Journalists Are Crying, Who Will Placate Them? -By Isaac Asabor

There is no denying the fact that there is hardly any profession that exists today that has not gotten its own share of challenges. It is in the light of this truism that many practicing Journalists accept most of the frustrations they face with ostensible poise. Any committed and passionate Journalist sees himself or herself literally crying by each passing day. He does not cry like the child that was scolded with a whip or a spank. Any Journalist that knows his or her onions does not cry in a shrill manner like the baby that was deprived of breast milk or denied attention. The question at this juncture is, “Who will placate them?”

Given the foregoing analysis, the germane question for any reader to ask at this juncture is: why would a Journalist resort to crying when he or she is not a baby? The truth is that Journalist cry in a literal sense but not in the true sense of the word. They cry in the course of practicing their profession that entails the activity of writing for newspapers, magazines, or news websites or preparing news to be broadcast. The reason why they cry cannot be far-fetched as they are by each passing day, in the course of duty, faced with a plethora of obstacles from the point of news gathering to the point of writing, editing, and production of editorial materials that are expected to be published.

At the stage of news gathering, many Journalist find it difficult to obtain newsy responses from individuals that are considered to be authorities in various professions or pastimes. Rather they are harassed, intimidated, snubbed and slighted. The recent drama that was ostensibly enacted by a former minister of Aviation, Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode (FFK) and a correspondent of Daily Trust, Mr. Charles Eyo, will in the annals of Nigerian Journalism history remain lingering and gain frequent mention in journalism class for the benefits of students; if not for anything but for them to be cautious in how question should be phrased and asked. The reason for this cannot be farfetched as there are some elites that are “short-fused”, and can unjustifiably go haywire when asked simple questions, such as, “Who is bankrolling this project?”

Not only are journalists facing challenges in the course of gathering news, editing news and producing it, they are typically paid wretched salaries, and even the peanuts to which they are entitled to are often owed for months at a stretch; in some cases for up to nine, ten to twelve months. When some bold Journalists chose to directly confront their employers, who in most cases, are veteran journalists who decided to become self-employed, about their collective plight, they are wont to be offered some unethical reply in the mold of “I’ve given you a platform and ID Card to make money. Use it.” For the sake of clarity, the employer in this context is funnily but utterly referring to the opportunity to collect payment from individuals or organizations in exchange for publishing their stories. Ironically, they will still be the one screaming “Integrity”, “Professionalism”, “Etiquette”, among other self-serving clichés on top of their voices. Without any iota of exaggeration, most Journalists in Nigeria are living on the precipice of survival. Little wonder the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, recently advised Nigerian banks to support the media and aviation sectors through loan disbursements. The reason for the foregoing offer from the governor of the apex bank cannot be farfetched as the media and aviation sectors are among the hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. A Report has it that most print media organizations have had to slash salaries by 50% whilst laying off many staff, even as the current pandemic-induced economic climate continues to make it harder to operate.

Without any jot of magnification, Journalists are crying. They need someone or any organized body to placate them. Those that have being in the profession for more than an epoch have no convincing assertion of their pension or retirement benefits even if such provisions are always deducted from their salaries whenever they are paid. Today, most veterans that have left active journalism practice merely survive on peanuts as columnists, as their pensions are not been paid.

As regards the profession itself, is it easy to practice? The answer is Yes or No! It is easy, and not easy; depending on the gift or training the concerned journalist is imbued with coupled with his experience in the field. To some, even coining an appropriate heading and writing a lead paragraph is a problem. For those in the Journalism profession, this kind of situation is usually caused by a phenomenon called Writer’s Block. It is simply a situation where a Journalist finds it extremely difficult to write a news story or features, and even improve upon an already written materials. To some, their challenge is transcribing recorded voices from any given event to print.

There are dozens of appalling situations for any Journalist but in my own view they can be easily overcome as it is known in all religions that it is only God that gives inspiration to anyone to be creative. The book of Exodus chapter 31 verse 1 to 5 attests to this when it says, “Then the LORD said to Moses. See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri,the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah and I have filled him with the spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of craftsmanship. Moreover, I have appointed Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, to help him. Also, I have given skill to all craftsmen to make everything I have commanded you.”

As a Journalist, this is one of the favorite verses I usually resort to in the Bible whenever I am stuck with writer’s block. What any writer needs to do whenever he or she experiences writer’s block is to remind God of this biblical injunction and ask Him in prayer for the in-filling of His spirit for the skill, ability and knowledge to write. For non-Christians, it may look so simple and unbelievable but it works. This particular scripture is not peculiar to the art of writing but also to all creative activities like singing, dancing and even to secular office tasks. Therefore, rather than resorting to crying, any wise Journalist should always try this whenever he or she is struck with writer’s block.

I am of the conviction that you are still bemused about why any Journalist would be crying in the course of engaging in the pastime of writing or reporting events. I must confess that most Journalist are compelled to cry whenever they find their profession not rewarding enough as they thought in the days they were been nurtured academically in the tertiary institutions. Without any iota of exaggeration, journalists are crying because they are not motivated for the jobs they perform; both for their employers and the society at large. They are always unsure of the future as they do not even know where the next meal would come from.

Due to stark absence of motivation in the media sector, some journalists who don’t want to continue crying in the course of practicing their profession are having doubt of mind on whether to fulfill their dream as a media person or move to other designation in life, which will pay their bills, when the time comes.

For the sake of clarity, it is expedient to say that motivation is the process that initiates, guides and maintains goal-oriented behaviors. However, in as much as some journalists are motivated by bylines and the high caliber of personalities they meet in the course of duty, I wonder how byline and elites met in the course of duty will put food on the table, pay the children’s school fees and pay house rent as at when due. Notwithstanding, it is important for media managers to know how to meet the unique needs of each journalist without assuming one approach of motivating one group of journalists will work for all.

Journalism can be described as the art of earning one’s living by writing for the print (or electronic) media. Those who contribute occasional articles to newspapers are not journalists (Daramola, 2003).

To placate the “Cry-cry” Journalists, and make them smiling again as it was in the past when Journalism was truly a noble and rewarding profession, media operations should be well funded to reduce the embarrassing spectacle of media houses owing accumulated staff salaries and exposing journalists to compromising situations. In fact, to survive in the news business, media houses are in this context encouraged to check their weaknesses and develop a new management model that can strengthen their capacity to attract greater revenue without resorting to granting desperate advertisement discounts that cannot help them keep their heads above waters.

Also, they should set up project teams to increase their competitive performance in the market, and find ways of checkmating dubious advertisement and marketing staff in their employ from engaging in fraudulent acts that are detrimental to the growth of the organization and wellbeing of the entire staff.

To this end, it is expedient to reverberate the title of this piece which invariably says, “Journalists Are Crying, Who Will Placate Them?”