I am addressing this letter with due respect to appeal to our esteemed private media owners to speedily sanitize Nigeria’s ‘filthy’ media scene and save the country from collapse.
Our media environment is engulfed by enormous problems that have resulted into serious backwardness in the journalism profession, the journalists and society, hence the need for a redress.
While some of the problems are caused by external influencers, there are a significant number of them arising from the leadership of our various media organisations which I trust, to a great extent, when our esteemed media proprietors look into them they would see the need to change the ugly situation.
Notable among the problems, of course, and most worrisome, is the issue of poor remunerations, welfare and other entitlements of journalists which are grossly inadequate thus causing the growing under performance of our media institutions.
That is why barring few of the practicing journalists, an overwhelming number of them have inarguably veered into the path of “Yellow Journalism” in which they welcome “brown-envelop’’ with greater interest to perfect stories to the taste of some charlatans.
It is sad to see journalists working without getting paid. This is what is causing corruption in the media.
Nigeria is in dire need of responsible journalism where the media, specifically privately-owned, would hold governments accountable.
It is for this reason that I am appealing to media owners to forthwith strive toward recovering the reputation and credibility of journalists by first improving their emoluments in order to restore the lost glory of the profession.
Yusuf M. Shekarau sent this piece from Yelwa, Plateau
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