BY ANAYO ONUKWUGHA, Port Harcourt
From Wednesday, September 20 to Sunday, September 24, 2017, editors under the aegis of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) were in Port Harcourt, Nigeria’s Garden City and Rivers State capital for the 13th All Nigeria Editors Conference (ANEC).
The theme of the conference, which was the second to be hosted in the state in the last 12 months, was “Nigerian Media: Balancing Professionalism, Advocacy And Business.”
Prominent Nigerians who attended the conference were the host governor, Barr NyesomWike, former Ogun State Governor, AremoOlusegunOsoba, who was chairman of the conference, AlhajiIsma’ila Isa Funtua who chaired the opening ceremony and the Senate President, Senator BukolaSaraki, who was represented by the chairman, Senate Committee on Media, Senator SabiAbdullahi.
Also in attendance were Rivers State Deputy Governor, Dr. Ipalibo Harry-Banigo, the senator representing Taraba Central senatorial district in the National Assembly, Senator Yusuf Abubakar, former Rivers State Governor, Sir Celestine Omehia and Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General TukurBuratai, who was represented by the General Officer Commanding (GOC), 6 Division, Nigerian Army, Major General EnobongOkonUmoh, amongst others.
Declaring the conference open, Governor Wike urged media owners to be in a position to meet the economic, financial and technical demands of managing and sustaining reputable media outfits in the face of the competition occasioned by the explosion in the volume, complexity and speed of information.
Wike said, “At this point, while I appreciate the theme of this conference: balancing professionalism, advocacy and business, permit me to allow the experts to exhaustively deal with it to your ultimate benefit.
“Suffice it to say that professionalism in any discipline enhances specialisation, competence, commitment and productivity. You cannot jumble and ramble through different roles and be very successful as a journalist. But then, people have different reasons for entering into the profession and some of these motivations are not always idealistic.
“Furthermore, while the media is expected to advance the public good, media owners must be in a position to meet the economic, financial and technical demands of managing and sustaining a reputable media outfit in the face of the competition occasioned by the explosion in the volume, complexity and speed of information.
“The truth is that poor rewards or inadequate remuneration in media practice are capable of leading practitioners into passivity, and as you know, anything goes when there is no material motivation for human action.”
The governor described as wild allegation, the claim by the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed that members of the opposition in the country were those sponsoring the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
He stated that it would be dangerous for the peaceful coexistence of Nigeria if the clamour for political restructuring, fiscal federalism, state police, guarantee for free and fair election are ignored
The governor said, “Nigerians of goodwill must therefore urge Alhaji Lai Mohammed to stop fanning the embers of disharmony and division in the polity with its irresponsible utterances and wild allegations against members of the opposition political party, to the fact saying that opposition is the one sponsoring IPOB.
“Then you see; who are those being affected by the activities of IPOB? Are they not those in the opposition states? In the hey days of Boko Haram, does the IG mean it was the opposition then that was sponsoring Boko Haram just to distract the government then?
“Today, the clamour for political restructuring, fiscal federalism, state police, guarantee for free and fair election have never been this determined across the country and will never go away. It is becoming clearer by the day that to ignore these calls is potentially dangerous to the unity and peaceful coexistence of this country.”
Wike stated that Nigeria is in crisis as a result of poor governance, nepotism and marginalisation, saying that the country needs forthright leadership and consensus building to steer the ship of state from the wrong direction it is heading to safer group.
According to the governor, “Acts of impunity, political intimidation, election rigging and abuse of power are wrongs not only against Rivers State, but they are wrongs against the entire country. We are only pretending when we feel that all us well with the country.
“The country is in crisis because of poor governance, nepotism, marginalisation and state-sponsored repression continues to bring violence to national unity and cohesion. At times like this, the country needs forthright leadership and consensus building to steer the ship of state from the wrong direction it is heading to safer group.”
In his keynote address titled, “Nigerian Media: Balancing Professionalism, Advocacy And Business”, the Editor-in-Chief of The Interview Magazine, AzuIshiekwene, said, “What, really, is the business of the media? I suspect that if this question was opened to the floor, there would be as many answers as there are editors. You might also be surprised that even editors working in the same media organisation would have significantly different answers.
