The media and social responsibility

Newsflash

Opinion

The media and social responsibility

Written by Tayo Lewis Friday, 23 March 2012

THE recommended books students use in their classes these days have made progress, great academic progress, but I feel hurt when I tell some fabus ( you know them) and my children cannot relate to them.

An example is this New Oxford English Course (NOEC) reader story for comprehension passage questions about Ali and the Angel. That was the official English textbook which pupils used in the primary school in my time. The story, to paraphrase it, is about a cunny man, Ali, maybe the English or better still, Arabian equivalent of the African’s tortoise, who was given to deceit, but who like the tortoise, always ends up overreaching himself. The Ghananians have the spider, or Ananse as they call their trickster tale hero while the Basutho ethnic group of South Africa refers to theirs as Uthlekanya, the tiny man.

Back to the Oxford version of the trickster character. One day, he creates a room in his house, puts a carpet there and on the carpet, a chair and a pair of beautifully embroidered shoes. He then goes to the King and tells him that an Angel has visited him, and any one who so cares may come in to enquire from the Angel. He gives a caveat, however, that only those who are holy can see the Angel physically. The King of course, opted to visit first being the most important man in the Kingdom. He goes in but all he sees is the chair, carpet and the pair of shoes. Not wanting to disgrace himself before his subjects, he emerges after sometime and announces that he had actually seen and conferred with the Angel. One after the other, the chiefs go in and each emerges, announcing that he had indeed seen the angel since he is holy enough to do so.

It was from that Oxford English reader that I learnt the new word ‘enough’.

Since my treatise forthnight ago on the Osun State governor’s vituperations at the Afenifere Renewal Group event at the City Hall in Lagos, (see page 18) I have been inaundated with SMSs and some will be read here today. There is, however one, whose worry got me worried and I would love to address the worries of that brother of mine in this write-up, The respondent asked: What is happening in Tribune? What does Tribune want?

The question’s intendment would be better put as: Is the Nigerian Tribune still playing its role as a newspaper? Good question.

According to the sage, Mahatma Ghandi, himself a journalist, lawyer and nationalist, does that remind you of Chief Obafemi Awolowo?:“The sole aim of journalism should be service. The newspaper is a great power, but just as an unchained torrent of water submerges whole countryside and devastates crops, even so an uncontrolled pen serves but to destroy. If the control is from without, it proves more poisonous than want of control. It can be profitable only when exercised from within. If this line of reasoning is correct, how many journals of the world would stand the test? But who would stop those that are useless? and who should be the judge? The useful and the useless must, like good and evil, go on together, and man must make his choice.

There are several mass communications theories but two will suffice for the subject under reference here. One is the Agenda Setting Theory while the other is the Spiral of Silence Theory. The later theory is particularly intriguing. Postulated by Elizabeth Noelle-Neumann, the sense is that when one is a minority on an issue, he tends to keep quiet. The agenda setting theory on the other hand postulates that the news media tells us what to think, thus setting agendas that will dominate discourses.

The role of the press is the pursuit of The Nigerian Tribune, a pursuit it has never deviated from in the last 62 years in which it has survived all odds and will continue, by the grace of God, to survive all darts and warts. Several have been here before, and after we arrived the scene and the media cementary is filled with skulls of several who ‘were mouthed’ as the youth will say. But because the Nigerian Tribune has always stood for the cause(s) of the mass of the people of this country, nay the Yoruba, as long as the day is called day, we will be here.

It baffles me when, without research, people jump to conclusions on what others should say when they are not God. If people chose to, in a culture of conspiratorial silence, allow their opinions to die in them like the grunts of a pig, why must everyone swear to a culture of silence. Does not even the minority deserve their say even if they are in the minority? The way some people pass judgement can be funny and shows how shallow their thinking can be. Staffers of the Tribune have been called names and our bosses vilified but time will tell the story. When some one says I was rude to an agbalagba, I simply smiled. This is not a television or radio, and even if he can see me physically how could he have deduced my age without taking samples of me to the laboratory. A colleague was labelled half-educated. A first class graduate from a first-class university and a doctoral student of the premier university’ communications department, half-educated?

