At times, I feel like going back to the newsroom, says Tella

I feel good and great! I thank Almighty God for the wonderful experience I have had in journalism since 1978. In actual sense, I feel humbled by what God has enabled me to achieve. I don’t think I actually did more than my colleagues did except the fact that I have been lucky to be […]

I feel good and great! I thank Almighty God for the wonderful experience I have had in journalism since 1978. In actual sense, I feel humbled by what God has enabled me to achieve. I don’t think I actually did more than my colleagues did except the fact that I have been lucky to be at the right place at the right time, getting the right stories that were good enough for publication.

At what point did you feel like opting out of the profession?

I have never experienced such a feeling. Up till now, each time there is a news-break, I feel like jumping to the newsroom to produce newspapers. Journalism has indeed kept me to focus on the national need, development and aspiration. I love journalism, and if I have the opportunity to repeat over again, I will do so.

Why are veterans in the profession seen as mere poor old men?

 This is a misconception! Veteran journalists are those who did not sell their conscience for peanuts while on the job. Unlike many reporters and editors who engage in commercial journalism, veterans are those who did not become robots for the government and they would hardly collect money to write stories. Veteran journalists are neither poor nor rich; they are relatively comfortable, and they are respected for that. The Nigerian bug has caught up with virtually everybody. Everybody wants to ride the best of cars and build the best of houses in town. Journalists who are interested in wealth should go into business and leave the profession for journalists.

As a recipient of the award of merit in media management by the Osun State government last month, what is your perception of the media management in Nigeria?

The Nigerian media is crippled by environmental distress. Most owners, especially newspaper proprietors, do not see the media as a long gestation investment. They want immediate profit. You need to invest in the media for five or six years without looking for a return, and you must define your reasons for involving in the media. Do you want to use it to access the corridors of power? Do you want to use it to build an economic empire? Or do you want to use it for developmental purposes for the ordinary man? You also have to define the audience, the reach and the marketability of the paper. So, the problem of the Nigerian newspapers is not about the management being bad, it is rather about the ownership not being attuned with the market reality. There is also professional tin-down. I mean well-trained, articulate and thorough-bred journalists are now very few, and because of this, journalism in Nigerian has become an all-comers’ affair where anybody who can write grammar finds a means of livelihood. I think the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria (NPAN), the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) and the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) should come together to lobby with the National Assembly to pass the Freedom of Information Bill (FOIB) and in the process, there should be conditionality of who should be a journalist. Those who want to be journalists must go for training. They must be certified even by getting the lowest certificate in journalism in addition to their first degree. What we have today are opinion writers calling themselves journalists. While it is imperative for journalists to be bold and resolute about what they believe in, they should not apply double standard. They should always make their stories balanced. There are always two sides to a coin. Journalists must be very careful, transparent, honest and focussed.  There is a code of conduct which must be enforced to ensure that the ethics of the profession are not undermined. We must set up a journalism control body, a kind of tribunal that will try offenders where major cases have been reported.  The act of the FOIB we are talking about is not going to be about unfettered freedom of journalists to have access to information. It must also contain the protection of individuals against undue invasion, blackmail, libel and character assassination. The Journalists Code of Conduct Tribunal could be set up by NPAN, NUJ and the NGE, not by the government. If it is set up by the government, it would be used as an instrument of witch-hunting and suppression.

As a veteran, what is your view on journalists’ agitation for life insurance?

Who should give the life insurance? It is the responsibility of the employers of journalists.

How could it be done?

There should be a partnership between journalists and employers. Let them be deducting certain amounts of money from journalists’ monthly salaries and contributing counterpart funding for the life insurance policy.

How do you react to the feelings that the internet newspapering would take over newspaper publication?

I don’t think so. That is just the imagination of some individuals. What is the population of highly educated people in Nigeria and that of those who are minimally educated to read newspapers? How about those who don’t even have access to computer and internet? It is only the elite that appreciate and benefit from the internet newspapering. If the newspaper is still relevant in England and the United States of America where the literacy level is almost 80 percent of the population, why would it become irrelevant in Nigeria because of the internet newspapering? The internet newspapering will have its audience; the newspaper publication will be relevant forever.