No genuine democracy without credible journalism

By Wale Adedayo

Democracy presupposes that the citizens have an informed choice among competing issues, personalities and political parties among others. Whether in a country, an organisation or village, the idea of using democratic means to arrive at decisions presupposes that the people are aware of virtually all information about the matter at hand.

In a democracy, the group or persons assigned this enormous task to inform the people and educate them are journalists. When journalists misbehave with their assignments, the repercussions often affect lives and institutions in such a way that nobody could ever imagine. There have been many manufactured stories about the Ogun State Governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel.

At a stage, during his first term, it was as if the media managers in the state had missed it completely. Why should a governor that even his opponents acknowledge as a performer have such a negative image? Why should a successful private businessman, who had always supported progressive groups as a private person suddenly become odious to such organizations in public life? Why should friends, who yesterday were full of praises for this son of a Pastor now feel Daniel has nothing to offer despite their acknowledgement of his achievements in office? Why???

The questions kept on coming until we went back to the drawing board and discovered that a carefully orchestrated formal and informal media war against OGD was being managed from outside the state. The interesting aspect of this contrived war was that most of the senior colleagues being used never for once asked probing questions from the man who suddenly seem to have more money and influence than he had ever dreamt of in his life.

Journalism, some would say, is a profession of skeptics. I'll not say so, directly. But the beauty of journalism is that we ask questions. Credible journalists do not just report a statement or interview when writing their stories. Context, which the layman describe as background, is weaved into the story in order to properly inform and educate the public, which may not otherwise have access to such information.

In reporting British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's offer to assist the Nigerian military, which a comrade posted on the Net this morning, the journalists, who wrote the story for London's The Independent newspaper appropriately educated the British electorate on why fuel prices might continue to go up. The reason is simple, Brown should be held accountable by the electorate for whatever economic mishap that could result from the Prime Minister's offer to help Nigeria deal with its Niger Delta nightmare.

Contrast this with the recent frame up of the Chief of Staff to the Ogun State Governor, Dr. Yomi Majekodunmi, for attempting to kill the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Mr. Tunji Egbetokun. Most of the newspapers did not apply the time worn principles of journalism that has helped other countries to be where they are today. Prodded on by insidious propaganda from those fighting for a non-existent Yoruba Leadership; opportunists who want to deny the Yewa/Awori a chance to produce the next Governor in 2011; and expired leaders who still want our people to be involved in a rankadede situation, nobody asked questions about how a former Managing Director of a bank would be directly involved in an assassination bid.

What happened to us in the last few days is like what some Crime Correspondents often condone from the Police. For instance, hardly does anyone raises query when they read in our newspapers that the Police killed 10 armed robbers after a hot exchange of gunfire only to recover one locally made pistol. How could there have been hot exchange of gunfire when the locally made pistol recovered can only fire ONE cartridge at a time to the Police's rapid firing AK47?

Not one of such reports has ever contained where the bullets hit the so-called robbers to determine whether the alleged criminals were killed in cold blood or not. That is often left for Amnesty International and other like minded NGOs to sort out. In the interim, because of inaction from those who should report the stories, such illegalities continue and the populace continues to suffer. How would anyone whose loved one is killed in such circumstances react? We institute jungle justice in such people and expect God to hear our prayers when we go and offer tithe in the church?

Someone wrote that we denied the Governor was ill in April. What bunkum! That is part of the shenanigan going on. What has the manufactured report of a sponsored Correspondent based in Abeokuta, which he wrote at the time, got to do with the event of three weeks ago? In other climes, even those genuinely opposed to the Governor among the journalists would have gone to the Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Shagamu, where he was first attended to and used that to get to the London hospital, which treated him following advice to that effect from Shagamu. Till date, there has been no sign of that.

The Speaker who framed up our Chief of Staff sleeps in Abeokuta and go to Lagos to address press conferences. But each time the stories are written, journalists often claim he spoke with them in Mowe or Ibafo. The last press conference in Ogudu GRA after a meeting with one of the sponsors in Ikoyi was reported to have taken place in Mowe. Are we at war? About two days after our arrival from London, the rumour mill in Abeokuta was agog with stories that OGD bagged a death sentence from President Olusegun Obasanjo's superior juju after the Governor prostrated with onde (charm) for the Ota Chicken Farmer during a peace meeting brokered for both men by the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the South-West.

Interestingly enough, the rumour collapsed within 48 hours. We suspected that they were expecting us to expose the attempt on the Governor's life through poison. They were proactive enough to send negative propaganda into town to defuse whatever we were going to say. Unfortunately for them, we had already taken a decision before we left Croydon that the issue should be kept under wraps. But that President Umaru Yar'Adua should be briefed on it. Apart from OGD's immediate family and the few of us that joined him in London, no one was to know about the attempt on his life.