Time will tell who is saying the truth. Our position in the Nigerian Tribune is simply this for all who may want to know: To hold government at all levels accountable to the people. And this we intend to keep at no matter whose Ox is gored. Must we all see an angel where none exists? The South-West must break a culture of unhealthy silence while brigands run through the land. How do you justify intangible achievements where somewhere else, people are making honest efforts? How do you justify the collapse of educational institutions whereas other regions envy your achievements and are binding brand new universities to rival yours? How do you justify spending N636m on ornamentation as is being done in Osun State, N500m, than was spent more on purchasing sand and cement for the Odunayo Olagunju building to be flowered?

Did someone say deflowered? The deflowering of the South-West must not be allowed to continue under the culture of impunity and silence. We will not be blackmailed into silence. All allies must be told we are not fools, hypocrites. If I don’t know what Alao-Akala of Oyo State did, I can see the Oluyole and Arapaja roads and many more across all the 33 local governments. Oh! He did several things wrong like all humans, but we can still point at Awo’s landmarks achievements. That is the wake-up call that the Nigerian Tribune stands for. Leaders should not just be known for hosting invisible angels, we want tangible proofs.

Soon,very soon, the masquerader will emerge from behind the mask, and then, itan a tun ra e pa.

Enough!
Lewis, 08055001746 (sms only)

Reactions
Thanks for that illuminating piece. The years tell what the days seek to hide; one day, those ‘progressive’ ACN governors will be revealed for whom they truly are. ‘Hypocrites’! When exactly will they be willing to make a name for themselves, after Baba Awo and Fashola, wonder whom they will lie on next. .
•Adetola,
OAU,
08051692684.

