TELL magazine at birth came out with this slogan “SOME WATCH NEWS, WE TELL THE NEWS”. This was a veiled attack on NEWSWATCH or so it seemed.

TELL couldn’t have been wrong considering the level of professionalism that she boasted of and the calibre of the journalists that she started off with. She was right because the Nigerian press, at least in the past twenty (20) years have been hovering between WATCHING and TELLING the News- no value added to  the reading  public.

Let us contrast this with the account of Chief Obafemi Awolowo when he was a correspondent in a newspaper house in  Lagos . His boss, a white man came into the newsroom one afternoon to find him and his friends chattering. He asked them why they were not out on the street looking for news. They replied that town was dry and there was no news. Then the boss replied the duo: if there is no news, then one of you should go and jump into the Lagos lagoon and the other should report the incident. The man was advising them to be creative and to engage in investigative journalism. Journalism does not start and end with WATCHING (like moron) or TELLING (like a parrot). To be relevant journalists should add value through investigative journalism (not necessarily of the negative type) so that they can add value to society .

This will also enable them earn the respect of the reading and viewing public such that they can be patronized. Increased patronage will enable them de-emphasize brown envelopes or “logistics”. Their outfits will also make money.

Other organizations in Nigeria such as banks, gsm operators, and others are making profit because they have refused to WATCH and TELL. They have learnt to dig deep. They are creative and audacious.  The  journalists  watch  and  report  them but  never thought of  asking  themselves:  what  makes  these  organizations  prosper?  What  are  those  principles and  ideas that  they are applying  that  can  benefit  the  organizations  in  the  media  sector?  Are  the  media  houses  concerned  with  growth  and  relevance  or  are  they  just  preoccupied  with  advertisements?

Some  years  back a  columnist  was  asked  why  serious  articles  are  not  written  by  the  Nigerian press. His response  was that  Nigerians  don’t  read  serious  articles.  I  agree  but  then  I  also  recollect the  examples  given by  Phillip Kotler in his  attempt  at defining  marketing.  Two  salesmen  were sent  to  a  village to investigate  the  possibility of  selling  shoes to  the  inhabitants.  The  first came and  said  there  is  no  market there because  the  people don’t  wear  shoes. The other  came  back  and  exclaimed that  he  discovered  a  goldmine in  the  village – though  the  people  don’t  wear  shoes,  but  he  will  teach  them  how  to  wear  shoes  and  then  sell  shoes  to  them.  Phillip Kotler concluded  that  between these two  extremes lies  the  definition of  marketing.  Our  media  practitioners  can  take  a  queue  from  Mr. Phillip  Kotler.

Journalism is defined by the dictionary as the work of COLLECTING and WRITING news stories for newspapers, magazines, radio or television. If we are to go by this definition one wonders how many of our present day journalists qualify to be so called.

Let me serve you with a few examples:

The  Aviation Sector

 -   until the recent crashes many Nigerians were never aware of the frightful inadequacies in that sector, yet almost all media houses have aviation correspondents. They merely report in reaction to events such as a plane overrunning the runway, the politics in NCAA, NERMA etc. Our correspondents are yet to realize that such issues as the damaged runway, broken down fence, animal grazing, radar malfunctioning etc are important. There are so many things that are happening at our airports that do not qualify for independent investigation and reporting in the estimation of our correspondents. But they are quick to tell you the entire boardroom politics and who should be appointed and who should not. It is sickening.

What is more, most  articles  which which I think are referred  to  as  Features concentrate more on the statements made by respondents or officers rather than independent investigations. Yet they want their newspapers to sell.

Who will buy trash in these austere times when money is hard to come by? Perhaps, bent on selling the new trick is to look for good back page columnists and splash the front page with horrifying headlines, while the inside is nothing but worthless piece of disjointed essays, the fascinating contributions you  find therein are usually contributed by people outside the profession.

The  evening  papers  are  worse.  They splash frightening  headlines but  the  body  of  the  reports usually  bear  little  or no reference to  the  headlines. Something  the  Police will refer to  as  stealing  by  trick.

Muyiwa  and his  Fiancee   -  almost  all  the  media  houses  reported the  visit  of  Muyiwa,  the  son  of  the  late First  Lady using  this  caption.  No one  cared  or  bothered  to  furnish the  reading  public  with  the  name  of  his  fiancée until  Segun Adeniyi  disclosed  her  name and nationality in his  column of  3rd November, 2005.  What  a   shame!

