Press Singing and Praise Freedom

 

 

The siege is on. Gradually, our immediate past is replacing our future. With fiat and brute force. We are being told that unless we sing the praises of politicians, there can be no press freedom.  But, in "press-singing," there must be freedom (of choice) to praise or otherwise. Abi? In any case, are the politicians praiseworthy? 

 

Last week, General Olusegun Obasanjo  banned Tribune and NewAge reporters from covering Aso Rock. Just recently, he "deported" a Monitor correspondent from the Villa. Then, Cross River Assembly ordered a Daily Independent staff out of the state. Akwa Ibom House had earlier evicted a Punch man. And, Ogun State's Gbenga Daniel sent SSS to arrest the editor of Encomium. The allegations, in sum, are that (1) the reporters were unjustly critical of the politicians and their policies. (2)The reports were untrue.

 

However, the siege only confirms our fears. As someone said, it's only in one direction that a politician can look at a journalist. And that is down. Like Chief Obafemi Awolowo said in 1934, "journalists suffer from a general, but inaccurate contempt from …highly placed …government officials." They vilify us for not "praise singing" them; for exposing their bad sides. Yet, they "make" the news; we only report them. To argue, therefore, that because certain reported actions of the elite would tear the polity apart, they should be left hidden is immoral. For instance, Nasir el-Rufai accused some Senators of demanding bribe before clearing him as Abuja minister. And the Senators, trying to hide behind their fingers, blamed the press for reporting the accusation. Message: corruption by politicians is legal - in the "national interest." It appears then that there are two national interests - private and public.

 

These days, even a carpenter lectures the press on how to do its work. Everyone but the journalist knows how and what should be published. Yet, we do not tell lawyers what to argue in court; or doctors how to prescribe for the sick. It's annoying. Even school dropouts, with deplorable acting skills, call journalists names - after a media hype into stardom. But if stories favour them, no gratitude.

 

From one despotic regime to another, we make heroes out of cowards, then end up at the wrong end of the stick. We criticise politicians because of what my friend, Governor Chimaroke Nnamani of Enugu, calls "gap crisis" in "the expected" and "the delivered" dividends of democracy. But even he says the media "appear to be limited to overstating national misadventures and periodic misconduct of members of the ruling elite."

 

However, as a good friend of the press, Nnamani knows where to draw the line of blame. At the October 23 Newspaper Proprietors Association  of Nigeria (NPAN) lecture, he "never ceased from appreciating the media." He's aware the press has witnessed "both erudite and limping admonitions." Still, it must "assume its duty as the ultimate vehicle for social rehabilitation and consolidation of the old values attendant upon the hopes of national revival and eventual glorification." Nnamani resisted the temptation to "hastily pass judgement on the Nigerian press." But his statement, above, implies the press had, hitherto, not promoted "social rehabilitation;" hence, must start now. 

 

Well, if the "old values" fall into the private "national interest," then we're justified in aborting its "consolidation." Yet, the gov apparently spoke of contributions towards the general good. He didn't ask the press to bend backwards to take roles outside its canonical scope. Rather, the governor identified a tripod-responsibility of the press: a civic forum (for pluralistic debates); a watchdog (against abuse of power) and; a mobilising agent (encouraging public participation in the political process. Then, he urged the press to prioritise wants, expectations, etc, and place them "by the doorsteps of those who administer the state."

 

Okay, there may be a few "misfirings." But the press is doing even more than the politicians may admit. Nnamani, though, is an exception. He sees the press as up to its duties. At NAWOJ lecture of May 15, 2001, he said the press has "always worked hard to define our goals with unqualified courage and flawless logic and vision." Very apt. Only those who value us speak in superlatives. Nnanami knows that without the press, it would be difficult for him, as a leader, to gauge his people's minds. Hence, at Jos NUJ lecture on November 18, 2001, he said it serves "our best interest to single out the press among other institutions of national expression for praise or for vilification."

However, most times, it's while trying to situate the society's problems to the leaders that the press gets blamed. For not putting Nigeria "in the context of broad political perspectives." Sometimes, they accuse us of not highlighting the truth about the "inevitability of rancour" in our plural culture. Yet, when we do, they accuse us of overheating the polity. But, they only blame us for their misdeeds. For exposing their unquenchable thirst for amassing questionable wealth, for instance. They pocket the common treasury, then blame the press for reporting it. And, when we shout to be heard by leaders acting deaf, again, we get whiplashes.

 

As Nnamani himself admitted, until very recently, the polity enjoyed a measure of stability. Now, can the current public outcry, in all honesty, be blamed on the press? Did we increase fuel price? Did we ignore roads to turn to death traps? Are we in-charge of social amenities? When a politician steals money or asks for bribe, did the press "contaminate" his blood or gene? And if politicians impede official information flow because they have "something" to hide, we still must tell the people. Nnamani, God bless his frankness, has warned that "stultifying the process of information flow, in a democracy can breed a more restive political situation arising from the newfound openness of the society and half-baked political tolerance."

 

Indeed, the press has been the whipping boy for all Nigerian governments. It's been unjustly bashed by the elite, who like Rev Fr. Matthew Kukah would say, have no problems "collapsing national interests with (their) own personal, selfish interests." Then, they try to take the press out of the realities of our society. Yes, scientists talk of human weakness of always looking for scapegoats, whenever things go wrong. But, must it be the press?

 

Nigerian press, as our revered Babatunde Jose once said, "is neither for nor against the government, but pro-Nigeria." Hence, when the state, in the name of national interest (like the fuel price hike and bad roads?) attempts to "murder" its citizens, the press must help to arrest the proclivities. The reality, like the        Tribune put it in an August 1974 edition, "is that the (Nigerian) press has a clear and inescapable duty to reflect public opinion and to seek to influence the government of the day". And no harassment, blackmail or vituperation would not stop us. Amen!

 

• First published in Saturday Sun of  Nov 08, 2003