₦airaland Forum

Agboriotejoye:
I have already shown you evidence of media dat are not objective. They pursue a certain agenda using facts. Facts is what they claim to work with not objectivity. Check CNN advertorials. But that is immaterial. It seems you didn't read the op before jumping in. The three titles are most certainly editorials and not news articles. Good you agreed articles are opinions. It proves what I've said that media are allowed to have an opinion. Punch just made use of theirs recently.
Nigeria is not Iraq. Comparing Nigeria with Iraq should be a shameful thing for any Nigerian who loves and believes in our democracy to do. Even when we operated a dictatorship like Abacha's, news editorials were confrontational, blunt and irrepressible in laying into the government. Check out TELL, Punch and newswatch in those times. They never sugarcoated their publications. It's a sad commentary when you expect a journalist in a 20year old democracy to consider "environment" in writing articles. It shows you don't understand what democracy is about nor the principle behind freedom of speech. Take my advice. If you really love Nigeria, condemn in its entirety any attempt at muzzling the media. Press freedom is part of what we signed up for in 1999. If any news outlet goes out of line, there are enough mechanisms to correct dat. Osinbajo made use of such when a false story was published about him. But it seems Buhari especially is uncomfortable with media scrutiny.

P.S: Whether you live abroad or Nigeria is immaterial. The important thing is freedom of expression and press freedom are important part of democracy and should be jealously protected by all

Firstly, saying I didn't read before "jumping in" gives the impression you're already worked up and that's a red flag. I'll just let that go. The OP never explicitly stated it was an editorial.

Back to the issue, telling me how what DSS did was wrong shows you still do not or have deliberately refused to appreciate my stance. I am not arguing for DSS or any politician out there. Nobody has the right to arrest anyone or harass another cause of the issue at hand. And I do not know much about our politics to even address most of the points you made above and I won't pretend to do. I was only advocating for smarter journalism. One that creates little or no room for an interpretation that can be used against the writer maliciously. I was not comparing Nigeria to Iraq and it is laughable if that was your take from my analogy. I believe I was clear on all these. Fact is, regardless of how you view it, there is a form of oppression going on in that school (which I believe the writer is aware of) and the best way to fight this oppression in a seemingly democratic environment like ours is to not give the oppressors any ground to stand on and being tactful is one of the ways to achieve that.

I'm sorry for saying I stay in the abroad. I didn't know you would dedicate a whole paragraph to address what you refer to as insignificant. It was just to buttress a point.

Agboriotejoye:
I really doubt your assertion that its practicality is in doubt. If major news outlets in the West seem to have adopted it, I don't know what you mean by impracticability.
You still insist that CNN can't use that headline? Ok here's an headline today from Washington post, another democrat leaning newspaper: Trump's Threat To Democracy. Just Google it.

While The economist described GEj with those words, what was overwhelmingly loud was adulation here in Nigeria. No one and I repeat no one complained against the words. Some journalists in Nigeria actually borrowed those words in their articles too.

Now to the issue which I think this discourse is premised on. The repercussions of not being seen as objective for a media house. Here in Nigeria, a lecturer has just been sacked because of a headline. The journalist has also been "invited" by the DSS. The fact is the DSS are not in position to regulate the media space. Neither is it right for a rector to sack a lecturer simply because he's not comfortable with an editorial headline.
This is what does not happen in civilised climes.
If anyone in govt feels a news headline is a threat to public peace, the right place to go is the court not arbitrary detention.
As we have both seen and acknowledged, objectivity is not a frontal requirement in modern journalism in western democracies. The trend is towards accuracy of facts and fairness of opinion. Even those are subject to interpretation since we now have the phenomenon of alternate facts.

First, I still do not believe any western media news outlet publicly profess opinionated journalism over objectivity. Don't get me wrong, whether they are being objective or not is a different thing. But in theory, most media outlets have objectivity as their mantra. My point is, when they want to sell their opinion, they do with tact to avoid criticisms or legal harassment. I don't know the article you mentioned (I'll check it out later, I promise) but I'm almost certain it must be an editorial. An editorial is a section where the writer is allowed to express how own personal opinion which does not necessarily have to reflect the stance of the media outlet. In editorials, the writer is just like you and I typing here on NL; virtually anything goes since it's an open space.

