Journalists are social engineers who engineer everything around you from the physical to the spiritual without you realizing it. They do this by influencing the politicians you vote for, who make policies that can throw millions into poverty like Buhari or Goodluck Jonathan who helped to make the Nigerian economy Africa’s number one, or Trump who emboldened white supremacists and increased racial tension in the United States. They succeed in controlling your spiritual inclination and leaning by demonizing clerics like T.B. Joshua or legitimizing evil and unreasonable Ustaz like Shiekh Gumi. They can promote products that increase a nation’s tendency to become obese and unhealthy like cheeseburgers or champion the need for the populace to embrace organic food or a vaccine. They can help promote an ostentatious lifestyle that engenders eras that have more Hushpupis than Burna Boys as can be credited to Ovation, City People, and Encomium magazines. But most dangerously, the media as controlled by media house owners and journalists can control your opinions and beliefs which can control your conscience, and your life positively or negatively.
A brief scanning of the headlines of the pro-Islamic and pro-Fulani newspapers Daily Trust will illustrate this phenomenon and help you to see how a newspaper can help to create Islamic leaders that are callous, crude, and rude like El Rufai, Garba Shehu and Buhari. A look back at the headlines and breaking news of the pro-APC newspapers – The Nation and TVC News owned by Bola Ahmed Tinubu, will illuminate your understanding of the grip media houses and journalists have on us. And how Bola Tinubu who has usurped Lagos State that has been declared one of the worst city to live in, is using these platforms to promote his presidential bid. A detailed study of the advertisement-filled page of Thisday newspapers will show you the subtle but sure way of being seemingly objective and critical without offending anyone and smiling to the bank regularly while giving awards to governors like Emmanuel Uduaghan in past Thisday Awards. A perusing through the sensationalized page of the SUN newspapers will enable you to understand why they had Femi Adesina as their former editor. Regular viewing of Channels TV will make you understand why John Momoh was made Chairman of the Broadcasting Organization of Nigeria (BON) by the Buhari administration.
The failing state called Nigeria we know today is a product of the failure of Nigerian journalists and media houses. They helped in creating the narrative and imagery that made Nigerians see a good President that actually cared for Nigerians to be seen as a corrupt weakling who cannot lead. They went further to blur the fully developed image of a terrorist sympathizer, coup plotter, and mismanagement expert into that of a change agent who can fight insecurity, corruption, and nepotism – the major culprits of our underdevelopment since independence. Today, a bag of beans, one of our major sources of protein that was about N7000 during Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, is now approaching N50,000 under Buhari. Please work out the percentage increase and understand the disaster called Buhari while salaries have been slashed. The official photograph for the last presidential interview aired by Arise TV owned by Nduka Obiagbona featuring past and present media aides brought tears to my heart because of the avoidable harm journalists have done to Nigeria and Nigerians. If you can write join Towncryyers by leaving a comment on this editorial. Join us to use the internet to send incompetent leaders to their early retirement. The internet and social media has democratized journalism and media ownership. Read, write and publish fearlessly with us to correct the wrongs of the past.
Ata Ukuta, Editor – www.towncryyers.com