The Former Governor of Akwa Ibom, Obong Victor Attah and Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, on Thursday, tasked journalists with professionalism.
The duo stated this at the 3rd anniversary of NaijaTimes, an online media platform, lecture and book presentation in Abuja.
The ex-governor said despite the challenges associated with the job, journalists should strive to live above board.
“President Barrack Obama talked about a perfect union and here people are talking about a better society.
“They are all talking about the same thing. As I remarked, even when you think the union is perfect you can have a more perfect union.
“As Nigerians, we are far from perfection. We need to improve our society and it is only journalists that can do it for us by telling us about the things that are going wrong and giving warning signals.
“Nobody should interfere with their work. In the performance of journalists, you have suffered. You have tried. You have done well.
“But some of you have sold out. The way they sing praises and some of you have become worse than politicians.
“You have to be a bit more careful about the ethics of your profession. And do not be carried away by whatever consideration, particularly material consideration.
“All those are societal concerns. You must be more particular about societal concerns,” ex-governor Attah said.
On his part, the Nobel laureate, Professor Soyinka, on his part, said: “For me, first of all, it’s a collective issue, it is a collective task. It goes even beyond the journalists themselves because journalists rely on human products, human activities, human stories and so the society itself is part and parcel, for me, of the journalistic enterprise. Sometimes, I feel that perhaps there is not enough attention on the other side, the other side of the community, maybe the journalist doesn’t quite probe deeply into their behaviour.
“I am talking about the people. Until social media came on board, I used to boast that Nigeria holds at least one of the strongest, most courageous media enterprises in the whole African continent.
“We have seen the quality of its products, of its services during dire times dictatorships. Even now, when we’re supposed to be running a democracy, we’ve seen how journalism rises to the task of keeping the state on its toes.
“Dealing with the state makes you an obvious target the state stands to save or ruin the society. we know that, but sometimes, and this is what led to my Chronicles, sometimes society itself has to be taken to task. I mean, rigorously and ruthlessly.
“We have to ask ourselves, just what kind of people are we? What are we becoming? certainly think it’s possible for journalists to report and then to become so consistently reported that it seems as if a negative culture, a negative view of humanity.
“Valuation of humanity is just being discarded and trampled upon. Now, this is where I think journalism really must tread new grounds, break new grounds completely and really confront society with what it has become no matter in which sector of productive society.
“Once again, the challenge has got to be taken up and accepted, otherwise society then slides completely into an inescapable morass from which there’s no escape.
“Knowledge is… first of all to give credit to technology technology has to a large extent democratised the people, really empowered the people in a democratic way? The question is Are the people abusing that technology? That for me has become the issue. And since we cannot escape that technology, it has to be sanitised.
“Journals, journalists, editors, Op-Ed writers, reporters and so on have to accept the fact that certain rules obtained, certain yardsticks of responsibility obtained in the print media.”
Responding, the Secretary of the Nigeria Guild of Editors, Dr Iyobosa Uwugiaren, said despite negative reviews about the media, journalists have been at their best in shaping national conversation, positively.
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