Fellow Nigerians, one of my favourite jokes often credited to
Chief Moshood Abiola is the one in which he says: “The Holy
Bible tells us to love our neighbours as ourselves, it didn’t
say more than ourselves!” Nothing could be truer. The thesis I
am about to propound is that journalists should begin to love
and celebrate themselves more.
We do not seem to appreciate
the power that God has endowed us with. We spend so much
time chasing others that we forget ourselves in the labyrinth
of news and events. We work so much that we even forget
our families and friends. On top of this, we are among the
poorest professionals in Nigeria. People generally believe that
journalists deserve no more than little brown envelopes and of
course this belief is sometimes confirmed by the speed at
which some speedily receive and pocket the envelopes as if
they were officers at some of our ubiquitous checkpoints.
However, most respectable journalists are not like this. They
simply want to be paid a fair reward for the work they do and
not receive some kind of cheap gratuity for doing the work
they are employed to do. Circumstances sometimes force
people to be beggarly when reality bites ferociously.
The media business is a thankless yeoman’s job. We are not
too different from the teachers whose rewards are expected to
be in heaven. Our fellow citizens expect us to carry all the
problems of the earth on our heads. They abuse us for all the
challenges they created or facilitated. It is not uncommon to
hear people say our journalists are too lazy; they cannot
report news like their international counterparts who travel to
dangerous places in search of exclusive reports. Such people
expect world standards in an environment that is clearly
archaic, if the truth must be told. Yet, even this is not entirely
true. A journalist can only operate in the environment that he
finds himself. There are several of us in the thick of things in
Boko Haram territory. Even when the President and
sometimes even soldiers did not want to visit or fight in some
parts of the troubled North East region of Nigeria, it was our
fearless journalists that brought reports of the barbaric and
atrocious acts being perpetrated by the terrorists and
insurgents that have held Nigeria to ransom in that region.
There was a recent documentary on Boko Haram by our
United Kingdom based journalist, Kayode Ogundamisi who
risked going to the lion’s den. I read somewhere that the
brilliant guys at Red Media also went to the same danger
zone to show their love and solidarity.
Nobody remembers that many Nigerian journalists have risked
so much for their country. Some paid the supreme price and
they are not around to tell the story. Those who survived still
carry the scars like a national emblem. No one thought of
securing any insurance policy for them as cover in the days of
tribulation. The salaries are miserably poor most times not
because publishers and media owners are as wicked as many
think but due to lack of constant patronage and dwindling
income. Media owners have to maintain a certain profile in
this modern time to keep their brand sparkling but those not
in the know often see this as unnecessary. Unknown to them,
media like showbiz is a make-belief, an abracadabra. I won’t
put my advert in an unknown platform. So the media must
attract readership or viewership through all manner of stunts
after all the serious work.
My biggest worry is that journalists have lost most of the
influence they wielded in the past and this is a self-inflicted
tragedy. Once upon a time, journalists dictated the tune and
pace of events. I doubt if many of our youths remember that
Herbert Macaulay, Oba Adesoji Aderemi, Chief Nnamdi Azikiwe,
Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Chief Anthony Enahoro, and other
renowned nationalists had media backgrounds and owned
media houses. They would be joined later by great politicians
like Chief Moshood Abiola, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyawu and
Chief Bola Tinubu. They all realised the values and uses of
media control. But suddenly things have changed.
The journalist has become his own worst enemy. He respects
everyone except his own. The journalist is ready to accord all
due respect to a Senior Advocate of Nigeria but he won’t
grant same to a Senior Journalist of Nigeria. The inferiority
complex is so deep that the first person to shoot a journalist
down is a journalist who should appreciate how difficult it is
to survive in this business. Some journalists even arrogate to
themselves the power to determine who can be called a
journalist and those who must be disqualified and ostracised.
A lazy cartoonist cannot find anyone else to lampoon but his
own long-suffering colleague. You would have thought dogs
don’t eat dog.
But journalists must wake up. If you disrespect your own, you
should expect the same treatment ultimately. The world is
watching us. No one respects anyone who does not love his
own. Today, it is much easier for any other professional to
attain any height than a journalist. Retired soldier, police
officer, customs officer, teacher, farmer and others can be
President, Governor, and Senator before a journalist can be
considered. Even fraudsters, criminals and others with
suspicious backgrounds will be elevated for consideration into
public office by journalists before they give consideration to a
member of their own profession. It should not be so. We
should be in the vanguard of national development and office
like our illustrious predecessors.
The interesting thing is that it is the journalist who raises and
enhances the profile of the politician or other celebrity.
However, journalists do not seem able to cope with the idea
of one of their ilk being seen as a celebrity or national leader.
Yet it is to the journalist that the public looks to for the
shaping of their views and opinion. No matter how jaundiced
a journalist is in the views he expresses he will have some
sort of following. Media proprietors recognise this and subtly
affect the populace by their choice and slant of stories. With
the correct media support a villain can be made to become a
saint. Chief MKO Abiola was one of those Nigerians to first
realise the power of the media and the way in which it could
turn the fortune of someone previously vilified, even hated. I
recall that when the Concord Group was first established it
was seen as a pariah newspaper house by most “sensible”
people because of the hatred and scorn visited upon the
owner, MKO! However within 15 years the Concord Group of
Newspapers had managed to turn around the way in which
the owner was viewed such that by the time of the
Presidential elections in June 1993 there could be only one
winner, MKO. Chief Abiola had systematically and astutely
utilised the media group he controlled to project him as the
saviour that Nigeria had been looking for rather than the devil
that Nigerians had sought to blame all their problems upon.