Our reason was simple: It might drive away some of the investors who are eyeing prime areas of the state for industrialisation. Chevron, Shell and a Chinese consortium are moving on the Olokola Free Trade Zone, which also includes a deep sea port. The Chinese have already moved to site with construction work going on at the Ogun-Guangdong Free Trade Zone site in Igbesa, Ado Odo/Ota Local Government. It was because we kept mute about the attept on the Governor's life that the Obasanjo angle did not survive that week.

The latest one, for which they've found suitable allies in some discredited journalists is that of magun. It is being claimed that the Governor was afflicted with magun after making love to somebody. This is cheap. This is sad. Gutter materials like these should not find their way into a forum for serious discussions. Elementary propaganda studies teach that we check information/messages appropriately before exposing our lack of knowledge. A similar story of sexual escapades was also written recently by another gutter weekly magazine in Lagos.

It was followed by another sponsored story by a live-in-lover of Chief Abiola Ogundokun in National Standard magazine. I feel the lady in question wants to get at me, not my boss, on behalf of her husband. But not to worry, God dey! Looking at the Obasanjo and magun stories using the prisms of my relationship with Otunba Gani Adams (Oodua!!!); my teenage years in Idioro, Mushin; and my high school days in Gaskiya College, Badia, how can any sane Yoruba man believe that when you dobale with onde to make somebody dead and the thing bounces back to you, that it is in the comfort of an Oyinbo hospital in London that the person would be healed? What arrant nonsense! Can't people use their heads anymore?

In the same vein, even if these jeunjeun journalists, who keep on debasing the profession, have not seen Tunde Kelani's masterpiece, Thunderbolt (Magun), before, why is it difficult for them to know that magun cannot be cured by any white man's medicine? In fact, magun is a fast mover against the life of the man if he had slept with the woman. If not, the woman would soon be on her way to the Creator! No Oyinbo medicine can stop its effect!!

If the above holds true in Yorubaland, where the ways of our fathers still hold sway among many, why should those who ordinarily ought to inform and educate the people now do the exact opposite, that is, misinform and destroy the ability to reason among our people? The reason is not far fecthed: pecuniary gains. Those who should be the sentinels of a new dawn in Nigeria have joined marauders to destroy the polity.

In the name of dollars and naira, our so-called journalists have turned the profession into a prostitution racket where anything goes. For us in Ogun State, our watchword remains the same; we will NEVER succumb to blackmail. We are resolute that things must change for the better in Nigeria, starting with our corner in Ogun State, Yorubaland, Yoruba in Diaspora and Nigeria.

• Wale Adedayo, a journalist, is the Chief Press Secretary to the Ogun State Governor.

The Media in a Young Democracy*

By Wale Adedayo

I often get criticised by colleagues for describing Nigeria as a young democracy. And interestingly enough, some senior journalists often compare the situation in the country to that of the developed democracies when commenting about the shortcomings of the Nigerian system.

Unfortunately for such individuals, the fact that the independent media and the judiciary were allowed to flourish under military rule, which they are used to, does not mean we have developed democratically because periodic elections have now been added. Democracies depend on institutions that have nothing to do with individual office holders in ensuring the observance of due process, which is what we call the rule of law.

These institutions include the law enforcement agencies, judiciary, professional organisations and the independent media. All these and more will rise to defend the interest of the average citizen in a developed democracy without the need to draw the attention of a state governor or president of the country for that matter.

But a young democracy is one where the institutions that guarantee due process in governance are still weak. Compared with the U.S or U.K, the Nigerian judiciary, mass media, law enforcement agencies and the individuals who run these agencies are just coming to terms with how things should be done in a democratic polity. Even for those who know, a fear of being victimised through dismissal or demotion is constant on their minds.

Unfortunately in Nigeria , many political actors, whose major interest remain the spoils of office, often pretend as if democracy is all about periodic elections. It is the responsibility of credible journalists to write stories and analyses with an understanding that Nigeria ’s is a young democracy. In most cases, it is only politicians that the Nigerian media descend on. Law enforcement agents and judicial officers who occupy sensitive positions are often overlooked in critical stories by the media. These are individuals who have been thoroughly polluted by military rule and could constitute a cog in the wheel of our democratic progress through their conducts in office.

While it is true that there are other institutions that are NATURALLY expected to act as pillars for strengthening democracy in any country, the most important of all is the mass media. Without information nothing can work. Thus, any society which claims to be democratic must concomitantly have vibrant mass media organisations. Journalists in such a society must also have very high standards of training from the universities or polytechnics to the effect that the quality of their reports and ethical matters relating to the journalism profession are given priorities.

In Nigeria, this aspect, which has a lot to do with the calibre of journalists, ultimately rests on the shoulders of those who monitors Journalism and Mass Communication courses in our universities and Polytechnics, i.e the National Universities Commission (NUC) and the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE).

Cognisant of the fact that without credible journalists, there cannot be democracy, the developed democracies have over the years put in place structures that continually monitor the training of media practitioners in order to get the highest standard possible from this set of professionals, who can make or mar democratic practice.

