RE-ORIENTATION OF NIGERIAN JOURNALISTS
Journalism is an art, science, and a process of unfolding and revealing hidden facts on a subject after a thorough and professional investigations without bias, shabby, and conflict intention for society to be knowledgeable and informed. Any article to be delivered to the populace must be truth and fact - based, not to confuse the society nor diminish or confiscate the subject-matter to undue molestation. Journalists are guided by ethics and etiquettes, these enhance professionalism and promote adequate reportage.
Nursing profession has suffered a huge pain in the hands of journalists in Nigeria. Negative attributes has been conjugated with nursing profession. These stories captured minds of readers which are transferred to a professional nurse in course of care. Nigerian journalists derived much pleasures in publishing destructional story of a quack and tagged nurse, nurse as a slave, nurse as a servant, nurse as a prostitute , nurse as a dullard and nurse as a minority and voiceless. It's an act of blasphemy against nursing profession. The headlines scourge the professional nurse while the story reveals a quack. To put it straight, there is nothing like quack nurse nor auxiliary nurse. A quack is a quack and is found in all profession, thus not limited to nursing alone. The Nigerian constitution does not have provision for anything like "auxiliary " they are 'killers' and 'doctor's maid'. Nursing and Midwifery Act 89 of 1979 has no provision for 'auxiliary' thus a breach in healthcare system. Auxiliaries aren't supposed to be promoted rather banished and culprits be brought to book. There is a need to review the hospital establishment policy. I will dwell more on that in my next article.
Health reporters should enlighten Nigerians on the risk of using substandard hospital for care, every citizen has right to ask the nurse or the doctor to show the license, ask politely and you shall see it. Anyone with unbridled excuses or incoherent excuses is a quack. So many headlines are flying around with nurse kills babies, Nurse aborts a teen pregnancy, Nurse abuses or fights patient, Nurse inflicts more pain on patients, Nurses takes orders from doctors, Nurse pulls out the hand of a baby during delivery, Nurse sells baby and many more. These stories defamed nursing profession, the writers didn't follow simple journalism procedure yet the media house published such erroneous stories about nursing. Nollywood also show-cased nursing image wrongly to the society.
Some journalists are professionals and aren't economical with the truth. Few health reporters had made indelible impact with profound and resourceful articles, balanced, concise, unbiased, and fact - based stories. Many are found in television and radio stations while few are in media print as well online media. Ethics should be uphold and enshrined with quality and fact findings articles. Nigerians deserved rights to adequate and exact findings. This is not only in nursing profession, its time the authority and the umbrella body of nursing association (NANNM) acts swiftly to condemn any journalist reporting conflicting stories that is misguiding and misleading on nursing issues. Many of those reporters had little or no knowledge about nursing profession, the judgement of these journalists are already clouded with what is obtained among doctor's maid (private clinic) and nollywood movies, thus promoting anarchical stories, stereotypical articles has the day, and society accepts such.

OMOLOLA Adams Olatayo Public Health Expertise adamsolatayo@yahoo.com