There is no task in the community that is greater than the commitment to cleansing the Augean stables. In Greek mythology, the Stables cleaned by Heracles were owned by King Augeas and they had not been cleaned in 30 years. Therefore, one of Heracles’ tasks was to clean them in one day, which he achieved by diverting two rivers through them. This underscores the propensity by man to abandon the original and/or to contaminate the pristine.
Regardless, there is always a microscopic few in every sphere of human endeavours who will always stand to be counted on the side of rectitude and truth even if it is always a very painful sacrifice to make. Such sacrifice is for posterity and history’s especial attention and recall-that when it mattered most, there was a utilitarian response to the imperative need to initiate a reform. This is the yeoman service that the President of Online Publishers’ Association of Nigeria (OPAN), Mr. Austyn Ogannah, is called to in his effort to rebrand online journalism practice in Nigeria.
Ogannah will be wallowing in the grandeur of self-delusion if he ever thinks the assignment will be a tea party. The undertaking is as rigorous as its painstaking execution. He is confronting an established culture of dishonesty that is a carryover from the conventional journalism practice. It is indubitable that the print and electronic (television and radio) media have had their irritating share of corruption that has continued to manifest in publications and transmissions of falsehood in service of some pecuniary interests and parochial values. Putting an end to the perfidy has been tantamount to passing through the eye of a needle. Not even the emplacement of regulatory bodies has been able to mitigate the incidence with its repugnant variants, to wit: blackmail, intimidation, deliberate falsehood and misinformation, et al.
The advent of online journalism was, from the outset, bound to suffer from these maladies, given the liberality it enjoys through the deployment of the internet-the borderless electronic platform that allows operations in virtual space. It thus becomes very easy, without an ombudsperson, to abuse such liberty and leave the victims and the society at large to live with the outcome of such editorial or reportorial manipulations and misadventures. This is where ethical standards kick in. But these have to be organic. Some persons must deliberately ensure the inculcation of discipline in the praxis of online journalism regardless of the growing tendency by some of Nigerian online journalism practitioners to be incorrigible.
It is indeed commendable that Ogannah has committed himself to reinforcing the bulwark of truth and instilling high ethical standards in online journalism practice in order to restore public trust, which is fast eroding due to duplicity by online journalism practitioners. He needs the support and cooperation of all stakeholders to reposition and refocus online journalism, which is the future of journalism practice in Nigeria. For taking up the gauntlet to provide leadership in this direction, he deserves measured commendation until his effort crystalises into the pragmatism of the ethical codes of conduct that define the purity of online journalism practice henceforth.
I do not doubt Ogannah’s leadership in this regard. He has the experience and gravitas to mobilise and galvanise passionate support of stakeholders and the society at large to actualise this feat. The society should readily appreciate a force, as critical as a community of practitioners of online journalism taking conscious steps to regulate itself in the light of dissemination of the truth at all times. This will reinforce public confidence and credibility in its reports and operations. Besides, the good thing is that Ogannah is leading by example and this is a significant success factor. Leadership by example holds the potential to ginger followership in fanatical submission.
As the president of The Will Media and editor-in-chief of digital news website, THEWILL (www.thewillnigeria.com), Ogannah’s imprimatur has been quite evident in the exclusive reportage of some landmark stories that have had far-reaching implications for Nigeria’s political economy. He has not lent his news website in promotion of propaganda or misinformation. THEWILL has not been stirring controversies for the wrong reasons; and, judging by available records, no fingers of guilt have been credibly pointed at the news website as a purveyor of negotiated or compromised reports. It stands out distinctively among the few digital news websites run by Nigerians both at home and in the Diaspora that are above reproach like Caesar’s wife.
Samplers: through THEWILL, Ogannah has shown leadership, by contributing immensely to the acceptability and credibility that internet media enjoy presently in the country with dozens of quality reporting and breaking news to the credit of the news website and his restless and profoundly endowed self. He was one of the first set of online journalists to report the death of former President Musa Yar’Adua in office, on May 10, 2010 and the first to report on May 12, 2010, the arrest and detention outside Nigeria of a former governor of Delta State and highly influential member of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief James Ibori, on charges of graft. Recently, THEWILL exclusively unmasked the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) as owner of the $43m found in an Ikoyi luxury apartment by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Ogannah is eminently qualified and prepared to drive the process of reform and renaissance in online journalism practice through the instrumentality of his presidency of OPAN, which is Nigeria’s premier association of digital/new media publishers and entrepreneurs. He has his eyes on the ball, sharply focused on restoring fast-eroding credibility, professionalism and trust hitherto enjoyed by the digital media when the genre started a little over a decade ago. This is in pari material with the overall goal of OPAN, which was founded in May 2010 and registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on 14th of November 2011 by some astute professionals who felt the time had come to define standards for the fastest-growing platform of engaging the present generation.
Ogannah was quoted to have said recently with regards to OPAN’s forthcoming Annual New Media Conference billed to hold in February 2018, thus: “At inception, the internet news media was highly respected and revered by the public for its doggedness, fearlessness and resilience in bringing to light events and news that ordinarily would never be published by the traditional and establishment backed print media because of the influence that powerful public and private sector figures have over their owners and top editors. For the public then, the independent internet media (we were often called internet warriors) was the only trustworthy source for untainted and unbiased reporting. Sadly, that same unfaltering public trust is fast eroding.
“Today, every Tom, Dick and Harry is a news site blogger or digital media entrepreneur or about to open shop without understanding the basic tenets of journalism (truth, trust and fairness). They write poorly, publish fake and disseminate unsubstantiated information, lack the capacity to create original content, plagiarise works of others, extort and blackmail people with threats to publish stories about them that are often times fake amongst several other odious practices that have brought damage to the credibility of the genre and threatening to destroy the hard and noble work of the pioneers of this space. In fact, because of these unscrupulous practices by these misfits, there have been growing calls from the public for something to be done urgently to curb the madness and chaos and it is that call that I am taking on headlong as President of OPAN.”
It is hoped that the forthcoming conference will provide the platform the opportunity to begin in earnest the conversation among stakeholders towards the much-sought reform. The readiness by the association to openly work with the legislative and executive arms of government to enact enforceable laws that do not impede the independence of the media in any way is in apple-pie order. With the context clearly laid out, the battle to instill ethical standards in the practice of online journalism, particularly the menace of fake news, has begun. Ogannah’s leadership must be encouraged and supported to push the process through.
Once that is achieved, the idea behind the founding of OPAN would have found vast expression in the regulatory procedures and/or laws that would reasonably guide online journalism practice in Nigeria. Significantly, one cannot therefore fault the idea behind the founding of OPAN, which, according to available records, was “conceived after founders recognised and understood the shift in the mode and means of social engagement, disruptions and changes that were coming, which would overlap with current laws and rules guiding conduct and practice; and, therefore, sought to create a self-regulatory body that would provide the means: tested standards for users and practitioners to operate by.”
As a self-funded organisation, OPAN is said to be modeled after similar international media associations with a mandate to self regulate members to maintain high ethical standards in digital publishing and uphold the sacred values and principles of journalism. This is good music to the ear. I am thus at great pains not to endorse OPAN.
Written by Sufuyan Ojeifo, Editor-in-Chief of The Congresswatch Magazine
ojwonderngr@yahoo.com
