• Home
  • Anti-Corruption
  • Fact-Check
  • Economy
  • National
    • Government
  • Security
  • Features
  • State
  • Event
Sign in
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Password recovery
Recover your password
Search
  • Home
  • About
  • Adverts
  • Contact
Sign in
Welcome! Log into your account
Forgot your password? Get help
Password recovery
Recover your password
A password will be e-mailed to you.
PRNIGERIA PRNigeria News
PRNIGERIA PRNIGERIA
  • Home
  • Anti-Corruption
    • Why we Support Anti-corruption Projects – Foundation

      Steve Oronsaye

      EFCC to Appeal Oronsaye’s Acquittal in Alleged N2bn Fraud

      Peter Afunanya DSS Spokesperson

      UPDATE: DSS, EFCC to Broker ‘Ceasefire’ Over Tussle for Lagos Property

      DSS Boss Magaji Bichi and EFCC Boss Abdulrasheed Bawa

      24 Hours After Tinubu’s Inauguration, DSS, EFCC Reignite Inter-Agency Rivalry

      Chairman EFCC Abdulrasheed Bawa

      Matawalle’s $2m Bribe Hoax: EFCC Will Not Bandy Words with Suspect

  • Fact-Check
  • Economy
    • Hammed Ibrahim Ali Customs Boss

      Nigeria Customs Service Initiates Fast Track 2.0 For Rewarding Compliance

      Fuel Subsidy: Mixed Reactions as Long Queues Return to Filling Stations

      French, Kwara Sign MoU on Knowledge Transfer, Livestock Development

      President Buhari Assents to NDIC, Three Other Bills

      Buhari Swears in Ismail Agaka, Six Others as Federal Revenue Commissioners

  • National
    • HAJJ Pilgrims pilgrimage NAHCON

      Hajj 2023: NAHCON Completes 85 Flights with 35,817 Pilgrims in Two…

      NYSC DG Seeks Staff Support to Actualize ‘Policy Thrust’

      Hajj Zikirullah Olakunle Hassan NAHCON Chairman

      You can’t Stay in Madinah Beyond Five Days – NAHCON Tells…

      HAJJ Pilgrims pilgrimage NAHCON

      Hajj 2023: NAHCON Completes 80 Flights with 33,818 Pilgrims in 13…

      Imam Agaka Islamic Quiz Competition

      Imam Shuaib Agaka’s Islamic Quiz Competition Ends, Winners Get Prizes

    • Government
      • Akume lauds North Central Governors for Solidarity Visit

        Tinubu Inaugurates Akume as 21st Secretary to Government of Federation 

        President Bola Ahmed Tinubu

        President Tinubu commiserates with India over deadly Train Crash

        HAJJ Pilgrims pilgrimage NAHCON

        Hajj 2023: NAHCON Completes 45 Flights with 18,703 Pilgrims in Eight…

        PHOTOS: Vice President Shettima Commissions NASS Mosque

  • Security
    • General Chibuisi Gold of MNJTF In Mallam Fatori, Diffa

      Counter-Terrorism: MNJTF Commander Storms Mallam-Fatori, Diffa on Operational Tours

      Nigerian Military Troops

      Nigerian Military Kills 7 Bandits, Set Ablaze 2 Motorcycles in Zamfara

      NDLEA Denies Reports of Lopsided Promotions

      Navy, Turkish Firm ink MoU on Maritime Security, Ship Remodeling

      Court Reprimands NSCDC over Attack on Erasmus Ikhide 8 Years ago

  • Features
    • The Chairman of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), Alhaji Zikrullah Kunle Hassan (M), flanked by members of the National Media Team (NMT) for the 2023 pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.

      Hajj 2023: NAHCON’s Strategic Media Engagement for Responsible Reporting, by Abdulrahman…

      Fredrick Nwabufo of Journalists for United Nigeria (JUN)