Another man who has used the power of the media to good
effect is the publisher of Thisday, Nduka Obaigbena. The Duke
as he is fondly called by his admirers has taken the media in
Nigeria to a distinctly higher level. His involvement with the
media started whilst he was a student at the University of
Benin. He was a major correspondent and contributor for the
world renowned Time Magazine and obtained many scoops
and business opportunities for that magazine. He followed up
by establishing a magazine, Thisweek which crash landed but
was to be the framework upon which Thisday was eventually
built. The lessons he learnt from that ill-fated foray into
magazine publishing has stood him in good stead and he is
now the accomplished guru of the industry. That brand has
now come to stay and has spawned several offspring
including Style Magazine and the international and world
acclaimed Arise Televison. Nduka’s success has meant that
he is globally respected for his uncommon audacity. The
success of the Duke is an outstanding feat that can and
should be readily emulated by Nigerian journalists. Nduka’s
success comes from the fact that he was diligent, focused
and above all unfazed by the cynical crowd that litters our
landscape. It was not for him the chicken change handouts
given to our impoverished journalists by those they interview.
An icon who has clearly understood the importance of the
media and benefited significantly from his masterful
orchestration of news and events is Asiwaju Bola Ahmed
Tinubu. His foray into journalism began with buying small
interests in newspapers and magazines but he always knew
that his ultimate destination was to become a newspaper
proprietor and media mogul like Chief Abiola. He had been a
close and keen observer of how Abiola had re-engineered
himself through the use of the media. Asiwaju himself had
received some strong battering from the media in the early
years of his governorship. However all that began to change
when he acquired the Comet Newspapers with a group of
other investors. When the Comet was rebranded as the Nation
Tinubu’s stock rose spectacularly. Asiwaju’s media interest
has now grown to include a television station, TVC, and a
radio station, Radio Continental.
There is no gainsaying the fact that the recent success of
APC at the polls owes a lot to the activities of Asiwaju Bola
Tinubu and his media group. The media group consistently
and powerfully canvassed the viewpoints of that Party and
challenged the Opposition. It is noteworthy that the Nation
newspaper and its sister organisations were largely fair to the
opposition during the last elections but they portrayed APC
with a passion and ardour which endeared the Party even
more to its supporters. By being a media proprietor, Tinubu
was also able to garner the support of fellow media
proprietors and practitioners for the APC. This was an added
bonus and advantage not open to most of his
contemporaries.
I cannot also fail to mention the successes of very able and
respected media proprietors of the electronic genre of our
profession. In particular, the Nigerian electronic media could
not be where it is today without the salutary efforts and
substantial personal resources deployed my private
entrepreneurs like my dear ‘egbon’, High Chief Raymond
Dokpesi of AIT, Osa Sunny Adun of DBN Tv, Chief Gabriel
Igbinedion of ITV, Chief Steve Ojo of Galaxy Tv, Alhaji Murtala
Busari Gbadeyanka of MITV, Senator Ben Murray-Bruce of
Silverbird and John Momoh of Channels, Prince Bisi Olatilo of
BISCON Tv, Alhaji Tajudeen of Soundcity, Mo Abudu of Ebony
Life Television and Ayo Animashaun of Hip Tv plus a legion
radio owners. Senator Ben-Murray Bruce is one journalist
who has bucked the political trend that I am talking about but
by so doing he has shown what can be achieved by a
dedicated, diligent and astute media practitioner. His
contributions to national debate have been seminal and highly
instructive and he must be applauded for his feats moreso as
the Silverbird group celebrates 35 years of services to
fatherland today.
The lessons to be learnt from these personalities I have
showcased is that the media can be a highly successful
venture which can elevate anybody involved with it into
national prominence or greater national prominence. However,
this will not be the lot of the average Nigerian journalist
unless they first realise that they must love and support their
own. They cannot continue to deprecate and denigrate their
colleagues and expect their own lot to be improved or
bettered.
It is also important for media proprietors to appreciate that
the quality of their organisations will improve if their
employees are satisfied and content. This will come not just
from providing better remuneration and welfare packages but
also by giving them a sense of belonging. This can be by
way of incentives, bonuses and even share options. Once the
journalist realises that he is indeed worth something it is
likely that he will appreciate that there is no level of
attainment in the polity that is not open to him or even his
colleague. A realisation of this fact and the impact that the
Nigerian media practitioner can have on policies through
extensive participation in the political process will hopefully
engender and garner support for this embattled class.
It is my hope and expectation that our colleagues will come to
realise that we are the opinion makers and moulders and it is
important not only for us to do this through the medium we
operate from but we must also do it through the regular and
proper political channels by championing the cause of our
colleagues who choose to participate as politicians. We are
no lesser human beings. We already have a voice. Let it not
be confined to the pages of newspapers but spread to the
hallowed chambers of parliament and the esoteric corridors of
the seat of government.
Culled from: Pendulum by Dele Momodu Thisday
