In the past, journalism was seen by many folks as a profession for societal misfits. It was overtly populated by folks with minimal educational qualifications. It was also a profession anyone could ply, irrespective of his or her background.
Journalism, unlike other professions, was seen as a charity work. Events, weddings, dedications, and more stupidly, annual meetings of companies where profits were declared were covered and reported by journalists for free.
A company will organise a major event. It will pay for the venue, pay the caterer, the MC, ushers, and bouncers, and give out gifts to attendees. The same company will invite journalists, treat them with disdain, and depart without any proper monetary compensation. They were always quick to blackmail journalism with ‘ethics of the profession’.
These were the norms then. Never again! The beginning of this 21st century altered everything. Folks who embraced journalism were no longer misfits. University graduates embraced the profession. Mass Communication curriculum across various higher institutions was also reformed to meet the growing demands. Yet, these new brands of journalists were unable to break the ceiling and earn decent wages from the profession.
Today, the bar has been raised. Being just a graduate as a journalist is no longer fashionable. Journalists are now PhD holders, competing favourably with classroom lecturers. Yet, folks still ignorantly believe that nothing must change. They still want free publicity and are not ready to pay for it. Sorry, that era is gone and forever, too.
Those who are quick to mouth ethics of the profession when asked to pay for media publicity need to return to school. They are obviously ill-educated. I am not referring to cheap brown envelopes. Those practices are demeaning. I’m talking about real deals and negotiations before events that are not human interest stories are reported across various media outlets and platforms.
When an NGO that gets grants calls for media coverage, journalists need to start negotiating for real payments. When you’re invited to cover a wedding or a yeyebrity, bill them adequate. Ditto for church and mosque programmes, end of year parties, companies’ annual meetings, school events, assignments of MDAs, among others.
In other climes, people pay to read content. In Nigeria, we are not yet there. In some African countries, people who want publicity pay for per word in newspapers. Here, we want freebies. Even in Freetown, nothing is free.
Financial journalism is necessary, and students of Mass Communication must be adequately tutored on how to make money from this profession before they are pushed into a harsh society. Various journalism professional bodies need to review what they’ve unfortunately defined as ethics, but slavery in disguise.
In my upcoming book, titled “Financial Journalism: Addressing modern trends, finances and survival in Nigeria’s media space”, deeper issues about this would-be noble profession, but currently a survivalist trade, will be adequately addressed.
God bless you all!
Owaen Fred Odianosen Itua, Abuja.