EMEKA NZE, who just returned from a one-day workshop organized by UNESCO in Kaduna, examines the safety tips for journalists covering the 2015 general elections. The fear of 2015 is the fear of the unknown to many Nigerians but to the average journalist in Nigeria, it is the beginning of wisdom in reportage, as it heralds the general elections when the cut-throat competition amongst politicians angling for positions could engender conflicts
This fear is, however, not from the blues – given the frightening number of journalists slain in the past across the world – in the discharge of their duties. According to reliable statistics, 700 journalists have
in the last ten years been reportedly killed in different countries around the world. Out of this number 32 were slaughtered in one day in Pilipino.
The preponderance of the deaths reportedly arise from altercations with law enforcement agents, particularly the police and other security agencies. Others are hounded down by unidentified persons presumably aggrieved over news reportages allegedly tilted against them. Yet there are those killed in the cause of investigating cases of injustice, official corruption and other financial crimes.
Alarmed by the number of deaths, the UNESCO began a crusader role of promoting the safety of journalists in Nigeria as the election year nears. At the Kaduna venue of one of the workshops last weekend, measures to be adopted especially by the practitioners to guarantee their own safety were highlighted.
The speakers and resource persons at the workshop agreed that 40 per cent of the safety measures lie with the journalist himself while carrying out his constitutional functions. From the police standpoint, journalists should stick to ethics of the profession and apply safety devices such as crash helmet, bullet proof vests amongst others, when covering hazardous assignments.
According to the representative of the Kaduna Police Command, ACP Badaji, the command has maintained a cordial relationship with journalists in the state but he wanted newly-posted pressmen to the state to intimate the police of their new postings before embarking on any assignments.
Kaduna State Commissioner of Information, Mr Ben Bako, while commending UNESCO for the appropriate timing of the workshop, lamented that some journalists have flung ethics to the wind in the practice of their trade.
Illustrating the role of journalists to that of a football referee, Bako maintained that no amount of safety measures can protect a journalist who turns out to be repeatedly biased in his reporting. The commissioner wanted journalists to be conscious of their environment in order not to be consumed therein by customs and traditions. “Be steadfast with truth; be conscious of what your environment provides, for we do not wish you become widows and widowers,” he said.
However, while delivering the keynote address, Dr Sola Adenyaju said although the constitution has given journalists functions to carry out, “the functions are not justiciable as no special protection in terms of safety came with the responsibility thus the journalist function is fraught with risks.” According to Dr. Adanyaju, the right of the journalist is the right of the society but many people forgo their rights due to the high cost of justice. He listed the challenges facing journalists as defective reporting or failure to report insurgency, threat from governments, lack of safety mechanism for the protection of journalists, issues of low wages and salaries or no wages at all; difficulty in investigating stories amidst well-organized corruption, which often compromises the journalist and forces him sometimes to drop investigative stories. “It is a common knowledge that this kills investigative journalism,” he said.
Other challenges listed by the academic were sabotage by colleagues and superiors, intolerance by politicians, low level or professionalism and observance of ethics, manipulation by public office holders, lack of efficient, effective and timely justice and perception of division of the press, example, the Lagos-Ibadan axis against the Northern or Eastern axis.
Other militating issues that came into focus were the ownership influence, in which they seek to protect themselves and the interest of their friends. “Because of this, many journalists were said to have been
fired, framed and or subjected to other forms of indignities.” Also job insecurity, social media incursions, gender insensitivity or barring women journalists from covering certain places as well as lack of adequate equipment to carry out the journalistic functions are factors which make the journalist vulnerable.
Dr. Adenyaju also pointed out that a weak union in the name of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) has not risen to the occasion to safeguard its members from the dangers that confront them. According to him, when the lecturers in University of Ilorin were threatened by government with sack, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) fought on their behalf, the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) fights for its members, the NBA fights for lawyers while the NUJ has not done much to protect the safety of its members.
Another resource person from the University of Nigeria Nsukka, Dr Muyiwa Popoola stated that reportage of conflicts of God-fatherism like the Adedibu/Ladoja, Obasanjo/Atiku and Ngige/Chris Uba saw journalists taking sides in their reportage. He said the 2015 is not going to be different as the polity is already heated up.
While proffering solution, he cited the conflict-sensitive journalism in which parties in a conflict are brought to the level plane for discussion with a view to resolving the crisis at a negotiation table.
He underscored language as core concept in managing conflicts. He, however, queried the use of certain adjectives such as ‘embattled governor’, ‘generalissimo of Lagos politics’ amongst others which does
nothing other than inflame ill-feeling among the political actors.
Popoola also emphasised on peace media system which de-emphasises conflict and mitigates hostility against journalists by the men of influence in the society.
To Professor Okwunna, the coordinator of the workshop, it was a task accomplished not only for its record of good attendance but also as many journalist shared experiences of cases where their safety in the discharge of their duties were placed in jeopardy. Those who spoke decried threats of dismissal by employers and superiors and other forms of official victimisation.
Journalists present at the workshop were however not happy that those who spoke on behalf of the police and state government did not wait to get responses to their speeches. They advised that such workshops should be taken to their doorsteps for proper sensitization.