(Motivational Speech Outline delivered to mark NUJ Week, Monday, May 5th, 2025)
By Timothy Ogbang Akwaji
Today, I won’t pretend to take my colleagues to the class room, possibly to teach them basic skills as we ply our trade. My assumption is that we all have what it takes to practice Journalism.
I promise not to go back to theories of communication, the likes propounded by Harold Laswell and his co- think-tankers.
All I will do is to remind ourselves of those ingredients that spice our profession and make us members of the Fourth Estate of the Realm. Must we not modulate the other arms of government and make them accountable to the people?
Herein lies the burden of the Professional Journalist who is expected to be neutral, yet tell the story as it is. I’ll attempt to address some miscellaneous issues that we encounter on a daily basis.
NEWS WRITING
Every Journalist is a reporter. That’s our calling. We must be able to define news, write news and edit same to meet all known Professional criteria.
The 5Ws & H
In the contemporary 21st Century, news must not necessarily address the 5Ws & H format. Most times, the effects of the news (consequences), or how humanity is impacted become the selling points of News. What makes news newsworthy? Timeliness, proximity, oddity. No need to go Afghanistan. Balance must be adhered to at all times, to avoid publishing refractions.
Today, while we celebrate innovations in the Profession, Courtesy of advancement in ICT, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become one of our greatest challenges. Now, what you see or hear may not be real. So, we must be careful in reporting events that fly on social media.
What has happened to Investigative Journalism in Cross River State?
FREQUENCY OF THE MEDIUM SHOULD DETERMINE APPROACH TO NEWS WRITING
Most of our media organs are daily, some weekly and others monthly or quarterly. Magazine writing format should suffice for media organs that don’t hit newsstands on a daily basis. Here, time is taken to tell the news behind the news, with inexhaustive backgrounding.
EDITORIAL WRITING (LEADER WRITING)
Unlike opinions, features and/or commentaries, which wear personal fragrance, Editorial is the STAND or POSITION of the news medium on any contemporary issue(s). It must not put on any toga of personal idiosyncrasies.
A good editorial must have three units – informative, argumentative or debate and stand/position of the news medium. Eg, Lagos – Calabar Coastal Highway.
DEVELOPMENTAL JOURANALISM IS THE WAY FORWARD
Our reportage must seek, at all times, to build the nation and bring stability to bear in the polity. Three principal areas that journalists must positively beam searchlights on are:
National Security
Democracy
Economy
NATIONAL SECURITY
Most commentators believe that insecurity in Nigeria has persisted this long because the media has consistently aided activities of bandits, while at the same time continue to make a mockery of efforts of our gallant security operatives. We must avoid reports on security details that may undermine our collective efforts to win the war against insurgency.
DEMOCRACY
There is no Profession in Nigeria that has sacrificed for the nation’s independence and Democracy than Journalism. While our veterans fought for independence using their media arsenals, most Journalists in the country paid the supreme price for democracy.
As we report defections and sundry misdemeanors by our political class, let us put our eyes on the ball – the survival of democracy. If politicians do not have ideologies, let’s prove that we cannot sacrifice democracy on the alter of anything.
We have wrongly referred to infrastructural growth as “dividends” of democracy. True dividends of democracy are:
Rule of Law
Freedom of the press
Accountability
Independence of the Judiciary
Independence of the Legislature, etc.
ECONOMY
Our nation today lies prostrate as a result of our worsening economy. Our orchestrated GDP data do not match the hunger ravaging the landscape. Let’s collectively expose corrupt practices, rather than glorify corrupt officials. Why should Journalists act as image makers for corrupt officials in exchange for gratifications? Let’s advance superior arguments and proffer solutions that will salvage our nation and bring prosperity to our citizenry.
ETHICAL REBIRTH
Journalism is a calling with clearly adumbrated ETHICS to guide professionals. Let’s adhere to our ETHICS so as to sanitize the profession.
Most of the time, we go to press without doing justice to the story. We sometimes stoop low and allow our senses of judgment and integrity to be compromised by peanuts. Often, we allow ourselves to be “hired” as attack dogs to fight battles for those with deep pockets or highly placed in society. Our profession is a noble one. So must our conduct be. As we celebrate our WEEK, let’s re-calibrate and bring back those virtues of our founding fathers, so that the eroding values of the pen profession can be reversed.
Akwaji, Ph.D. Head of Service (Rtd), Fellow, Nigerian Guild of Editors (FNGE) and Veteran Journalist.