World Press Freedom Day: Rivers PDP Chairman, Bro. Obuah Charges Media Men On Developmental Journalism
Having operated for over 50 years uninterrupted save a few incidences of military high handedness on the practitioners during the military era, the Nigerian Press has come to stay and has also performed impressively well.
What now remains is for the media practitioners across the country to shift from their outdated western perception of news as the unusual and odds in the society to developmental journalism.
The Rivers State Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Bro. Felix Obuah made these observations in his goodwill message to mark this year’s World Press Freedom Day Celebration in Port Harcourt.
In a statement of goodwill entitled “Kudos to the Nigerian Press” and signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Jerry Needam, the State PDP boss said considering the humble beginning of the press in Nigeria and the height it has attained today in global reckoning, our media men and women should be commended.
“They have actually done well by all descriptions having overcome the challenges posed by the analogue system to competing with the rest of the world in the contemporary digital and internet media regime”, Bro. Obuah noted.
He however regretted that the Nigerian Press is yet to pull off completely the vestiges of westernization in news reporting and coverage.
Rather than highlight the developmental projects and landmark achievements as is the case in Rivers State under Governor Nyesom Wike, some media men seem to be reluctant to do so and prefer to promote those things that tend to threaten the unity of our people, Bro. Obuah further noted.
According to Bro. Obuah, the massive developmental projects and the near magical turn-around of the situation in the State from the parlous and precarious state left behind by the immediate past regime under Rotimi Amaechi ought to attract media searchlight for global attention than they have recorded.
He enjoined media practitioners to be wary of enemies of progress in whatever guise who revel in distracting them from objective and impartial reportage which is the fulcrum of journalism.
Recalling the opening of the courts after the unusual clampdown by the Amaechi administration for one full year, the face-lift being given to the judiciary for optimal performance, giving life back to the moribund State legislature no thanks to Amaechi’s brand of politicking, massive infrastructural development across the 23 local government areas of the State, payment of all the backlog of salary arrears and pensions owed civil servants and pensioners by the immediate past administration, positive changes aimed at repositioning institutions of high education in the State, youths and women empowerment programmes, Judicial Commissions of Inquiry to expose incidences of fraud and looting of State treasury, violence before, during and after elections at all levels, and security measures with a view to protecting lives and property of citizens in and around the State by the Nyesom Wike administration are good topics for editorial analysis and discourses for public enlightenment and not only the pockets of youth restiveness and sponsored protests by aggrieved politicians, Bro. Obuah stated.
The State PDP Chairman also prayed for the souls of media practitioners across the globe who lost their lives in line of duty, stressing that their names should be immortalized as martyrs for paying the supreme price for the society.
And for those still active in the profession, Bro. Obuah said they should, while celebrating reflect on their past mistakes and weaknesses and make amends and come back stronger, forcefully, more reliable and representative of the true happenings in society.
Signed:
Jerry Needam
Special Adviser on Media and Publicity
To the Rivers PDP Chairman, Bro Felix Obuah
Tuesday, May 3, 2016