Leadership (Abuja)
Abdulaziz Ahmad Abdulaziz
18 November 2008
Kano — The Nigerian media industry received knocks over the weekend as the Kano State governor, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, criticised the industry in strong terms claiming it is not living up to its responsibilities.
Shekarau condemned the media as "negative and unproductive" saying there was need for professionalism in the industry.
Shekarau, who was speaking at the 16th Nigeria Media Merit Award night, expressed dismay over what he called sensational journalism.
Backing his argument, the governor said: "It is a common knowledge nowadays for reporters to write baseless, fictitious and unfounded reports on individuals to smear their image and bring them down politically."
The governor, whose prepared address was delivered by his deputy, Engineer Tijjani Muhammad Gwarzo, described the recent trend in the Nigerian media as unfortunate.
He called on the concerned bodies to "devise ways of penalising erring media practitioners who indulge in false reporting and other unethical practices".
Malam Shekarau said the attitude of journalists was hindring to the passage of the Freedom of Information Bill (FOI).
In his words: "It is this ugly trend among journalists that is scaring some legislators in the National Assembly from passing the Freedom of Information Bill".
He said: "Taking all these negative and unproductive media tendencies, especially under the current democratic experiment, it is necessary for our media to embrace Development Journalism".
Shekarau said that "media practitioners must be committed to building rather than destroying, be rational rather than myopic, investigative journalism rather than sensational hack writing or ignorant misinformation".
He, however, acknowledged that "the media is the communication link between the government and the governed. This link is very crucial to the success of any government. It is an effective instrument for feeling the pulse of the people and for obtaining vital feedback and the impact of government policies and programmes on key areas of public life".
He said the vast majority of Nigerian populace had a firm belief in the media for accurate and reliable information hence any misinformation from the press will have tremendous impact on the psyche of the people.
"Today, more than ever before, the people need basic amenities such as water, housing, roads, electricity and education.
This should rightly engage the attention of the media if it is to play its role as the vanguard of the people and the voice of the voiceless".
Meanwhile, the Kano State Commissioner of Information, Barr. Haruna Isa Dederi, said that the state government has expended a total sum of N28 million to host this year's NMMA event.
Dederi, who was speaking at the award night, said the government spent N13 million for transportation and logistics while N15 million was spent on accommodation and feeding of the delegates.
Similarly, a prize to be called "Malam Ibrahim Shekarau Prize on Reporter on Education matters" was endowed for N5 million.
In his remarks, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Nigerian Media Merit Awards, Alhaji Alade Odenuwa, represented by Ambassador Segun Olusola, said the essence of the award was to celebrate Nigerian media and reward media excellence.
He traced the institution of the award to eighteen years ago saying the first ten editions of the award were held in Lagos.
According to him, the event was taken out of Lagos to give it a national outlook and wider participation.
On his part, the chairman of the Award Nominating Panel, Prince Tony Momoh said the committee, which was inaugurated in July last year has received 610 entries for various awards from 442 nominees.
He said this year's award has less entries compared to 753 entries from 529 entrants last year.
According to him, the print has the lion share of the entries with 381 nominations.
Momoh explained that after the proceedings of his committee, they submitted the recommended entries to the Board of Trustees which made final endorsements.
He lamented the low entries especially from other parts of the country calling on practitioners to be part of the subsequent nominations.
The winners include Daily Independent newspaper as the newspaper of the year.
Others are; Ikechukwu Ameani (editor of the year), Tell (magazine of the year), NTA Network (television station of the year) and Ray Power as Radio station of the year. Prize for editorial of the year went to the Nigerian Tribune. A total of 44 prizes were won at the event.
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