The Economists got backlashes just as much as they were lauded. The article came at a time when Nigeria was greatly divided along political lines so it's not surprise if a certain group of people accepted it and even inculcated it into their active language.

Thank you for bringing us back to the bone of contention. If you scroll up, you'd see I've said it over and over again that knowing the content of the writeup would help make a better judgement. I'm not in any way defending DSS. I live in the abroad and I know how things should be. I'm only saying what the young journalists would have done to avert such ugly situation given the country we live in. They could have made themselves so slippery such that they would be no way to hold them down.

While it is undemocratic to harass people based on their opinions, an accusation/defamation is something very serious and some of the titles there are accusatory in nature (or could be interpreted to be). Their enemies could easily ride on this to reach them. With better wordings, those same articles could have still gone out without creating rooms for such incidence. As a journalist, one is expected to understand his environment and know how to circumvent unwanted situations. I wouldn't write the way I write in the US in Iraq. It's just like someone drafting a legal document (a contract for instance), they work hard to endure no line could be given an interpretation that would work against them. Journalism is not far from this analogy.

Agboriotejoye:
I tried to read through the Wikipedia page and while I agree and see your point, I think I should call your attention to this point below under the heading "alternative" from the same page.

"ISome argue that a more appropriate standard should be fairness and accuracy (as enshrined in the names of groups like Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting). Under this standard, taking sides on an issue would be permitted as long as the side taken was accurate and the other side was given a fair chance to respond. Many professionals believe that true objectivity in journalism is not possible and reporters must seek balance in their stories (giving all sides their respective points of view), which fosters fairness."
If you watch CNN as I do, you will probably be alarmed as I always am at the manner in which they attack Donald Trump's govt and even person. While I see method in their madness as they always seem stick to facts as you said, it is important to stress that NO headline is beyond them. They may go about proving it, but they don't seem be held back. Another important one I should draw to your attention is the article by a UK newspaper can't recall the name now that referred to former president Goodluck Jonathan as ineffectual buffoon. I used to think that was wrong but still I doubt if any media outlet in Nigeria can refer to any leader with such uncharitable words. Note though that it's not only a foreign leader they address as such, even theirs are not spared.
I would like some enlightenment on this.
Thank you

Please, permit me to simply ride on the excerpt you quoted above and also adopt CNN as a case study.

For every school of thought, there's an alternative and I never lost sight of that fact. The advocacy to move away from objective journalism has been there for ages but yet to actually find it's way out of the academia. This is because its practicality is highly in doubt. A line from your quote above says "... taking sides on an issue would be permitted as long as the side taken was accurate" and the question would be: who says what is accurate and what's not? Reporting facts is the objective of journalism and once opinions are allowed to freely creep in, even the actual facts would be in doubt. This is why virtually all news agencies have adopted the objectivity standard. Whether they're actually objective or not, I will talk about shortly. However, this public adoption of objectivity has come to serve as their own self imposed restrain that checkmates their excesses as it's difficult to profess a standard and publicly go against it.

Now, are they really objective? Evidently, they are not. Even I would agree to that. And your examples have done justice to that claim. However, this was never the bone of contention. The debate here is the manner in which they go about expressing their lack of objectivity. For a media outlet who takes pride in referring to themselves as "objective" and would go to any length to argue this, you'll agree with me that they already naturally have a limit to which they can express their opinions without attracting severe criticism (which CNN has suffered in the past). This limitation makes it impossible for such non tactful headlines as "President Trump does not believe in the US" to ever appear on their screen. Typical CNN would say "Does President Trump believe in the US?". Now that's tact. They could get someone to say Trump does not believe in the US and then go ahead to quote that person; that's tactics. These are skills that the students above lack.

The Economists magazin did tag GEJ as "ineffectual buffoon" and that drew sharp criticism from journalists and non journalists alike. They made that slip and that doesn't in any way make it right. That was crude journalism and not worthy of emulation. That shouldn't be cited where standard journalistic practices are being discussed cause they didn't just express their opinion, they went as low as name calling.

Now, the difference between The Economist and the students above is that latter's titles were accusatory in nature and therefore opened them up to legal harassment. Something they could have easily avoided by applying some more skills. Like I said in my first statement, one would have to read the writeup to know if the invite was necessary or not but going by the headline, it's clear the content won't be any better delivered.

