Serve as nation’s conscience, Shettima urges media

Vice-President Kashim Shettima has  urged media professionals to focus on objectivity and avoid antagonising government.

Speaking at the public presentation of a book titled, “Persona Non Grata,” authored by Deputy Editor(Politics and Head of Politics Desk) of The Sun Newspapers in Abuja Saturday.

Vice President Shetima drew the distinction between antagonism and speaking truth to power.

He said: “What must be spelt out is that there is a distinction between antagonising a government and speaking truth to power. The latter is driven by a noble principle to serve a greater good and a deserving humanity. The former, on the other hand, is usually a self-serving exercise that fades into futility, and that is not the end we should aspire to achieve with the information and ideas we labour to acquire and process in our line of work.’’

He said the nation also needed media professionals to serve as the country’s conscience.

“No political leader, however sincere their intentions, can excel beyond the scale of the knowledge at their disposal and this is particularly telling in our political space. While we need an army of courageous media professionals to speak the truth to power, we also need them to serve as the conscience of the political institutions and individuals who influence the evolution of society, including the questions of our collective survival.’’

He added that the rush to partake in a smear campaign, even in the face of superior facts is not an act of courage.

“This distinction sets courage apart from cowardice. It takes rare integrity to recognise the difference between the two,” Shettima stated.