| Corruption can’t
be fought if journalists don’t have access to information
By TESSY OKOYE
Wednesday,
January 9, 2008
 |
•
Nosa Igiebor
Photo: Sun News Publishing |
|
Don’t call Nosa Igiebor, Editor-in-Chief of Tell magazine
a veteran journalist. He says the term is derogatory and makes
journalists abandon their duties early before they expire
in the profession.
The media executive who spoke extensively on factors that
stunt the growth of journalism, stressed the need for print
and electronic media to be organised, run and managed like
a business outfit to stop the exodus of experienced journalists
to other areas of the economy.
Economic impact on journalism
I would say no and yes about the media industry faring well
when compared to the journalism of old. The industry has expanded
in terms of the people in it. It has also expanded when you
take a look at the type and numbers of publications we have
in the market. One can say there is tremendous growth of the
industry, but it is merely a reflection of the general growth
of the economy. Though Nigerians would say the economy is
not growing. The only thing that might be true is that it
is not growing enough for them to feel the impact.
FOIB
To some extent, the inability of the bill to be passed into
law has not allowed the media to carry out its oversight functions
effectively though I would say nothing is stopping the media
from practising journalism they way they want. Why the Freedom
of Information Bill needs to be passed urgently is to make
the job easy, effective and allow events to be reported as
they occur. The life-blood of journalism is information. Without
good information, we can’t do a credible story. If a
journalist has 95 per cent fact on a story, the job is done.
The remaining five per cent is just for the reporter to sit
down and piece the facts together to tell the story.
An example is when recently the IG made an announcement that
the chairman of EFCC, Nuhu Ribadu is due to go for a course.
How he suddenly arrived at that decision is what is not understood,
knowing full well that Ribadu was seconded from the police
to the commission, a situation which makes him report directly
to the president. But if we have an act like the Freedom of
Information, we can go to anywhere and ask for information
regarding such sensitive issues. Let’s assume the police
service commission held a meeting and the decision was reached
or discussed there, journalists can demand to see the minutes
of such meeting. That type of information if made available,
can, to a great extent quell controversy.
FOI would apart from making our job easy, make us better journalists.
The greatest challenge facing Nigeria today is corruption.
If it cannot be eliminated, it can be minimised. Corruption
is the greatest hindrance to this country’s development.
Until we are able to control it, the best development plan
would not work. Corruption cannot be fought if journalists
have no access to information. As a matter of fact, journalists
can partner with law enforcement agents, if they have information
at their disposal. We are denied access to privileged information,
and accused at the end of the day of not helping to fight
corruption.
Another thing worth mentioning is that there is no way FOI
would be abused by journalists. Journalists are responsible
Nigerians. The impression we need to correct is that the FOI
is meant for journalists alone. It is meant for all Nigerians.
The bill does not mean that only journalists would be legally
permitted by law to seek information. You don’t even
have to be a journalist to seek information. The fear of many
people is that once the bill is passed, it would make journalists
powerful. In any case, I am sure the bill would provide for
sanctions. That is in addition to other laws in our statute
book that aims at punishing journalists that deliberately
commit any criminal act. The bill would not make libel to
cease to be a civil or criminal act. Instead, we would still
be liable for libel if we are deemed to have committed any.
Journalism in democracy
We haven’t fared well during this nine years of democratic
rule. I might be wrong, but that is my opinion. The standard
of journalism has dropped alarmingly. If you look at newspapers
and magazines, including my publication, you would see that
what we now do is headline journalism. There is no serious
reporting. We have developed such short attention span. What
everybody sees is just the latest headline grabbing stories.
As soon as the dust settles, we move on and don’t bother
to find out what happens thereafter. This cannot be compared
to what we had in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s.
The reason for this I believe is that journalism is the only
profession where the most experienced hands are found outside
the job. I have always used Chief Rotimi Williams as an example.
The legal icon till the day he died was working as a full
time lawyer. Have you ever heard of any lawyer called veteran
lawyer or league of veteran lawyers? But we have a league
of veteran journalists. When you look at the members of this
league, none is near the age of Chief Rotimi Williams before
his death. You find out that many experienced journalists
are actually outside the profession. That explains the alarming
drop in standard of reporting, writing and editing in the
media today. The other factor I would cite is lack of investment
both in the profession and the industry. Look at how much
the banks and other financial institutions spend in training
and retraining their staff, and compare it to that of the
media. The financial sector spends so much to equip their
staff. But we struggle to pay salaries and don’t pay
attention to the need to train. Salaries and wages in journalism
are not competitive. In terms of investment, when you look
at the positive change that has taken place in the financial
sector and the explosion in the telecom sector, you would
discover that fresh investment is not coming to the media.
In terms of sheer number, we have so many titles, but how
many of them are well funded. Print and broadcast media outfits
are not being organised, run and managed like a business outfit.
Media is business, the only difference is that it is based
explicitly on information dissemination. Until we sit down
and run it properly as a business, the industry would not
attract investors. Investors don’t make investment based
on sentiment. We need to upgrade our facilities, attract more
experienced hands, train and retain bright younger journalists.
It is only when these are done we would stop having high turnover
of good journalists going to other areas of the economy.
Sensationalism
It is natural for the media to latch onto the issues that
are in the overriding interest of the public. It is a good
development and there is no way the media can ignore such
opportunity. What I feel the media is trying to do in most
of the controversies that have brewed over time, is mirroring
the frustration of the larger Nigerians over public officials
who are abusing their offices and betraying their trust.
What do you expect from the polity when public officials who
abuse their office and steal money with impunity are allowed
to walk free? That is why the issue of sending the chairman
of EFCC on a course seems ludicrous to me. No matter how much
the government tries to explain it, it does not make sense.
Nigerians are concerned about the issue of corruption and
want those involved brought to book. They don’t understand
why Ribadu should be going for a course at a time he is actually
needed. People don’t understand why Ribadu’s going
for the course is more critical than fighting corruption.
This young man that has given exceptional leadership to EFCC
and displayed exceptional courage to do what a lot of people
thought was impossible in Nigeria.
The question I expect the media to be asking now is, if the
one year course is so good and is needed for public officials
to advance in their career, how come those that have gone
have not made an impact on governance in Nigeria? Have we
had effective governance in Nigeria after the many leaders
that have passed through the institute? Since the institute
was established, how many police officers that have attended
have made the police force better?
Way forward
Journalists need to be pro-active. Our professional unions
ought to come together, since they all exist to fight for
the common interest of the profession and the industry. Right
now, the other sectors of the economy are leaving the media
behind, and if urgent steps are not taken to reverse the trend,
the media would become more irrelevant. If all good journalists
leave, then the media won’t have a future.
|