      When preparation meets leadership, Tinubu happens, by Fredrick Nwabufo

      President Bola Ahmed Tinubu

      Still on the Person Needed for Tinubu’s NSA By Segun Olugbile

      Senator Barau’s Antecedents for 10th Deputy Senate Presidency

      President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Photo: Twitter

      Tinubu and management of priorities…

  • State
    • Niger State Governor, Mohammed Umaru Bago,

      Bago Visits Service Chiefs, Seeks Collaboration to Tackle Niger’s Insecurity

      Gov Abdulrahaman abdulrazak of Kwara

      Kwara Reduces Workdays over Petrol Subsidy Removal

      SPECIAL REPORT: Sorrow and Blood; Dehumanizing Tales of ‘Phone Snatching’ in…

      Late sultan ibrahim Dasuki

      After 26 Years, Sokoto Govt Clears late Sultan Dasuki, Approves Benefits…

      Gov Wike Constructs Police Tactical Operations Centre

  • Event
    • Nafisat Bello, Fom Gyem, Rahma Oladosu and Mrs Yushau Shuaib

      TRAVELOGUE PHOTOS: The Emotional Rollercoaster to APRA 2023 in Lusaka

      Gen Samuel Adebayo CDI

      CDI Adebayo, Other Senior Military Officers Bag National Honours

      Badejo-Okusanya Bows Out as APRA President After 7 Years

      DG NITDA Bags Honorary Doctorate from California Metropolitan University

      APRA 2023 Conference: Zambia President Urges PR Practitioners to Project Good…

Home Features Fani-Kayode’s Gaffe and the Rot in the Media, By Gidado Shuaib
  • Features

Fani-Kayode’s Gaffe and the Rot in the Media, By Gidado Shuaib

By
Gidado Shuaib
-
September 1, 2020
Editor Youths Digest, Gidado Y Shuaib Welcomes Guests to CJA
Editor Youths Digest, Gidado Y Shuaib Welcomes Guests to CJA

Fani-Kayode’s Gaffe and the Rot in the Media, By Gidado Shuaib

Of late, the Former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, has come under heavy media flogging from various persons, journalism unions and top columnists, condemning his attitude towards a Daily Trust journalist, Eyo Charles, during a press conference.

Without attempting to belabour the issue, I wish to recall how the incident happened as well as the attendant media backlash. First, it is instructive to know that a press conference, in other words, is a platform on which a journalist and newsmaker interact through a question-and-answer parley. It is a form of drilling to which a newsmaker is subjected for onward transmission to the public.

However, Fani-Kayode, during one of such parleys, turned down a journalist’s question and, as if that was not enough disservice to the intent of the platform, this fellow had the effrontery to call this benign journalist all sorts of names. Well, thanks to Social Media. Fani-Kayode’s assault against the journalist would have been history.

An archetypal precedent has long been set. Although, it was not in our clime. At a press briefing in the White House last year, US President Donald Trump used somewhat unprintable adjectives to describe and ‘disparage’ the personalities of both the CNN and NBC White House Correspondents.

Both Peter Alexander of the NBC and his CNN colleague, Jim Acosta, were not spared the verbal ‘missile’ of the utterly-rambunctious US Number One citizen.

Mr Trump repeatedly blasted the two US reporters, reminiscent of the Femi Fani-Kayode and Eyo Charles’ ‘fiasco’ in Calabar penultimate week.

Trump never minced words in telling the CNN reporter, at a point: “You are very rude, and a terrible person. CNN should be ashamed of having you as their reporter.”

As for Fani-Kayode, who is a self-acclaimed activist, his reaction only exposed him as not being different from every other person he condemns.

On the heels of the sad incident, one of the foremost Civil Society Organisations in the country, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), came out to unequivocally condemn Fani-Kayode’s belligerent assault against the reporter, reiterating that press freedom and freedom to do journalism could not be joked with, especially at this time when COVID-19 had taken its toll on the journalism practice.

“While we are not unaware of the Fani-Kayode’s regular antagonistic reaction and response to issues, we uphold our position that Press Freedom and journalism must be respected and protected at all levels.

“We express total discomfort not only in thoughtless use of the word “stupid” but also reported threat and intimidation of the journalist during and after a press conference held in the state.

“We also find the reaction of the Former Aviation Minister worrisome and tantamount to silencing the media freedom; as he is known to hitherto leverage the media in expressing a personal view and opinion on issues without fear or intimidation,” CISLAC’s Executive Director, Comrade Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, had said in a statement.

Now, although Fani-Kayode has regretted and apologised for the public gaffe—an afterthought anyway; what remains befuddling is the fate of journalism in Nigeria. Remember that the journalist, after the incident, had come out bruised and tattered. Nobody was saying anything about him, not even a word of encouragement to make him stay put in the course of objective journalism pursuit.

Sadly, we live in a society where journalists are constantly killed, harassed and intimidated for doing their job, but little or no care has been shown to address this rising menace.