Eid  Celebrations  in  Nigeria   -  it  is  amazing  to  observe  that  every year  the  electronic  media  make  unnecessary  noise  over  the  celebration  of  Eid  days  in  Nigeria on different  days.  In  the course  of  interviewing(?)  Islamic  scholars  they  usually  devote  so  much  time  to  this  with  a  view  to  achieving purposes which  are  not  clear.  They  overdramatise  this  such  that  at  the  end  of  the  day,  the  viewer ends  up  watching  controversy  and not  necessarily  a  programme  that  will  educate  him or her.

It  is  not  a  secret  that  Eid  celebrations  and  fasting  do not have  fixed  days like  Christmas and  Easter.  Indeed  the  muslim  calendar is  lunar  and is  different  from the January  to  December  that  non-muslims  use  in  this  part of  the  world.

So  why  would  anyone  expect  muslims  to  fix  dates  for  these  events? One  would  also  expect  a   television  station  to  conduct  simple  research  into  any  topic,  especially  of  this  nature  before  she  draws  a list of  her  questions. To  expect Eid days  to  be  pre-determined  like  Easter  and  Christmas  is  one  way  of  showing  ignorance  about Islam. One  would  have  expected  a  serious  journalist  to  conduct  a  simple  research  to  disprove the  claims  of  muslims  by  telling  us  that  the   moon that  the  muslims  were  waiting for  never  showed  up -  to tell  us  that  there was  no  new  moon  in  Ramadan  or  in  any of  the  months.  That  it  is  sighted  in  different  places  at  different  times,  usually  a  day  interval  is not  the   issue.

As  for  Eid-el- kabir,  it is  observed  the  day  following  Arafat in the  month of  Hajj.  Arafat is  usually  reported  worldwide so  there  should  be  no  problems  with  the  identifying  the  day, as  everyone  takes  a  queue  from Saudi  Arabia.

It  is  sickening and  boring  when  journalists  make  noise  over  what  they  should  research into  so  that  they  can  be  properly  educated  and  by  extension  educate  their  reading and  viewing  public.

Indeed  I  didn’t  know  that  AIT  could  allow  such a  shoddy  performance  to  be  aired  on her  medium  for  two days  that  the  bickerings  lasted.

The  journalist  was  not  able  to  tell  us  if   it  was  a  worldwide  problem  or  a  Nigerian problem  despite  his  access to  the  internet and  cable  television.

A  proper  investigation would  have  revealed   to  the  reporter that  what he was  labouring  so much  about  and  for  which he was ready  to  cast  aspersions  on  Islam  is  a  Nigerian  problem.  Nigerians  are  just  in  a  special  class of  their own.  Someone  told  me  sometime ago  that  God  created  three  sets  of  people -  the  whiteman,  the  Blackman and  the  Nigerian!  They are  Nigerians in the  first  instance (imbued with  the  Nigerian factor), then  traditionalists  before  being  Muslims  or  Christians. 

In  1996  some  Nigerians  celebrated  Eid  on Arafat’s  day even  when  they were  aware  that  it  was  wrong.

Islam  has  very  clear  guidelines  and instructions  on  every  aspects  of the life of  a  muslim.  If  there  is  anything  that Islam  boasts  of  as  an  advantage over  other  religions  of  the  world  it  is  that  it  is  properly  documented  in preserved books and  there is  no  ambiguity; the only  limiting  factor  being  the  extent of  the  knowledge of  the seeker.

Therefore  the  fact  that   the  Nigerian  factor has  been  introduced  is  not  a  problem for  Islam  but  for  Nigerian muslims.

The  reporter  or  anchor  at  AIT  was  indeed  conducting  an  inquisition  and  not  an  interview.  This  was  reflected in  his  responses  to  the  answers he  got  from  his  guests.  He  was  expecting  them  to  confirm  his  ill-informed  notion and  view of  Islam.  His  ignorance  about  Islam  was  revealed.

CONCLUSION

I  sincerely  hope  and  pray  that  the  press in  Nigeria  will  be  taken  to  a  level  where  the  practictioners  can  be  appropriately described as  professionals.

However  this  is  a general  statement of  hope  as  we  have  very  few institutions  and  individuals  that  are professional and  seek  after  respect,  relevance and  truth.  Channels  television is  a  clear  leader.  As  for  individuals,  Dr.  Rueben Abati, Segun Adeniyi,  Simon Kolawole,  Edwin  Madunagu and  a  few  others  have  earned  themselves  respect,  relevance and  honour.  Perhaps  they  should  assist  the  profession  in  re-discovering herself.