TheExecutioner:
Hahaha! Ass lickers are so desperate to earn praise from their masters that they can't help making fools of themselves.

So there is nothing in journalism known as editorials or opinion pieces?

Taking a stand or declaring an opinion is not at odds with objectivity.

Even a first year mass communications student understands this basic.

I will not even attempt to engage you. Your first line shows you lack the required etiquette for a formal debate. Enjoy your day.

JOHNSONSOLAFUNMI:
Wetn happen to Nairaland mods?, seun gave you Christmas bonus or he changed the mods?

Nairaland front page is interesting these days

The front page content feeds from what people are posting on the different sections of the forum, mods don't manufacture threads. So the kudos is to Nairalanders who are coming up with better contents.

Agboriotejoye:
Nice write up though based on a faulty submission.
There's nowhere in the world were journalism is expected to be neutral. A journalism outfit decides to either be partisan or neutral on any subject matter. For example, you'll agree with me that nta, frcn, nan are not neutral outfits. They are pro-government. In the US also for a better example, CNN are democrat leaning while fox are conservative. Thus, when a democrat is president, CNN becomes pro while fox become anti and vice versa.
While I agree our democracy has not developed to a state where mass media are allowed to toe partisan part, there's nothing that stops a media outfit from choosing a particular position to embrace on a particular subject be it, culture, religion, ethnicity etc.

Thanks for your observation.

However, in sharp contrary to your stance, Journalism is actually expected to be neutral everywhere in the world. There's what we call journalistic objectivity (JO) which requires that a journalist not be on either side of an argument. This concept of JO comprises three major sub concepts: truthfulness, neutrality and detachment. Quoting wiki:

"...Truthfulness is a commitment to reporting only accurate and truthful information, without skewing any facts or details to improve the story or better align an issue with any certain agenda. Neutrality suggests that stories be reported in an unbiased, even-handed, and impartial manner. The third idea, detachment, refers to the emotional approach of the journalist. Essentially, reporters should not only approach issues in an unbiased manner, but also with a dispassionate and emotionless attitude...

It will be much easier to accommodate if you posit that this is hardly ever the case. This is because there's a clear distinction between what is expected to be and what is obtainable. And that will take me back to my initial post where I acknowledged the fact that opinionated submissions are not totally uncommon in modern day journalism. This acknowledgment is embodied in my statement which goes thus:

"However, a good writer can always express his opinion either by tactfully presenting it as a reflection of other people's take or galvanizing it with empirical information such that his message would be received without creating room for any harassment."

The statement above constitutes the crux of my stance. Even the evidently biased news outlets you mentioned above still adopt tacts while presenting their cases. A title such as "President Donald Trump does not believe in the United States of America" would be an over ambitious campaign against the government and you'll agree with me such can never find it's way to CNN's news scripts.

Sleevia:
I respect the way you presented your points. Are you a journalist?

Thanks.

No, I'm not a journalist. I only write as a hobby.

I want Tinubu to be investigated. I am not a good fan of PMB. However, one would need to read the contents to know if the arrest is justified or not. Some of the titles up there are not any bit tactful. That's not journalism but partisanship.

Journalism is not about publicising your opinion on papers that are supposedly meant to be neutral. However, a good writer can always express his opinion either by tactfully presenting it as a reflection of other people's take or galvanizing it with empirical information such that his message would be received without creating room for any harassment.

"President Buhari does not believe in Nigeria" is a terrible title that appears far more opinionated than factual; this is regardless of how true it may be. A better title would have been "Presidents Buhari's loopsided appointments cast a shadow of doubt on his one-Nigeria mantra". Here, the number of Northerners heading different MDAs could serve as the backing empirical evidence. Besides, this title comes off as an expression of doubt and not a statement of fact thus protecting the writer. Another better title would be "President Buhari does not believe in Nigeria - Internet users". Here the writer would be presenting his case as an opinion of others and could easily fetch numerous online posts to back it up if push comes to shove.

Journalism requires tact and mind games. The students may not have these skills yet but the supervising lecturer whom I suppose is from the department of Mass Communication should have known better.

Poor guys...

Vanhooijdonk:
I should have not generalized. And I am in my late 20's

Guys, see the kind of friend I want to have in Canada.