It should be noted that most journalists in the country are either unpaid or underpaid, leaving most of them to be bootlickers of one politician or the other. Until media owners pay journalists well and promptly, enforcing the ethics of the profession will remain a major problem.

As at this moment, only a few publishers constantly pay what can truly be described as a take-home package. Many Nigerians are now discouraged from joining the profession, thereby now exploring other sectors they find lucrative.

Recent reports have revealed that newsroom employment has significantly decreased. The COVID-19 outbreak has also led to a rapid scaling back of advertising spending, which has inadvertently led dozens of newspapers to cut budgets and furloughs.

Similarly, a dozen media think-tanks in the country like the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism, Enough is Enough, International Press Centre, the International Centre for Investigative Reporting, and Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism had commissioned surveys, following perceptions that journalists were being exposed to danger in the course of covering the pandemic.

One of the surveys, filled by 463 journalists – correspondents, reporters, editors, freelancers, and presenters from 73 print, broadcast and online media across 33 states and the Federal Capital Territory – revealed that there had been poor attention to the needs, safety and welfare of journalists covering the pandemic.

Drawing from these responses, media proprietors were urged to prioritize the welfare of their reporters.

The media, especially in Nigeria, and at this particular juncture, must step up its game by doing everything necessary to protect the inalienable rights and privileges of members of the fourth estate in the country.

Against this backdrop, it is my humble submission that media owners should come up with innovative ways to generate revenue for their platforms as the present advertising model can no longer work, in as much as such finances are needed to sustain the business.

Also, as far as I am concerned, it will not sound too ambitious for politicians and other elites in the country to emulate the best practices of developed nations and begin treating journalists like kings and not dregs.

Only then, will the media and Nigerian journalists take its pride of place in the heart of the masses, and even become society’s true watchdog.

Gidado Shuaib, a media researcher, is the editor of The News Digest. He can be reached on giddyshuaib@gmail.com.

cheap guest posting service

Kidnapped School Children

Yauri FGC Students, Kebbi (Freed)
The last victims released spent 707 days from June 17, 2021 - May 25, 2023


Baptist School Students, Kaduna
703 days 16 hours 17 minutes 28 seconds

Tegina Islamiya Pupils, Niger (Freed)
Spent 88 days from May 30, 2021 - August 26, 2021


Report By: PRNigeria.com

 
VISIT OUR OTHER WEBSITES
PRNigeria.com EconomicConfidential.com PRNigeria.com/Hausa
EmergencyDigest.com PoliticsDigest.ng TechDigest.ng
HealthDigest.ng SpokesPersonsdigest.com TeensDigest.ng
ArewaAgenda.com Hausa.ArewaAgenda.com YAShuaib.com
  • TAGS
  • CISLAC
  • Covid-19
  • Fani-Kayode
  • Journalism
  • Media
  • NBC
Previous articlePolice Rescue Twelve Children from Trafficker in Anambra
Next articleGovernment  Sets to Review Social Protection Policy for Next four Years
Gidado Shuaib
http://www.PRNigeria.com

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

The Chairman of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), Alhaji Zikrullah Kunle Hassan (M), flanked by members of the National Media Team (NMT) for the 2023 pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.

Hajj 2023: NAHCON’s Strategic Media Engagement for Responsible Reporting, by Abdulrahman Abdulraheem

Fredrick Nwabufo of Journalists for United Nigeria (JUN)

When preparation meets leadership, Tinubu happens, by Fredrick Nwabufo

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu

Still on the Person Needed for Tinubu’s NSA By Segun Olugbile

Senator Barau’s Antecedents for 10th Deputy Senate Presidency

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Photo: Twitter

Tinubu and management of priorities…

Stories That Dokpesi Told by Mahmud Jega

Fuel Subsidy and the Plight of Common Man in Nigeria, by Gidado Shuaib

Fuel Subsidy, Fuel Pump, Pump Price

We all support Fuel Subsidy Removal but…You are still missing the Point

NAHCON Leadership and Inaugural Hajj Flight 2023

court Judiciary

Court orders lawyer, Pastor, Others to pay Tinubu, APC N17m for Frivolous suit seeking to stop Tinubu’s inauguration

HAJJ Pilgrims pilgrimage NAHCON

JUST IN: Benue Pilgrims Travelling to Abuja Involved in Accident

Buhari’s 100 Million Identity Gifts to Nigerians

  • Home
  • About
  • Adverts
  • Contact
© 2020 PRNigeria. All Rights Reserved.
X whatsapp