| How I was sued for N800
million –Asu Beks, Shipping World publisher
By FRANCA UDO-INYANG
Wednesday,
October 31, 2007
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•Asu
Beks
Photo: SunNews Publishing
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Asu Beks is the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of maritime
– based, Shipping World newspaper which clocked 10 years
last week.
A journalist of repute, with over 20 years of practice, he
cut his journalism teeth at the Concord Newspapers, where
he rose to the position of maritime editor before setting
up his own newspaper.
Beks advises journalists to be objective in their reports,
adding that they should desist from blackmail.
He said: “It is dangerous to blackmail, but if you are
convinced that your story is true, do the normal thing, get
the other side of the story and make sure that your report
is balanced”.
Asu Beks spoke on other issues in journalism practice and
the challenges he had faced in the 10 years of publishing.
Shipping World
It has been challenging, we have come a long way, I remember
my days in the Concord as a maritime reporter. All we were
after in those days was to get the big stories in the industry,
not just the big stories but stories that would make the front
page or at least the back page. That time, the issue of giving
the back page to sports stories, as is being done now, was
not there. It is a recent phenomenon. We were after the big
stories then unlike now, reporters are no longer fighting
for the front page stories. They now decide on the assignments
they have to attend. We attended assignments and we look out
for the big stories. I remember I earned the name ‘Abragadabra.’
The name came about because weekends were normally dry in
the newsroom and news editors would be looking for the big
stories that will lead the pages on Mondays and some of us
devised a means of digging deep, especially on Thursdays and
Fridays to get the story for Monday that would make the news
editor happy. That was how the name ‘Abragadabra’
Asu Beks came about.
Before Shipping World
I was in Concord, I was the shipping editor of Concord and
I was one of those first reporters on the beat who started
a maritime pullout in newspapers. At times then, they would
given me four pages, eight pages in the Concord. It was called
Concord Shipping News. Not that we were making so much money,
but organisations such as the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA),
the Nigerdock, Nigerian Shippers’ Council arranged block
adverts for us. Even when our salary was not forthcoming,
we were contented with the commission that came from those
adverts. We also got the big stories. That was when weekly
pullouts started. It was challenging because there used to
be competition among the key maritime reporters for the big
stories. Then it used to be among Alban Opara of Vanguard,
Ubong Akpan of Champion, Emeka Okoroanyawu of The Guardian,
Martins Nwanne of Daily Times, and Asu Beks of Concord who
was going to get the bigger story. There was this rivalry,
healthy, of course. It was encouraging, interesting and challenging,
but it is not the same today.
Growth/challenge
We have faced challenges as an organisation, as a pioneer
in maritime journalism and as a publisher. When we started,
we were few and the patronage was there, but the situation
today is different. Every Tom, Dick and Harry, who wakes up
from his room and doesn’t have a job will go to buy
newsprint to start a publication. The industry has been finding
it difficult to cope with the number of publications that
have come. At a point, there were stakeholders in the industry
who felt that they could not tolerate this. But my attitude
to all that was, let the demand and supply determine who survives
and let the quality of what you do also determine whether
this publication should die or live but so far some of us
have been able to be above water, in spite of all the odds.
If for 10 years I’ve been doing the same thing and I’ve
not been making progress, I think I will have quit because
I’ve had several offers from many places, either to
join politics or to join the conventional newspapers, but
I felt that there is nothing like doing your own thing and
coming with your own ideas. I have all the tricks in my bag.
I also make sure that every publication of Shipping World
pays itself. There is no edition of Shipping World that I
produce that has not been a success. The long and short of
it is that, so far, so good.
Memorable occasion as a maritime reporter
Yes, the most memorable occasion in my life was my encounter
with the former managing director of the Nigerian Ports Authority,
Chief Adebayo Sarumi. I had this running battle with him,
which resulted into a court case for which I was sued for
N800 million and some elders in the maritime industry intervened.
I’m talking of the likes of Engr. Soji Olanipekun, who
is today one of the executive directors in the Western Ports.
They felt there was a need for us to make peace. Sarumi was
particularly not comfortable with some of my stories and he
confessed that I went too far in trying to rubbish him. I
think I was doing my job as a journalist and if a journalist
is doing his own beat, if someone feels dissatisfied, there
are legal options. If you feel you were libeled, you can use
the right way.
I also had an encounter with the former Minister of Transport,
Dr Mrs. Kema Chikwe.When I got that letter from her lawyer;
all I did was to circulate the lawyer’s letter to all
the media houses. I was told that Mr. President told her not
to fight with a journalist. I learnt he asked her if she was
sure her house was in order, and that was it. I didn’t
waste any time asking my lawyer to send reply to her lawyer.
She sensed that it was going to be a big battle and backed
out.
Advice to journalists
They should try to be objective; it is dangerous to be speculative.
They should try not to blackmail people. As journalists, we
studied history, we watch films and read books on blackmail
and we see how they end up. If you are convinced that your
story is correct, do the normal thing, get the other side
of the story, and make sure that your report is balanced.
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