In the United Kingdom , for instance, it is doubtful if any course in journalism would be accredited in a higher institution without Political Communication being offered by such a school as a core course. Without a proper understanding of how Political Actors continually make efforts to influence the process of governance, journalists in any society may not be able to play their assigned part in ensuring that the genuine wishes of the people are given room by those in public offices and the political actors who seek to influence them and what they do.

One is aware of the concern of a few credible media owners in Nigeria about the quality of Mass Communication or journalism graduates. This has to do with the ability of such graduates to write good English and ask sensible questions during interviews. But till date, it is doubtful if there has been any conscious effort to link Nigeria ’s democratic development with an urgent need to insist on Political Communication as a core course for all Mass Communication courses in our higher institutions.

Coming from a background of prolong military rule, the practice of journalism in Nigeria requires urgent attention so that we could match up with what obtains in other democracies. And the place to start is the training institutions. It is time the NUC and National NBTE insist on this for the accreditation of Mass Communication courses in our universities and Polytechnics.

Naturally, there should be a law guaranteeing Freedom of Information and protection of the rights of those who squeal on the illegal activities of elected or appointed officials of government. Democracy presupposes that the citizens have a right to choose between competing individuals, political parties and ideas during regular elections. But it is also an established fact that only those who are well informed can make credible choices. Currently in Nigeria , information about government activities can only be given to interested members of the public ONLY if the officials concerned want to. This should not happen in a democracy.

Ours is young. And that is why one is happy that the current National Assembly has initiated steps to pass an FOI law in Nigeria . In Ogun State , the Governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, joined millions of Nigerians to sign a petition asking for the FOI bill, which is currently in the National Assembly to be passed speedily. His Excellency was joined by Ogun State citizens from the 236 Wards of the 20 local governments in the state to sign the petition, which has since been forwarded to the National Assembly through the Freedom of Information Coalition in Lagos .

Because of the enormous power of the media, abuses also abound. Today in Nigeria a number of media houses are owned by persons who have a lot of things to hide. What obtains in such places is so sad that they continue to muddle the waters of Nigerian politics. But the public is not so deceived anymore. Statistics show that the highest selling newspaper in Nigeria today does a maximum of 50,000 copies per day. That is even on a very good day.

In a country with a population of more than 100 million, it is a clear indictment that the average person does not want to read newspapers. If a similar study is done about radio and television, I have no doubt, the same thing will be discovered about how many people listen to news and analyses. Our educational institutions have a responsibility to train journalists that will restore confidence to the public. Apathy during an election or a general disdain for governance by the people depend on how much the electorate believe in what the mass media communicate to them.

Developed democracies have institutions that ensure minimal abuses by political actors. Employing rumour mongering as it is often done here to bring down a government can hardly work in the United Kingdom or United States where the citizens can easily access information. It is also very unlikely to bribe a journalist or media organisation to continually dish out fabricated stories to run down political opponents or others in a developed democracy. The law enforcement agencies, the judiciary and the professional organisations often ensure that such do not happen in the U.K. and U.S. , for instance.

Above all, in the developed democracies those who take to journalism as a profession did so out of choice, not because they could not get other well paying jobs due to the economic condition of their societies as we have in Nigeria . They are well paid, and in some instances, often decide how much employers should pay them. Today in Nigeria , most journalists are not only poorly paid, some do not even get paid for a long time, while a few join the profession to ‘make it.’ These are symptomatic of a young democracy.

The challenge we have is to encourage the enactment of laws that will encourage the strengthening of our democratic institutions. Policemen and other law enforcement agents who perform their duties creditably should be rewarded, not victimised. Bad eggs should be shown the way out. Judges should not be denied due entitlements because they give negative judgments to those holding political offices.

Journalists should not be selective in the stories they write simply because they want to protect some special friends. Many are those shouting about democracy and due process today, who are enemies of anything that has to do with the rule of law. Yet, journalists who know about such individuals and their background have often kept quiet.

An FOI law that will be used to check abuses by government officials is also good to ask questions from journalists who cannot explain the source of their sudden wealth. With an FOI law in place, rumour mongering, which is another prevalent issue in a young democracy will be a thing of the past. Journalists will no longer be made to dish out rumours as ‘facts’ to the people. Securing convictions against criminal elements by our law enforcement agencies will also become easier.

Questionable characters should reduce in both the law enforcement agencies and the judiciary, a situation that will go a long way to restore sanity to the polity. Even some members of civil society who have ulterior motives for setting up Non-Governmental Organisations will be put I check as it becomes easier to expose corrupt persons and organisations.

* Mr. Adedayo, Chief Press Secretary to the Ogun State Governor, delivered this paper to students of Mass Communication Department, Olabisi Onabanjo University , Ago Iwoye, Ogun State on Thursday, 7 February 2008.