By Shina Abubabakar
Governor, State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, has admonished the leadership of media to evolve measures and means of quality control and cultivate the habit of weeding out unprofessionals and unprofessional conduct from the media profession.
He said it was the appropriate time for the leadership of the media profession to do what is needful for growth and development of democracy.
The governor made the remarks while declaring open the ‘2018 Press Week’ of the Osun Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Osogbo.
Aregbesola who was represented by Mr. Yomi Obaditan, his Senior Special Adviser (SSA) on Media, said there had been many unsavoury developments in the media sector.
He said extortion, blackmail, rumour mongering and falsehood promotion by unprofessional and rogue who present themselves as journalists were taking prominence in the media profession.
He said the practice of hearsay, innuendoes, insinuations and un-investigated claims being published and reported under the guise of ‘allegedly’ is unprofessional and has brought more harm to reputations, the professionalism and integrity of media organisations and journalists.
He said journalists and media practitioners round the globe are vibrant opinion-molders and change-agents, who raise the consciousness of the people to issues of their welfare, development and security.
He said if the society would survive and overcome its challenges, the media must play a leading role and therefore every media claim or report must be thoroughly investigated and only the truth should always be published.
Lekan Alabi, Chairman of the occasion and Cultural Ambassador of the National Museum, Ile-Ife, said that media practitioners deserve to be part of budget planning and not implementation alone.
Alabi, who is also the Agba Akin Olubadan of Ibadan land said that the roles of the media should not be on budget implementation but must also be involved implanting of the financial estimates.
Alabi said several opportunities are open to journalists and that they ought to make inputs into budget planning at the local, state and federal levels.
He said media practitioners must however learn the rudiments of accounting and auditing.
He said the essential tools for journalists to make good impact or contributions to national development are to be qualified, creative and stable men and women behind pens, computers, microphones and the cameras.
Mr Biodun Olalere, the state Chairman of NUJ in his own remarks welcomed the guests to the programme, and stated the importance of journalists’ involvement in budget implementation.
Olalere said it is important for journalists to hold the government accountable for budgets presented and their implementations as well as also investigating how such budgets are expended.
