Nigeria: NUJ UNDER PRESSURE TO SCRAP NAWOJ

> NIGERIA
> MEDIA MONITOR
>
> JUNE 17, 2002.
>
> I'M UNDER PRESSURE TO SCRAP NAWOJ - NUJ PRESIDENT
> ENUGU NUJ PRESS CENTRE INFERNO: WHO-DUN-IT?
> JOURNALISTS MOVE AGAINST OBNOXIOUS LAWS
> PRESS AND A HITCH-FREE ELECTION
> IN ABUJA, STAKEHOLDERS UNITE ON KEY PRESS ISSUES
> ON REPORTING AND INTERPRETING (2)
>
> I'M UNDER PRESSURE TO SCRAP NAWOJ - NUJ PRESIDENT
> Nigerian Tribune, June 11, 2002
>
> The National President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Mr. Smart
> Adeyemi, has said that he is under "severe pressure" to scrap the Nigeria
> Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ).
>
> According to him, this should be done before the association's elections
> billed to be held next month.
>
> Adeyemi, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in
Abuja,
> said that the Nigeria Guild of Editors (NGE) and the Newspapers
Proprietors
> Association of Nigeria (NPAN) "are pressing continuously" on the issue.
>
> According to him, the issue would be tabled before the National Executive
> Council (NEC) meeting of the NUJ scheduled for June 20 and 27.
>
> He said the NUJ would also feel the pulse of the general public, including
> veteran journalists, on the issue.
>
> JOURNALISTS MOVE AGAINST OBNOXIOUS LAWS
> The Comet, June 10, 2002
>
> Participants in a workshop on the media have resolved to work with the
> National Assembly for the repeal or amendment of all obnoxious, irrelevant
> and repressive laws that impede their practice.
>
> Rising from the two-day workshop organised by the Senate Committee on
> Information and the Nigerian Press Council, the more than 80 participants
> called on the National Assembly to pass promptly the freedom of
information
> bill pending before it.
>
> Following the amendments, they said all media laws should be codified for
> easier reference by students, practitioners and other stakeholders. They
> also said there should be a clear constitutional guarantee of press
freedom
> to enable journalists to fully discharge the responsibilities bestowed on
> them in section 22 of the 1999 Constitution.
>
> The participants also called on the Minister of Information and National
> Orientation to inaugurate and ensure proper functioning of the Nigerian
> Press Council as a watchdog of the profession.
>
> While observing the problem of poor welfare and working conditions of
> journalists, they urged employers to ensure the maintenance of the human
> capital of their organisations through constant training and retraining.
The
> participants further called for the amendment of the VAT decree to
reinstate
> newspapers and magazines in the list of items excluded from paying VAT.
>
> ENUGU NUJ PRESS CENTRE INFERNO: WHO-DUN-IT?
> Thisday, June 10, 2002.
>
> Since the mid May mysterious fire disaster which gutted the Nigerian Union
> of Journalists (NUJ) Enugu Press Centre and which left in its wake damaged
> property worth over N4 million, tongues have continued to wag as to the
> probable cause of the incident.
>
> Speculations are rife among Enugu based journalists that the state
> governments arsonists may be behind the incident going by Governor
Chimaroke
> Nnamani's earlier threats to revoke the ownership of the building which
was
> donated to the NUJ by the then East Central State Administrator, Mr.
Ukpabi
> Asika in 1972.
>
> Following constant threats to journalists lives by alleged government
agents
> over some unsavoury stories, the state council chairman, Mr. Chukwudi
Achife
> in a statement condemned the harassment of Messers Emeka Mamah of the
> Vanguard. Abuchi Anueyiagu of National Interest, Ahamefule Ogbu of
Thisday
> and Emmanuel Obe of the Punch newspapers.
>
> The state NUJ leader had reminded the government that the press was
"neither
> an appendage nor an agency of government and as such journalists should be
> allowed the freedom and opportunity to practice their profession according
> to their professional training."
>
> But the governor's Special Assistant on Media Matters, Mr. Igbonekwu
> Oganizomah promptly reacted to Achife's letter dismissing the claims,
> pointing out that it was not "an act of proper unionism to accuse the
state
> government without getting his side".
>
> A few day later, the NUJ Secretariat was in flames, a "mysterious" fire
> which started from the chairman's office and blazed through adjoining
> National Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) Enugu Branch leaving
> behind the charred remains of computers, books and other valuable office
> gadgets.
