Ternenge Ende is a senior lecturer at the Department of Mass Communication, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai, Niger state. In this interview with AWAAL GATA, while discussing the activities of the department towards making its students competent journalists after graduation, Ende, who was two times the head of the department, says media houses without financial muscles to run their affairs should merge because existing at the mercy of government’s favours impedes on their objectivity, adding that lack of objectivity is against the quintessence of the media.
Can you introduce yourself to our readers sir?
My name is Ternenge Ende. I teach Mass Communication at Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai. I had been Head of Department in the university for two times. I had also been a Deputy Dean in the Faculty of Management and Social Sciences. Before this time, I’d worked as a National Programme Associate at the United Nations Population Fund, at the liaison office in Abuja as well as two states in the North-East: Adamawa and Borno. Before that time I’d worked as a lecturer at Bingham University in Jos before we moved to Karo, close to Abuja. Before then I’d taught at Benue State University.
Growing up, was your dream to become a media practitioner?
Not exactly. When I was a youngster, I didn’t even consider courses; my aim then was to be educated. When I got to the college, at some point I loved the sound of people saying that someone was reading Law. At a point in time, I came in contact with a student who was leading the Press Club; and that was when my interest in journalism or anything media-related started growing up. By the time I was progressing in my studies, I got influenced by the newspapers and magazines that my elder brother bought. That was when I started reading the likes of Dele Giwa, Ray Ekpo, Dan Agbese; and in terms of television, I started watching people like Eugenia Abu casting news.
You have been in the class teaching; you don’t want to practice?
I have practiced journalism in a way; during my Youth Service I served in a broadcasting organization meritoriously and I was even given a job on a platter of gold. Moreover, while I was with Bingham University, I worked closely with a magazine called City Watch; contributing stories and assisting them in editing.
It is axiomatic that Nigerian universities now produce unemployable graduates of Mass Communication; what are you doing at IBBU, Lapai, to make a difference?
The charge may be right and wrong at the same time. It is true that there is a lot of un-seriousness among students, not only the students of Mass Communication but students in every course. I know that in several courses, students who are priding themselves as graduates may not be able to defend their degrees. In the same vein, I am sure that there are many graduates that are very competent and employable. I have this confidence because of the experiences that I have had with some of my students. Just last December, I went round many broadcast and print media houses, most of them in Abuja, where they commended the efforts of our students even as they are still undergoing training. Nowadays we have a lot of opportunities than some of us had when we were studying. If you look back at journalism practice generally in Nigeria you will see that many of those who even started it did not have hardcore journalism training. Some of them were teachers who left teaching to learn news writing as a craft. Some of them just took a few months of training in London or at The Times Journalism Training Institute in Lagos.
The only difference was that we had fewer media houses with strict mode of employment. Nowadays employment into media houses is not on merit; some people, because they know the editor or any other big person in an outfit will meander his or her way and secure employment. Otherwise there are one thousand and one competent, trained people who can withstand the rigours of the profession. What I am saying actually is that, while we may have many graduates that may not be able to stand the rigours of journalism, in the same gait, there are many of them who can. I teach News Writing and Reporting and before we go into the class proper, I let the students know why the course is very central as far as journalism is concerned. I have tens of students that I believe can do well in the job. The other thing is that some people are just in school to get the certificate that is why they just sleepwalk through it, but I believe that those who have the passion to study Mass Communication, some of them that I have taught can prove themselves if given the opportunity.
With the equipments in the department’s possession, do you believe you are moving with the trend?
We are moving with the trend! The department has a radio studio, and not only that, there is a radio station. It is called Peak FM. It is duly approved by NBC. There is also a functional television studio and a photo studio. I know we cannot have all the equipments that are needed for journalism practice, hence we complement the students with industrial experience through which they are trained in practicals, so that if they get to the field someday they can meet up with the rigours.
Right now, what are the needs of the Department?
There is a gap between what is needed and what is available. If we have more equipments; if we have a media complex where student can have experience of desktop publishing, and if we have more staff, we will be grateful. As It is now we need to build up our staff strength, especially technical staff who can take students through practicals.
As an intellectual in the field of journalism, what is your overview of the contemporary Nigerian media? Do you think we are getting things right?
If you are talking about the state of the Nigerian media, we have come a long way; we have made giant strides, even though a lot still needs to be done. As I have said earlier, the earliest practitioners were made up of those who weren’t journalists in terms of training. Nowadays, even though we still have a lot of interlopers, we have highly skilled people in the profession. I said we have made some giant strides; first of all, in the print media, the quality of production has improved tremendously. If you look at radio and television stations, the access has increased tremendously because we have many of them around; and you know that is a giant stride. Coming to the content, the quality of programming as improved, too. Perhaps, these feats came due to information technology and the number of more experienced hands that are available. But a lot of ground still needs to be covered…
In what aspect?
There are several things that need to be done. As I was saying before concerning the quality of graduates; we have so many practitioners that are good and we have so many of them that are just sleep-walking through the practice. Some of them carry on the job with a lot of un-seriousness. For example, in journalism, the training says that to misspell someone’s name is a cardinal sin; but many of our journalists take no heed of that. The doctrine says ‘when in doubt cross check’. Many journalists feel lazy to cross check. There are names of people who were ministers in Nigeria; names of people who have been in the public domain for a long time and because of carelessness from our journalists, even when they are aided by information technology, blunders are committed. So, un-seriousness needs to be addressed in the Nigerian media.
Another one is that many people come into the profession… the social enterprise of journalism surpasses the commercial enterprise, so they think media houses are avenues for them to reap profits. In 2007 I advocated that perhaps the sort of exercise that engulfed the banking industry should also take place in the media. If we have many media house that cannot fend for themselves, perhaps they should merge so that they can have enough to fend for themselves. You go to media houses, they don’t have enough vehicles to convey their staff to events; and then the staff are conveyed by government’s vehicles, how then are we going to produce editorial contents that are not biased? I remember in 2007 when some journalists perished in a car accident; I was saying that, yes, an accident is an act of God but why should journalists working in different media houses packed themselves in one car and a press corps car for that matter? Each media house should have its vehicles, its equipments. Another thing is, we lack content priority. Most of the time journalists working for different media houses work together and copy from one another, which is bad.
Another thing is the brown envelope syndrome. I don’t know how far Media Trust has gone in implementing its “No, thank you” policy. I will someday ask my students to investigate how far Media Trust has gone in implementing the policy, because it is a commendable policy. Collecting bribes make journalists appear as beggars. And the right solution to all these problems is that media houses that do not have the financial muscles to sustain themselves in tandem with the prerequisites of the media should merge. Similarly, journalists who think they are not well-paid, then go to government officials for bribes should quit. If you think you are not well-paid, quit and look for a well-paid job; we should not allow the brown envelope syndrome to shortchange what journalism is supposed to be in the society.
