving the interest of their commissioners.
Hassan Alhaji Hassan can be contacted on 08032829772/08050551220 (text only with full names and address)a[email protected]
The views expressed in this article are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect WikkiTimes’ editorial stance.