>
> Interestingly, last Friday 23 journalists representing both independent
and
> government media in two full page paid announcements tacitly threw in with
> the government accusing certain politicians in the state of using
> journalists against the government.
>
> However in defending the government, the journalists appeared to have
raised
> more questions than they set out to answer.
>
> Some of the journalists are asking how their colleagues raised nearly
> N200,000 to place the adverts. Again when has it become the practice of
> journalists to refute allegations through public statements when they
could
> have used their various media to state the true position of affairs.
>
> PRESS AND A HITCH-FREE ELECTION
> Daily Times, June 11, 2002
>
> The mass media play a noble role in electioneering and elections
throughout
> any democratic society all over the world.
>
> The recent role played by the media in ensuring the enthronement of
> democratic values in the country is a good example of the role of the
media
> in the political process.
>
> The media really has a great role to play but not many politicians and
> political parties are aware of the tremendous role of the mass media in
> bringing about peaceful electioneering through the adoption and
> implementation of the relevant processes required to ensure that what
comes
> out of the media are palatable and relevant to the yearning of the public.
>
> For example, there has been the need for balancing of political news and
> other events in all the three political parties so that no section of the
> stakeholders is left out of the process. The argument is that from
> observation, incumbency has played a domineering role in the way the media
> are operated most especially state-owned media.
>
> Since the media shape elections what ought to be done in the future
> elections are as follows:
>
> Strict adherence to all code of practices by the various regulatory bodies
> in the media. Balancing of electioneering by both private and public media
> outfits.
>
> Prompt release of results and quick dispensation of complaints as
stipulated
> by the law. Television and radio political debates to be moderated by a
> neutral personality and to ensure the effective involvement of all the
> registered political parties.
>
> But since government communicate to the people, opposition parties and
> others through the media, then the media tend to assume a very powerful
role
> thereby sinking into area of controversy. Government anxiety typically
> leads to accusations either of bias or lack of neutrality.
>
> The repositioning of the media to meet the challenges of the time is
> appropriate and should be encouraged so that at the end of the day the
media
> would have played the appropriate role in ensuring that elections are
> conducted in a free and fair atmosphere in the Nigerian society.
>
> Ahmed Ibrahim wrote in from Lagos State.
>
> IN ABUJA, STAKEHOLDERS UNITE ON KEY PRESS ISSUES
> The Guardian, June 10, 2002
>
> The fate of the proposed repeal of anti-media laws by the Senate may not
> differ from that of the Freedom of Information Act still awaiting adoption
> by the Federal House of Representatives.
>
> Participants at last week's national workshop on media laws expressed fear
> over the fate of the repeal of anti-media laws as expressed by the
> leadership of the Senate. They anchored their fear on the fact that the
> Freedom of Information Bill (FOIB) presented three years ago has not made
> any headway at the lower chambers of the National Assembly.
>
> But Senate Committee on Information, the organisers of the four-day
workshop
> in collaboration with the Nigerian Press Council (NPC) was pragmatic in
its
> response.
>
> ON REPORTING AND INTERPRETING (2)
> The Punch, June 14, 2002
>
> The conceptual framework underlying news analysis plays a major role here.
> Often-repeated public rhetoric on the contrast between "Western cultures",
> as well as crude civilizational classifications have tended to put science
> and mathematics well inside the basket of "Western civilization", leaving
> other civilisations to mine their pride only in religious depths. This
> makes it very easy for the anti-Western activists, including religious
> fundamentalists and cultural militants, to secure leadership roles through
> focusing on those issues that separate the non-western world from the
West,
> rather than on those things that reflect positive global interactions
> running through history (including science, mathematics, literature, and
so
> on).
>
> The categorisation of cultures and civilisations is just example of the
way
> news reporting and analysis can add to confusion rather than helping to
cure
> crude beliefs and presuppositions. There are many other examples that can
> be readily given. Discussion of global inequality has increasingly tended
> to shift, in recent years, from the very serious and rather clear-cut
> diagnosis of massive economic and political inequality in the world to the
> less central and far more ambiguous question as to whether the level of
> inequality is increasing or going down.
>
> Careful news analysis and a more critical assessment of the conceptual
> framework and underlying beliefs in terms of which contemporary events are
> interpreted can do a lot to enhance understanding in the troubled world in
> which we live. The world depends greatly on the quality of news coverage
as
> well as the reach and significance of news analysis and evaluation, which
> very often come in a mixed form with apparently straight-forward news
> reporting. It is precisely because the newspapers are so central to good
> functioning of the world that we have to demand more from this wonderful
> profession.
>
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