THE recommended books students use in their classes these days have
made progress, great academic progress, but I feel hurt when I tell some
fabus ( you know them) and my children cannot relate to them.
An example is this New Oxford English Course (NOEC) reader story for comprehension passage questions about Ali and the Angel. That was the official English textbook which pupils used in the primary school in my time. The story, to paraphrase it, is about a cunny man, Ali, maybe the English or better still, Arabian equivalent of the African’s tortoise, who was given to deceit, but who like the tortoise, always ends up overreaching himself. The Ghananians have the spider, or Ananse as they call their trickster tale hero while the Basutho ethnic group of South Africa refers to theirs as Uthlekanya, the tiny man.
Back to the Oxford version of the trickster character. One day, he creates a room in his house, puts a carpet there and on the carpet, a chair and a pair of beautifully embroidered shoes. He then goes to the King and tells him that an Angel has visited him, and any one who so cares may come in to enquire from the Angel. He gives a caveat, however, that only those who are holy can see the Angel physically. The King of course, opted to visit first being the most important man in the Kingdom. He goes in but all he sees is the chair, carpet and the pair of shoes. Not wanting to disgrace himself before his subjects, he emerges after sometime and announces that he had actually seen and conferred with the Angel. One after the other, the chiefs go in and each emerges, announcing that he had indeed seen the angel since he is holy enough to do so.
It was from that Oxford English reader that I learnt the new word ‘enough’.
Since my treatise forthnight ago on the Osun State governor’s vituperations at the Afenifere Renewal Group event at the City Hall in Lagos, (see page 18) I have been inaundated with SMSs and some will be read here today. There is, however one, whose worry got me worried and I would love to address the worries of that brother of mine in this write-up, The respondent asked: What is happening in Tribune? What does Tribune want?
The question’s intendment would be better put as: Is the Nigerian Tribune still playing its role as a newspaper? Good question.
According to the sage, Mahatma Ghandi, himself a journalist, lawyer and nationalist, does that remind you of Chief Obafemi Awolowo?:“The sole aim of journalism should be service. The newspaper is a great power, but just as an unchained torrent of water submerges whole countryside and devastates crops, even so an uncontrolled pen serves but to destroy. If the control is from without, it proves more poisonous than want of control. It can be profitable only when exercised from within. If this line of reasoning is correct, how many journals of the world would stand the test? But who would stop those that are useless? and who should be the judge? The useful and the useless must, like good and evil, go on together, and man must make his choice.
There are several mass communications theories but two will suffice for the subject under reference here. One is the Agenda Setting Theory while the other is the Spiral of Silence Theory. The later theory is particularly intriguing. Postulated by Elizabeth Noelle-Neumann, the sense is that when one is a minority on an issue, he tends to keep quiet. The agenda setting theory on the other hand postulates that the news media tells us what to think, thus setting agendas that will dominate discourses.
The role of the press is the pursuit of The Nigerian Tribune, a pursuit it has never deviated from in the last 62 years in which it has survived all odds and will continue, by the grace of God, to survive all darts and warts. Several have been here before, and after we arrived the scene and the media cementary is filled with skulls of several who ‘were mouthed’ as the youth will say. But because the Nigerian Tribune has always stood for the cause(s) of the mass of the people of this country, nay the Yoruba, as long as the day is called day, we will be here.
It baffles me when, without research, people jump to conclusions on what others should say when they are not God. If people chose to, in a culture of conspiratorial silence, allow their opinions to die in them like the grunts of a pig, why must everyone swear to a culture of silence. Does not even the minority deserve their say even if they are in the minority? The way some people pass judgement can be funny and shows how shallow their thinking can be. Staffers of the Tribune have been called names and our bosses vilified but time will tell the story. When some one says I was rude to an agbalagba, I simply smiled. This is not a television or radio, and even if he can see me physically how could he have deduced my age without taking samples of me to the laboratory. A colleague was labelled half-educated. A first class graduate from a first-class university and a doctoral student of the premier university’ communications department, half-educated?
Time will tell who is saying the truth. Our position in the Nigerian Tribune is simply this for all who may want to know: To hold government at all levels accountable to the people. And this we intend to keep at no matter whose Ox is gored. Must we all see an angel where none exists? The South-West must break a culture of unhealthy silence while brigands run through the land. How do you justify intangible achievements where somewhere else, people are making honest efforts? How do you justify the collapse of educational institutions whereas other regions envy your achievements and are binding brand new universities to rival yours? How do you justify spending N636m on ornamentation as is being done in Osun State, N500m, than was spent more on purchasing sand and cement for the Odunayo Olagunju building to be flowered?
Did someone say deflowered? The deflowering of the South-West must not be allowed to continue under the culture of impunity and silence. We will not be blackmailed into silence. All allies must be told we are not fools, hypocrites. If I don’t know what Alao-Akala of Oyo State did, I can see the Oluyole and Arapaja roads and many more across all the 33 local governments. Oh! He did several things wrong like all humans, but we can still point at Awo’s landmarks achievements. That is the wake-up call that the Nigerian Tribune stands for. Leaders should not just be known for hosting invisible angels, we want tangible proofs.
Soon,very soon, the masquerader will emerge from behind the mask, and then, itan a tun ra e pa.
Enough!
Lewis, 08055001746 (sms only)

Hi Tayo, I read your article in Tribune yesterday. Nice piece. But, who are your progressives? The very people worked tirelessly against Awo but now being celebrated by Tribune? or perhaps, the old Awo faithful but now in the camp of Awo’s avowed enemies? ...Tayo, what is happening in Tribune?
08032002581.
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Thank you my brother. The likes of Aregbesola are not fit for leadership in Yorubaland but in the jungle. What has integration of South-West got to do with Mimiko, OBJ, etc. It is not about the personality, but the people. Soldier go, soldier come, but the people remain the same. He is not a good example of Omoluabi concept. I can’t blame him anyway.
Deji Babangton-Ashaye, Ogere, Remo, Ogun State. 08051773813.
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This write-up of yours is fantastic. I do not know how to qualify it other than to say it’s very good. Keep it up, sir. May God continue to help you. Good bless.
08054498003.
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