Tina Amanda
Journalists in Nigeria have been encouraged to come together in partnership to own and manage Media outfits.
A Lecturer in the Department of Mass Communication, Renaissance University Enugu State, Dr Maxwell Ngene, made the call while delivering a lecture on “Maintaining the Peace In Turbulent times: The role of the Media in Security and National Unity” at the just concluded National Conference of the Nigeria Union of Journalists held in Port Harcourt.
Dr Ngene urged Journalists to work in boldness towards establishing Media outfits, pointing out that, not everyone will work in a government-owned Media establishment.
He however noted that Journalists in Nigeria have continued to face challenges working in unconducive environments just as they are not properly rewarded and appreciated.
“As a journalism teacher, I believe that journalist should no longer be afraid of coming together to establish and manage Media organisations. The beginning may not be rosy, but with the experience and knowledge garnered, such outfits will boom just like late Dele Giwa and Co that founded News Watch Magazine outfit years ago and it was then a top-notch.
“It is time journalist begin to think about ownership, we should not just be aiming to work in government-owned media. The truth is if you do empirical research, you would realize the audience believe private Media houses in terms of credibility, acceptance, it does not mean that government media are not doing their best.
“Even when some leaders are not performing well, journalists in Nigeria have continued to work in an environment where they are not properly rewarded.”
On his part, Director, Law Centre, Richard Akinola, who spoke on Media and National Security, said government can not cow the press because the Nigerian Media have been patriotic and quite resilient.
He expressed displeasure over the Twitter ban which he says is a subtle attempt to test the waters in terms of regulating Social Media and the media at large.
“The topic is quite appropriate at this point in time considering the situation in the country and of cause the subtle onslaught on freedom of expression over the suspension of Twitter by the federal government, the conference came at the right time.
“For every right, there is a corresponding responsibility. If Editors were to publish eighty (80) percent of the information at their disposal, the country would have been full of confrontation, there has been quite a lot of self censorship by journalist in an attempt to douse tension”