As I  take  my leave,  I  want  to  remind  you  of  these  articles : 
African Press:Always Missing In Action (Wole Soyinka),
Dragged On The Floor By Journalism (Oluremi Oyo),
Media In Nigeria(Segun Oduyela); and
The Disaster Called The Nigerian Press (Taslim Anibaba)

Thank  you

Taslim  Anibaba(FCA)

























  

 4th November,  2005

Robot  Villager

# 1 Link to the article is here Posted by Robot| 05.11.2005 06:12

tanibaba  Villager

# 2 Honestly I wanted to seek your comments in the concluding part of this article but I decided against it because it might be seen as a personal duel between the two of us. I have followed you from this square to Global Politician and BNVV Magazine where you posted rejoinders to Seyi Oduyela\'s article. Whenever I write about the Nigerian press my major objective is to call their attention to the sacred duty that God has placed on them and for them to realise the overwhelming impact that their profession has on society. There is a mystery to the profession - it affects the behaviour of several millions of people in the world either positively or negatively. This perhaps explains the cliche - the pen is mightier than the sword. Yes. I love writing and this has made me to realise the tremendous impact of journalism on society and the need for me to apply self-restraint in communication and use of words, emotional balancing, fairness, equity and truthfulness whenever i put pen to paper. I condition my mind immediately realising that I am about to perform a sacred duty. I wish our journalists will feel this way when they interface with the reading public - the discipline is what makes a difference between a journalist and a reporter. However, I will continue to write but will dont dump accounting as my profession. The truth being that the discipline in the accounting profession is so high and the rigours of training so intense that whatever other areas an accountant finds himself he will excel. But honestly I appreciate your comments and your dispositions. I enjoy your writings too. As for Odinaka all that you have written is true. We are in a lawless society (the title of my next piece Insha Allah) and we hope that God will help us and that a medium such as this will be a propelling factor in redefining leadership and other issues in our dear country. As for the BIG ASSIGNMENT I wont go near it. The piece is not about superiority duel. It is about asking journalists to wake up to take their pride of place as the fourth realm of the estate. To earn respect, relevance and by extension good income from value added services. Shikena. Until late Dele Giwa bought a mercedes benz, it was thought impossible for a journalist to own one. But through hard work, dedication, etc which led to increased patronage and NEWSWATCH he was able to prove that a journalist needs not live a wretched life. I recall random musings etc etc. And if there was any dent in his career, it was when he stepped out of line by criticising WAR AGAINST INDISCIPLINE during the Buhari era before the commencement of the War. But inspite of this he will always be remembered as a thoroughbred journalist whose name will be etched in gold anyday. Can you tell me of three other names? TASLIM ANIBABA Posted by tanibaba| 05.11.2005 16:00

uche nworah

# 3 Taslim, i knew it was going to be you again on the case of journalists, i am sure you must have been expecting that i will be the first person to jump to the defence of \'my people\', i don\'t know for how long this our ding-dong will continue, i will surprise you this time, i will sheath my sword and let practicing journalists defend their own cause, although i would very much like to know why your searchlight is permanently beamed on Nigerian journalists, or had you contemplated a journalism career before your folks convinced you to study accounting, in the belief that it is more lucrative?anyway, baring any sentiments, this piece is well written, not what you will expect from a \'figure cruncher\'. or are you still contemplating a career change? Posted by uche nworah| 05.11.2005 07:39

Odinaka  Villager

# 4 The problem of lack of a high level of professionalism is not limited to journalism alone, the medical, legal, scientific, engineering, and even accounting professionalism are all weighed down by the same problem. It all boils down to a system that seems to promote mediocrity and constantly try to fit a square peg into a round hole. I am a graduate of chemstry and I know how much the chemical society of nigeria and chemists at large have tried to give the profession its rightful place. A clear example of putting a square peg in a round hole is seen in saddling pharmacists with the duty of monitoring the compliance to safety regulations of some chemicals being imported into the country. The truth is that most professional bodies have not being empowered by law to be effective, especially in the light of the oppression of trade unionism and professional bodies. Posted by Odinaka| 05.11.2005 08:05

Guest

# 5 Dear Mr. Anibaba: I enjoyed reading your article a little bit, and I will sieze this opportunity to implore you to do an expose on the \'bad eggs\' within your profession of accounting. You and I both know that the so called chartered accountants and their mega-firms assist public and private officials in falsifying figures to the detriment of the general masses of our dear nation. I mean to say that most accountants are equally guilty of aiding and abetting in financial crimes. We are all witnessing how EFCC have been arresting finance commissioners of some states for fraudulent activities under their watch. Please do us a huge favor of addressing this singular issue of collaboration between looters and auditors or should I say, of the cat who is contracted to watch over fried fish. Thank you. Peace and Love. myhotbrainnullPlease do us a huge favor of addressing this singular issue of collaboration between looters and auditors or should I say, of the cat who is contracted to watch over fried fish. Posted by Guest| 05.11.2005 10:50