It's graceful how he/she refused to acknowledge the insult.

Why is everyone here typing rubbish? Since when did pecking become such a big deal? Besides, it's easier for older women to express their likeness than for the younger ones since most of them are married and therefore have little chances of having their intentions misconstrued.

Bahamas95:
Madam please calm down. I wasn't just referring to Yemi, I was talking about Nigerian girls (slay queens) in general....She is one of my favourite naija artistes so I can't beef her. She is doing well for herself and deserve some accolades.

You are neither here nor there. You weren't referring to her, you're her fan yet, from your post first post, you believe she feeding off on men.

Calling me a lady cause I stood against chauvinism goes to to show how sexist you are, bro. You expect every man to trash ladies the way y'all do on NL?

Anyway, my point is, nobody has the monopoly of immorality, male or female. And yes, there are hardworking ladies out there who can comfortably afford this car without any male figure. You can keep calling everyone olosho but that doesn't make your own life any better.

Happy Christmas!

She wants NSA. Either, she's not ready for a relationship yet or she believes you don't have the personality she could settle with (this doesn't stop her from enjoying your body). Y'all need to know that ladies aren't exactly different from men when it comes to relationships. Sometimes, they want just the body too.

Bahamas95:
Why not? Some of them indulge in illegal stuffs but nobody can question them because they are regarded as celebrities. And also we're in a country where the rich gets away with virtually everything, we know these things so no need pretending about it.

I made that statement because the one of the female folks is more prevalent. Babe go just enter limelight and blow overnight. Abeg make dem fear God, the street nor too easy like dat

Hhmm.... Yemi blew overnight? Really? Are you seriously tying her success to "man" despite glaring facts? You obviously don't think a lady can do it without "man". To you, the world revolves around "man" and that's the height of sexism. I'm certain this is what you guys tell yourselves in consolation for the fact that some ladies thrive where men have failed. Let me summarise Yemi's progress to you and you'll tell me how that translates to "overnight".

Yemi first got her share of attention when she won Peak Milk competition in 2009. Prior to this, she was just a member of a group called 'Noty Spices'. Despite this attention, Yemi didn't make much progress until she was signed to Effizzy Group in 2012 and though she released some tracks in that year, she only 'blew' when she released her three singles: 'Johnny', 'Tangerine' and 'Kissing' in 2013. Yemi's 'Johnny' is one of the most successful tracks by a female artist in modern day Nigerian entertainment industry thanks to the colourful and entertaining video. She went ahead to release her first album 'King of Queens' in 2014 which further pushed her to the mainstream. She toured many African countries to promote this album and sold more than 100,000 copies(more copies were sold much later when she released the deluxe version which contains some of the old tracks translated into French). In 2016, she moved on to release her second studio album titled 'Mama Africa'. And then again, she realised a deluxe version subsequently. This album endeared her to many African nations and got her the nick name 'Mama Africa'. She was the dominant female artist that year. Yemi's awards (both local and international) are countless.

In July 2019, Alade became the first African female artist to reach one million subscribers on YouTube. Her hit song ‘Johnny’ currently holds YouTube record for the most watched African Female music video of all time.

My dear brother, it doesn't pay to trash the hardwork of people whose little beginnings we do not know. Yemi, just like anyone else, may have had her share of relationships with the opposite gender but the fact remains that she is an African brand who has worked hard for herself. She is one of the most successful female musicians in Africa and if after reading her timeline above, you still believe it's one 'man' sitting in the comfort of his parlour drawing her destiny plan on a tablet, you must be referring to God.

Hardwork pays regardless of gender, appreciate that.

Mike4S:
Thanks for the support. What about the idea of going to write down statement?

Police will not get your items back and they'll even charge you for the statement.... Sad but it's always good and advisable to report such things to the police cause it doesn't take time before you start hearing stuff like "... but did you report?"

WildChild00:
Old woman

Is it a sin to grow old?

Pray you look that good when you're 50.

klax:
So you accepted you are a kid Then pls be a grown up kid, my honest advise. Any pooh buying car shouldn't be what you should disturbing your skull or NL about pls.

No offense ok and don't take it personal.

Take your own advice and leave the thread for "kids".

