By Elizabeth ADENUGA
The Executive Director, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) Mr Auwal Rafsanjani, on Sunday blamed quack journalists for blackmail and spread of fake news and hate speech in Nigeria.
Rafsanjani said this at the Campus Journalism Awards 2019 organised by Youths Digest, a media Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) with support from CISLAC in Abuja.
According to him, persons who falsely pretend to have knowledge of journalism but only care for money have invaded the profession thereby causing trouble.
“Most of the quacks in the profession are responsible for causing trouble, those without training are the perpetuators of fake news and other vices.
“This is because anybody who has been trained as a journalist will keep to ethics of the profession.
“Journalism is not a business for accumulating money, it is about sacrifice to the nation by being responsible and being a voice to the voiceless.’’
Rafsanjani urged the student journalists and those intending to practice after graduation to keep to the ethics and values of the profession to serve with love and not because of what they would get.
Malam Mukhtar Sirajo, the President, Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), urged the young journalists to embrace the gate keeping role of journalism to enhance good governance.
Sirajo said that it was the social responsibility of journalists to be the watch dog of the society, adding that indulging in bad attitude would hamper the integrity of the profession as well as defeat that aim.
He said that presently, the gate keeping role of journalists was being relegated due to money factor and urged them to shun unethical acts.
“During our time, there was nothing as fake news or hate speech but today, the society is now dynamic so you have more responsibility to be on the guard against such acts.’’
Sirajo stressed the need to impose sanctions on erring journalists in order to sanitise the profession.
Mr Gdado Shuaib, the Editor, Youths Digest, said that 241 entries were received out which 30 finalists emerged for the awards.
Shuaib said that the aim was to recognise media professionals practicing within the ethics of the profession in spite of the challenges of hate speeches and fake news.
He said that campus journalism was being faced with many challenges which include victimisation by school management, absence of mentorship, and non availability of funds among others.
“This is really disturbing as one wonders the kind of society we are building if the formative agents in our tertiary institutions are seen to be gagging our press.’’
Shuaib said that the group took note of these challenges and established a dialogue platform to address issues of unethical practices on the campus.
He said that the aim of the award was to motivate and celebrate student journalists, young writers and press clubs.
The idea was to encourage youths to practice journalism devoid of selfish reasons.
