The annual conference of editors just ended in Kano with a charge on the need to put national interest far above other considerations. Writes BASHIR MOHAMMED.
It was indeed a gathering of ‘who is who’ in journalism when editors from all media establishments converged in Kano for the 2021 Biennial Conference of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) hosted by Kano state government.The conference has been adjudged as remarkable in the history of the Guild whose members are undoubtedly saddled with the task of gatekeeping while employing their professional acumen to decide the fate of the nation currently reeling in the ropes of insecurity and rudderlessness.
The sprawling conference room of Tahir Guest Palace Hotel was filled to the brim considering the number of editors and reporters covering the conference, cracking jokes and exchanging banters to the admiration of every other person on hand to witness the epoch-making event.
Gov. Ganduje reiterates role of media
Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje demonstrated his enthusiasm to host men and women of the respected profession, just as he had said times without number that he has unprecedented reverence for the pen profession being a tool for promoting national interest.
He brought the media close to his chest knowing that when it is relagated to the background, the quest for achieving the goals of national interest would only remain mere rhetorics.
It was the governor’s contention that gagging the press in a democratic setting would be inimical to leadership as they would not be able to forge ahead with myriad of giant strides they put on ground. He of the views that without the press keeping a constant tab on whatever leaders do, remarkable strides would be forgotten easily.
To this end, Governor Ganduje called on media practitioners to abide by ethics of the profession and avoid anything capable of putting the nation asunder at the time when the country is pushed to the brink by some sinister forces striving to rock the boat.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Ganduje said editors as gatekeepers have an abiding responsibility to live up to their billing by designing ways of making the country a place for everyone to live in peace.
While describing Nigerian press as the freest in the world, he however stated that there is a need for practitioners to effect paradigm shift for the nascent democratic system in the country to survive to the satisfaction of every citizen. He affirmed that lending credence to propaganda would only do more harm than good.
“As your here today for this important conference, we are confident that your deliberations and all the issues slated to be discussed would be anchored on the premise of coming up with modalities at putting the country on the pedestal of trust and the belief that development would only be achieved with the media taking the bull by the horn.
“The issue of abiding by ethics of the profession should be seen to be so dear to practitioners as they are the ones to mould the opinions of the people to reflect the current realities on ground. The country would only be safe if those entrusted with the task of information dissemination strive to live above board professionally,” he remarked.
“I would also like to comment on the unfortunate break-out of Covid-19 pandemic which had taken a disastrous toll on the nation. My administration came up with a three-pronged approach to tackle the proliferation in Kano. These are preventive, curative and palliative measures which I believe had yielded spectacular results.”
I always make sure that I keep members of the press posted fortnightly for them to be conversant of our programmes on ways to keep the deadly menace at bay. Instead of us to be isolated as a result of the emergence of Covid-19, we were the ones who isolated it,” he jokingly retorted.
Don threw challenge to practitioners
Delivering a lecture on ‘Media in Covid-19 Era, Challenges and Opportunities’, the vice chancellor of Gombe State University, Prof Umar Pate said the advent of Covid-19 pandemic greatly crippled operations of the media all over the globe as all sources of revenue were also curtailed due to the gruelling toll.
According to him, it is high time the media came up with innovations that would ensure rapid and sustainable diversification for the business to flourish in the face of the present challenges posed by Covid-19, adding that the conventional media is abysmally facing existential threat with the future looking bleak.
He however stated that the emergence of the new media comprising digital, on-line and the social media is putting the credibility of the media at stake as the issue of legitimacy is involved lamenting that what was being churned out on the social media platform pose a great challenge to the conventional media of which genuine practitioners must be circumspect.
In his remarks, the president, Nigeria Union of Journalists, Mr Chris Isigunzo, said there is a need for media owners to come up with a coherent policy aimed at providing a special package for working journalists under its tutelage, stressing that the poor working condition of journalist has affected their performances nationwide.
He equally counseled practitioners to be fully alive to the responsibilities bestowed on them towards promoting peace, unity and harmony. He pointed out that with journalists becoming apathetic to their professional role, the issue of discharging what is required of them would continue to elude the nation.
Speaking earlier, the out-going president, Nigerian Guild of Editors, Comrade Mustapha Isah described the conference as a great milestone in the history of the Guild, stressing that the choice of Kano was most expedient considering the peaceful nature of the state and serenity of the environment.
With the conference eliciting the attention of notable pundits in the media, veterans have appreciated the fact that the conference has opened the floodgate for stakeholders to brainstorm on ways to put the country on a promising pedestal at a time when some reactionary elements in some parts of the country are hell-bent in rocking the boat.
Words of wisdom from veterans
Speaking, a veteran, Malam Shehu Katsina, said it is most worrisome today the way and manner proprietors of media houses throw caution to the wind in paying lip-service to the welfare of journalists in the country, thereby exposing them to egocentric political elites.
It was his belief that when a reporter is underpaid or not paid at all, such is bound to fall into compromising the ethics of the profession at the expense of national interest, adding that the era of crude exploitation of reporters in some media houses across the country must be checked for sanity in the noble profession to prevail.
“With a reporter becoming a pauper, he is bound to be swayed by those who want to use gratification to succeed in their mission to destroy the country. This is what is most disturbing to me as a veteran. But if a journalist is well paid, it would be difficult for any person to involve him in any shady deal. This is an indisputable fact,” he affirmed.
“The ball is in the court of media proprietors to inject sanity in the way working journalists are treated with disdain. They should know that they all have families and children to cater for, the job is their sole means of lively hood. if they are not getting such a welfare, they are ultimately doomed,” he stressed.
In the words of another veteran who pleaded anonymity, the country would never be safe for everyone to live in as much as practitioners always take solace in promoting negative news at the time the country is in dire need of the contribution of everyone to remain an indivisible one.
According to him, “This is the most auspicious time to put our house in order to avoid sinking into abyss. As professionals in information dissemination, we all have abiding obligations to salvage our country from a regrettable catastrophe.”
From all intents and purposes and what is on the lips of editors who attended the conference, there were undoubtedly poised to effect a paradigm shift in the operations of media establishments in the country.
