The Journalist and the Problem of Reporting the Reporter in the Shithole Domain or One Easy Way to be a Lazy Journalist

By

Obododimma Oha

Let me begin by clarifying what I think a genuine journalist should be. Well, from the name, a journalist should document or keep journals. When we keep personal journals, it is not everything that enters them. Some are considered worthwhile; some are considered not worthwhile. In that case, not everything is documented. You would agree with me that this requires having a good judgement, to determine what is worthwhile and what is not. What more when the journalist is employed or supervised by someone who determines what should be documented and can sell. But, I leave the debate on newsworthiness to professionals in the area. What the lay person knows or cares for is that good judgment helps the journalist to decide what can be documented and what cannot.

So, for me, a sound journalist should first of all possess good and critical judgment, to be able to decide useful content in the profession. Yes; sound judgment. This sound judgment should also remind the journalist about this: “I am first of all a journalist and not a school teacher or a pastor. What is required of me in this trade?”

I can volunteer an answer: one, we believe that a sound journalist should be curious, very curious. Why is this necessary? This curiosity helps the journalist to know or avoid being misled by statements made or by appearances. It is true that, as they say, “Curiosity killed the cat,” or, as we say in a proverb in our village, “Ka ahụtachaa, ka e nyochata ka mgbọ jiri tụọ enwe n’ihu” (The monkey took a shot right in the face because it want to see everything, to be cocksure). But do you blame the monkey? Before it misleads others, raises false alarm, mistakes appearances, it wants to be sure. And being very sure is to be cocksure! Another important angle to this: that curiosity is very important for the journalist, in fact, because it reveals commitment. Moreover, every profession has its risks that the professional should be ready to live with or manage. So, if curiosity kills the journalist and not the cat, one is not surprised!

In addition to this, there could be numerous other qualities of an ideal journalist taught in an introductory class in Mass Communication. I have not excluded them. One training to be a journalist should note them, even zealously like somebody who has just embraced born-again Christianity in a depressed and depressing context.

If one listens carefully or reads many news items flashed by dailies in some marginal countries, one would be surprised to find the funny evidence of reporting another reporter or media house! That does not indicate the curiosity or first-hand witnessing one has attributed to journalists. We know that they are wrestling with the angel and asking to be blessed. But the spirit of ọjaadịlị the master wrestler who wrestledd with his chi is not even there! Did the journalist “miss road,” as they say in public discourse in Nigeria? Why the numerous instances of “Culled from New York Times” or “Culled from Paris Times”? Why also other lexical revelations that the reporter did not witness the happening first-hand, did not see it but is so sure, like “According to reporters...,” or “Reports in New Delhi Sun”? Nonsense! Whereas one can cite an authority and cannot understandably witness everything, why report a report as if you witnessed the event? Or, or are you not unknowingly indicating that you have been mired in Tokunbo secondhandness in one shithole corner of the universe? In addition, have you not signified the following or some:

1. The story of the happening is not yours.

2. You are a lazy reporter.

3. You have been unable to witness the happening, maybe due to financial reasons. Sad; very!

4. Your report, as a secondhand material, is not reliable.

5. The media house is not dependable.

6. if  the news is false, then you must have associated with falsehood, just like someone buying stolen items from armed robbers. In that case, it has serious ethical implications!

7. You are simply not a professional in the area, but a cheap gossip!

Other ones could be added. You see; when you cull report in order to fill blank pages of a newspaper or news slots in an electronic medium, think again. You may be destroying the media house, yourself and your profession. Easy and seemingly cheap ways  of escape may eventually be very expensive!