LedRock:
No mind Dem, how much is 48m naira car, something ordinary d-list musician in USA dey ride.

Lol... I can bet my finger you don't own a tyre.

merits:
old school jeep,May waether as already acquired 2020 rolls Royce..2019 is already a past tense,by God grace.

People wey no get tyre, na them dey talk pass.

Bahamas95:
You think say na only the music? Nor play with naija babes o, dem get magas wey dey pay steady from their side HUSTLE

Would you have said it this if it was a male musician that did this purchase?

UrVillagePpl:
Congrats yemi...


In less than 4years it could cost less than 35million.. if I were to be in her shoes I would wait..13 million gain..
13 million worth of investment is not child's play. It will go a long way...


Too much sense will not kill me

Why wait for just 4 years when the price will go down even more after 10 years?

klax:
So we should throw a party or dancing jamboree or what

Mr poster grow up not everything worth bothering you skull about. Grow up.

As you grown as you are, you still had to comment on the "kids'" thread.

chikeze:
Imagine ...I carry 48million go buy that crap of a car. I’ll rather use that money and get a G-Wagon. Wetin be prado?

Hahaha.... why e be say na people wey no get dey too use this expression "wetin be...."?

Madibah:
She has toto na .
So don't be surprised..
Senators food she be na

This is what you use to console yourself, oga. Work hard like Yemi, let others wonder where you get your money from.

Conceptman:
All these celebrities you hardly see coming up with luxurious things especially the women, fear them. The funniest part is that na body hustle some of them do to get those luxuries. Well, dont feel like you are failure, it's just that the way you hustle is different from the way dey do. With time all will be well, u will be surprised when u here dirty gist about them,all that glisters no be gold o

Would you have said this if it was a male musician that made this purchase? You don't think a lady can work hard a buy herself such a ride?

Mutemenot:
Women should learn how to avoid some unnecessary problem. This Christmas is overrated, in the real sense it's not worth dying for or even stressing for. We ought to relax and not to see it as a time to fight for food and wears ... when your husband doesn't habe money, just leave him. Most men get angry when they have no money

Making excuse for the man and blaming the woman who's the victim. You didn't even criticize the heartless beast. Chauvinism is bad.

Kingpee2:
You will be amazed to find out that the woman is still going back to live in that same house again..

And that's because the society will call her all sorts of names if she decides to stay away

[quote author= post=85203719]Hmmm, here comes the Chief Justice of the Federation!
You don't know whatever issue they have between them and you are already judging issues.
It is well o Chidi!

@OP,

Well, until we know what the relationship between you and your neigbour was prior the Christmas chicken incident,
There is little or nothing we can comment about the poor dead chicken.
Even a mad man or woman won't just kill an innocent chicken and throw it in the dustbin on Christmas day if there is nothing hidden or unknown to outsiders.
Complete your story next time Father Xmas!

We can only say May 'her' soul rest well.

There goes a beautiful chicken that would have gone well on the grills.

What a pity!

See as better Chicken stand on top fire nah!
She gallant die![/quote]You were making sense until you called him "Father Xmas". That undermines his gestures and would be painful if it was a genuine one. You're advocating for us not to take sides yet but here you are dragging the OP in the mud of sarcasm.

Happy Christmas.

Cousin9999:
You're a sick person. You need help.

And I still say it's your duty as a parent to correct your child, so they don't become a disgusting freak.

You called me sick cause we're having a discussion on social issues?

Ah! Jesu. You people are so primitive on here.

Happy Christmas.

Cousin9999:
An effeminate man can only be how he was made, but that has NOTHING to do with trannies. If your child displays trans behavior and thinking, it's your duty as a parent to address the problem and sickness and fix it.

An effeminate child isn't just one who talks or walks like a lady. A effeminate child likes/prefers ladies' outfits as well. Even he doesn't explicitly put them on, he'd naturally go for tighter male outfits without giving it a thought. Are these what you describe as trans behaviour? If so, I insist that hitting the child will change nothing. It's only a matter of time before he leaves your house to live his life.

profilemessages:
unfair or what did you just said, didn't the guy proposed to you before you fell for him?

didn't you see that he has two trousers and one jalopy car before you allowed him to enter your box eighteen? the society does no harm to women, they (women) are getting what they deserved.

You missed his point.