“There’s nothing wrong with that. There will be those who would say, ‘The business of the media is to sell space.’ Another editor might say, ‘We’re in the business of publishing news.’ While another might respond, ‘What do you mean? We’re in the business of creating communities.’ And yet another editor might say, ‘You know what, our job is to mirror society.’
“There’s no wrong answer. The editor who says the business of the media is to sell space is saying what happens in a number of media organisations these days where editorial and advert sales functions have dramatically and frighteningly fused.
“The editor who says he’s in the business of news publishing will lock horns with the advert manager if there was ever a threat of encroachment into the slot for news, while the editor who is concerned about creating communities will be interested in the social media extensions of mainstream content.
“As for the mirror editor, he’s probably your straight news guy, with no care in the world about meaning, context and the like – until sales begin to drop.
“But as I said, it does not make any answer right or wrong. It however does something more fundamental: it’s a vital insight on how the resources of the media organisation would be allocated. How we perceive what we’re doing and the importance we attach to it determine the level of resources and energy we allocate to it and, therefore, the result that we get.
“A media organisation with senior editors who seriously think they do all of the above and even more; that is, selling space, publishing, creating community and being a mirror all at once, will dissipate its resources to achieve all of these things.
“It would achieve some measure of success, of course. But it would ultimately suffer from the chronic anaemia that has afflicted much of the media for the last 20 years or so during which at least 25 major newspaper and magazine brands have folded, advertising dwindled, circulation crashed to a combined figure of less than 120,000 copies and audiences moved in droves to video games, sports betting and Netflix.”
In her welcome address, President of Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), Mrs. FunkeEgbemode, regretted that not much attention is being paid to the media sector just like other sectors in the country, saying that the industry is presently not in good shape.
Egbemode said, “Ours is a besieged and beleaguered industry. Both the profession and the professionals are not in good place right now. The recession may be receding in other sectors but in the media, hardly so. Indeed, our recession predates the nationally recognised one.
“We have been in a bad place for a long time and right now, we all can feel the ground shift under our shaking legs. We take care of everybody else’s interest. We watch out for everybody and we have always done that for years.
“Other sectors get intervention funds and bailout but what do we get? We are constantly reminded of our social responsibility and our roles in national security. We are watchdogs of every sector. And I ask, who watches our back? Who bails us out when we run into storms, like now when Hurricane Recession is battering us?”
In a communiqué issued at the end of the conference, which also featured the amendment of the NGE Constitution, the editors resolved that the media industry has been, and is still, experiencing a crisis of recession of huge proportion and called on the government to do more to ensure a conducive environment for the media to flourish.
The communiqué, which was signed by FunkeEgbemode and Victoria Ibanga, President and Secretary, respectively, said editors should, in addition to their editorial functions, concern themselves with the business side of the media industry to ensure that their establishments thrive.
The communiqué reads in part, “At the end of exhaustive deliberations on the theme of the Conference, the Nigeria Guild of Editors, NGE, resolved as follows: That the media industry has been, and is still, experiencing a crisis of recession proportions and that government should do more to ensure a conducive environment for the media to flourish.
“That there is need for Editors, while remaining professionally excellent, to also explore other revenue yielding ventures or business prospects to ensure that life after their editorial assignments is not nightmarish.
“That Editors should, in addition to their editorial functions, concern themselves with the business side of the media industry to ensure that their establishments thrive, and that their venture into business upon retirement will be based on informed knowledge gained while in service.
“That Mass Communication Departments and Journalism training institutions should include business courses in their curricula so as to prepare future editors for the business side of the media industry.
“That the Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN) and other media stakeholders should collaborate to ensure the setting up of newsprint production companies and resuscitation of the moribund one in Oku Iboku, AkwaIbom State, to address the crisis of high cost of imported newsprints.
“Appealed to the Federal and state governments to pay outstanding gratuities and pensions of retired Editors and other classes of retirees to make life after retirement less stressful.
“The Guild commended the Nigerian Army and other security agencies for their efforts aimed at curtailing the activities of insurgents, militants and other groups threatening peace and security of the country.”
The post When Nigerian Editors Converged On The Garden City appeared first on leadership.ng.
Source: http://leadership.ng/2017/10/01/nigerian-editors-converged-garden-city/
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