Against the backdrop of tension arising from the campaign towards the general election next month, Emevwo Biakolo, a professor and pioneer dean, School of Media and Communication, Pan-Atlantic University, Lagos, in this interview with ZEBULON AGOMUO, cautioned the media against being dragged into the fray. He urged politicians to play by the rules; advising the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to live up to expectations. Excerpts:
What are your expectations from the Nigerian media in terms of proper reporting of the general election next month?
It is important first and foremost to follow the ethics of journalism practice. It means that we expect from our journalists news that will be credible, accurate, fair, balanced and that is as objective as possible. It is true that journalists like other human beings have their own points of view; but at the same time, that training compels us to be as balanced, as objective and as much as possible, we are not talking of absolute terms now, because that way, people will rely on us than on rumours, which are news that are not arising from a proper source. This is a very delicate time for the media; it is a time when the highest level of professionalism is expected and should be demonstrated by our journalists because there are many people out there who will appreciate credible news.
You used the words “delicate time”; this is not the first time Nigeria would be passing this way; what really makes this general election special?
As you know, until now the opposition has not been as intense and as ambitious as we see this moment. They have now, sort of, arisen together under the APC umbrella. So, there is a far stronger opposition now than before. But the positive side is that democracy needs some opposition to make it vibrant. It is not strange. However, what we are witnessing now is that there is certain kind of exacerbation of tension on the side of political operators by both of those in support of the PDP and those in support of APC; they are raising the political temperature by their intemperate language. We can see all kinds of rumours, all kinds of threats which is unbecoming of those who should be leading this country to the way of progress and growth of democratic practice. I would say that our political leaders, those on the side of the PDP and those on the side of APC need to exercise caution; this country belongs to all of us. It doesn’t belong to PDP, it doesn’t belong to APC; they can’t hold this country to ransom. So, it is important that journalists should try to maintain that sense of balance, not to get caught up in the exacerbation of this kind of high tension politics. We don’t need that at this stage of our development. So, it is a delicate time in terms of the temperature of threats coming from politicians which are totally unnecessary. So, we need those who control news to be guided by the ethics of their profession and not to allow themselves to fall into a kind of toxic atmosphere that has been created by politicians.
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Many journalists have passed through you; are you satisfied with their activities in terms of quality delivery according to the knowledge imparted in them?
It is true that by and large, sometimes there are some discrepancies between what people learn in the classroom and what they actually practise because they get caught up in the course of the contestation going on among political operators; however, for those who come through us, we always try to exercise the important caveat, this caution- look don’t get caught up in all the passions; you are a professional and you need to maintain a sense of balance; sense of reasoning because our concern is to be able to mirror and present society to itself in a balanced and accurate way. So, I would say, there’s still more room for improvement. We are at a point when political journalists are needed to be at their best, professionally. So, for journalists, my advice is, there is no reason whatsoever for us to fall into the trap the political operators are setting by doing anything less professional. This country is far bigger than any political party and this country belongs to all of us and we cannot allow ourselves to be held to ransom by politicians no matter how wild their ambitions are. The minority of this country is in PDP; the minority of this country is in APC, the vast majority are the owners of this country, who are not in any political party. So, let us stand up and defend the majority. So, I am really hopeful that journalists should be able to deploy their professionalism in their report. We don’t need to bitterness from any of the political parties.
What are your expectations from the INEC?
I do hope that the INEC will do its work in the proper way which means it should be an impartial umpire. However, a lot of responsibility is on them. So, they are not just impartial, they are also the enablers of the true process, because they provide all the information to voters, they provide all the materials for the actual voting, but already, INEC has so many challenges with the PVCs distribution, voters’ list, etc. There’s already a lot of shenanigan. They have not helped this process at all. We need to have processes that are transparent to build democratic institutions. As a democratic institution, INEC should stand up, Jega my colleague, should stand up and get himself counted as a man who stood out for transparency, credibility and for professional excellence needed in the management of the critical assignment given to him.
