OBJECTIVE REPORTAGE AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
objective reportage
Uji, Wilfred Terlumun Ph.D
In all societies and nations of the world, the media, both print and electronic play a critical role in the sustenance and management of societal challenges of a given society or people. In western advanced democracies such as the United States of America and the European Union, where literacy level is high and considerable economic power by citizens, it is the media, both private and public that shapes the opinion, defines the values, and sets the ideological orientation of the citizenry of the nation.
Every country in the world has its peculiar challenge which often arises from the state of development of that society and how resources are distributed across board, to reduce inequality and poverty. Insecurity for instance is a deliberate ploy of the hegemonic ruling class of a nation to achieve some desperate political objective by causing a war or an uprising. Information imperialism during the cold war was a basic weapon the United States of America adopted in destabilizing nations of the world, particularly the soviet east. Within nations also, the ruling class often depend on the use of press or media to create insecurity and instability within enclaves of their so called enemies.
We have observed that in our modern nation state, information High Way through the media is a critical instrument of nation building. The information order of nation state is a critical variance as to how it can manage challenges that confront it. The ideological thrust of the information order is critical here in our definition of objective media as well as subjective media.
The cold war era after the end of World War II of 1945 created a bipolar world and polarized the ideological content of information and the world system. This ideological reportage based on the bipolar bellicosity also adverse effects on the state of insecurity and the world. There were certain developments that gave rise to the information ideological war between the west and east.
- The landing of searchlights into space as vital communication technology to dominate and control the information space.
- The emergence of Cable Network News, by both the Soviet Union and the United States of America as global information hegemonic institutions.
- The ideological media reportage of basic conflicts and wars across the world along the lines of the east and west divides.
- The deliberate establishment and sponsorship of media organizations.
- The third world conflicts like Nigeria reporting along the ideological lines of the east and west divides. In Latin America and Africa there were several newspapers and magazines that were established and sponsored by Europe and America.
- The establishment of global security outfits by the USA and Soviet Union that also sponsored media reportage along ideological lines. The central intelligence of America created and sponsored newspapers, radio stations and institutions in Africa. The KGB led by Russia also sponsored information waves in Africa.
The manifestation of the bipolar bellicosity of the information order in the world system was seen in several ways across the third world countries. Media reportage either abated insecurity crisis or manipulated it. In Latin America, for instance in Bolivia, Uruguay and Mexico the CIA sponsored newspapers and radio stations with a powerful ideological thrust that overthrew the existing regions and created unnecessary wars within these nations. In Africa, during the Apartheid era, both the United States of America and Russia manipulated the media to achieve an ideological war. In countries like Mozambique and Zimbabwe, media reportage was sustained along ideological lines. In Nigeria during the civil war and the post June 12 era, media reportage of the insecurity challenge in Nigeria was manipulated and sponsored by the United States of America as against China and Russia involvement in Nigeria. We are aware of the powers of Radio Biafra and Radio NADECO in the propaganda effort during the civil war and the post June 12 struggle respectively.
The political economy of security and that of media reportage in several conflicts of the world indicated that there is always a political ruling class with hegemonic control, both in the military and civil classes that control the information order of a nation and reports security challenges either based on “selfish interest or national latest.” The fact is that, it is expensive to establish media houses that can have an international reach or dominate the national informational space. Media institutions with national and international reach are often controlled by the wealthy class of a nation. In Nigeria, several of the national newspapers, radio and television stations are controlled by the wealthy patrons of the state who are also critical stakeholders on how resources are shared in Nigeria. These wealthy patrons and the media outfits report security challenges to protect their selfish interest.
The Nigeria Police, Military, Secret Services and even the Para-military agencies are structured to protect the interest of the ruling class. The police institution and the military were established in the colonial situations to serve the interest of the ruling class of the state. There is hardly any security challenge in Nigeria that is not a creation of the ruling class. For example, Boko Haram movement cannot survive or exist without the backing of the ruling class in the north. In the era of President Goodluck Jonathan, he repeatedly pointed out that Boko Haram sponsors were part of his cabinet and the National Assembly.
The question of who own the media and the security outfits in Nigeria is central to our discussion:
- Who is responsible for the security challenges in Nigeria, ranging from Boko Haram, Niger Delta Militants, MASSOB and IPOB, the herdsmen crisis, inter and communal clashes between ethnic groups, killings, assassinations and kidnapping? Investigation of these challenges reveals that there is a strong involvement of the ruling class, from the point view of political economy of insecurity. If not, who are the sponsors of these crises in terms of arms supply and ammunitions, logistics and intelligence, even training and personnel?
- Who controls media reportage in Nigeria? The political economy of the media in Nigeria also shows that the powerful media in Nigeria with a national and international reach are controlled by the same wealthy political ruling class. Given this background, how possible is it for the media to achieve objective reportage of the security challenges that confronts Nigeria?
No doubt, there is a conflict of interest at the level of what is happening to our security forces as well as media reportage in Nigeria. The conflict of interest has come to overshadow any sense of objectivity as to how media houses in Nigeria report issues of national concerns.
In 2005, at a National Conference at the Nigeria Defense Academy, Kaduna comprising of the top military command of the nation, many of these issues were raised:
- The military in Nigeria is broken along ethnic lines and highly ethicized. In the military, this has caused coups and counter coups as well as killings and assassinations, even the mass retirement of officers.
- The military is divided along religious lines .This is often reflected in the mode of appointments within the military.
- State security forces or men of the secret services are not fully equipped to detect and gather early intelligence to abort certain insecurity challenges. National security should move away from being reactive to being proactive.
- Media houses in Nigeria are also divided along ethnic and religious lines on reportage.
- There is a hardly efforts by media houses at investigative journalism that works hand in with intelligence forces in the reportage.
The security conference predicted the Boko Haram insurgence and other crises in the Nigerian polity. The predictions have come to pass as demonstrated by the security realities in contemporary Nigeria.
Objective reportage implies:
- Investigative journalism
- Research oriented reporting
- Nationalistic approach to reporting
- A Pan-Africanist approach to reportage
In total sum, objective reportage entails that a journalist is not an arm chair personnel who recycles stories without a critical analysis of the sources of the information involved. News reporting is the product of the journalist and his facts; how he selects and interprets facts to make news. Two variables are involved in objective reportage:
- Selection of facts
- Interpretation of facts
It should be noted that it is not the news that make news, but the journalist and his facts make the news….
To be continued…
