Chuks Ugwoke
24 October 2008
opinion
FACTS, according to that popular journalism maxim, are sacred, even if opinions are free. Also, facts, in the words of Aldous Huxley, "do not cease to exist because they are ignored."
In the noble profession of journalism, you can be forgiven for anything but not for the deliberate misrepresentation of facts. Thus, it is a taboo to turn truth upside down just to serve certain special interests. As the watchdogs of the society, the practitioners fully appreciate the danger of compromising their professional integrity on the altar of parochial lines.
Gov Chime and his wife: The latest executive couple in town
Thus, editors frown at stories that are so badly riddled with obvious contradictions and absolute violations of the professional ethics. Do journalists make honest mistakes? The proper way to answer the above question is to pose another: which profession is without mistakes?
However, these purveyors of news face the tougher challenge to ensure accuracy because the larger society relies on them for accurate and unbiased information. It is also in recognition of this truism that journalists are always advised: if in doubt, leave out!
Since assuming duties in Enugu, one has continued to appreciate the extreme differences between life in the newsroom and in government. They are miles apart. As a journalist, you had the privilege of having prior knowledge of tomorrow's stories well ahead of others.
As a government functionary especially charged with handling the State's information machinery, you would have to wait till dawn to read your colleagues' stories on your constituency or employer. From being a hunter, one has become the hunted!
Editors wield enormous powers, but they discharge them responsibly. However, they are, sometimes, at the mercy of their correspondents in the out-stations. Based on past relationships, they call you occasionally to seek clarifications but they generally believe in the competence of their correspondents. In any case, they rarely have any choice because they cannot be everywhere.
This is the loophole that some correspondents exploit to either fabricate stories or concoct falsehood in the name of stories. For purposes of clarity, many journalists in Enugu have continued to discharge their duties creditably.
To them, one doffs his hat, not necessarily because their stories are usually favourable but because they are somewhat accurate. But some others have so inelegantly contrived tissues of lies that spit on the real value of our much_cherished profession.
Some examples: While the Deputy Governor of Enugu State, Sunday Onyebuchi was on vacation abroad, one 'national' newspaper reported that His Excellency, Governor Sullivan Iheanacho Chime had handed over the reins of power to the Secretary of the State Government while going on holidays overseas! Haba!
Frankly, I was greatly ashamed when the reporter's only defence was that "I saw the SSG (Secretary to the State Government) representing the Governor in some functions and I thought he (Chime) was abroad." It was the Deputy Governor who was overseas and the report was the other way round. There had been other instances of awful misinformation.
But none compared to the different misrepresentations during the marriage ceremony between Governor Chime and his wife, Clara on Saturday, October 11, 2008 at Isuochi in Abia State. Prior to the event, some newspapers reported that the delectable lady was an undergraduate and lived at 95, Kenyatta Street, Uwani-Enugu.
The truth was that she never lived in Enugu until now and had long graduated from Abia State University where she read Marketing. Quite contrary to media reports that the First Lady used to work in the Presidency, truth also was that she was a staff of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) in Abuja before her marriage.
Quite eager to create some erroneous impressions, some correspondents of major national newspapers who were at Isuochi reported that none of the Governor's four children attended the wedding ceremony.
Again, the truth was that they were not only there ( as could be seen from the pictures published later in some papers), but came with their friends donning different uniforms to mark the significance of that day.
The excuse one of them gave was that "I didn't see them (Governor's children) there." So, what efforts did he make to confirm if they came? What happened to that unwritten journalism law: if in doubt, leave out? It was a simple case of mischief, not mistake. As professionals, we can do better.
Concerning the stories around the Governor rejecting the man of Year conferred on him by the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Enugu State chapter, certain clarifications ought to be made.
Indeed, Chime was on his way to receive the award on the second occasion when he was told that his hosts were not ready because they were waiting for the arrival of the National President of NUJ, Comrade Ndagene Akwu. The Governor headed to the office and went into a meeting that had been scheduled.
To underscore his respect for the NUJ, he met with Akwu later that day and explained what had transpired earlier in the day. The reports that followed negated the spirit of the award and he took a decision.
But prior to this time, he had also insisted that it was unfair on other nominees to be competing with him because none of them has the kind of opportunities like him as governor to impact on lives or bring about developments.
He held the view that it would make sense if he was being compared to his fellow governors, not people who do not have the same access to funds to execute programmes like him.
Besides, it is important for people to observe that here is a helmsman who hardly celebrates his own accomplishments.
As the Government's image maker, you would prefer to advertise your achievements, but you must be in tandem with the philosophy of the system not to thumb her own chest in self praise. It is a departure from the recent past whose hangover, perhaps, lives with a negligible few.
There were numerous feats to celebrate, but rather than roll out the drums during the one year anniversary and following his victory at the Court of Appeal which sustained his mandate, Governor Chime preferred to have thanksgiving masses with the people who have consistently demonstrated their unalloyed loyalty while praying earnestly for God's intervention in their affairs.
From massive infrastructural developments to the reign of peace and security in the State, participatory decision-making process, empowerment of the masses, improvement of salaries of workers and allowances to the traditional rulers, enthronement of transparency and fiscal discipline, prompt payment of salaries and liquidation of arrears as inherited, equitable distribution of amenities and patronage, assistance to farmers and corresponding improvement in agricultural production among others, there were enough reasons to pomp champagne, the signs are clear enough to confirm as the people now chorus in the Coal City State that "Enugu ga-abu obodo oyibo."
The pen profession will also be one of the beneficiaries because Governor Chime holds the journalists in high esteem. That explains why he immediately issued them with the Certificate of Occupancy to the NUJ Press Centre and bought a new bus for the NUJ, Enugu State chapter with a firm promise to "continue to interface with and support the media practitioners who are our partners in partners."
Yet, he knows as Theodore H. White says that "when a reporter sits down at the typewriter, he's nobody's friend." What he wishes, like he told the Enugu-based journalists on October 13, is "factual reporting of issues. If you write the truth and I don't like it, then I change my ways."
*Chuks Ugwoke is Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism in Enugu State.
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