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Journalists: Last to Jump on populist wagon
2007-09-18 09:27:07
By Correspondent Ernest C. Ambali
A journalist is a teacher at global national and local levels teaching people of all walks of life on various subjects, particularly those, which directly impinge on their daily lives.
As a teacher therefore, a journalist must acquire full knowledge of the subjects before he or she writes in the local, national or global news media.
The full knowledge a journalist acquires will place her or him well ahead of the society at large. That is knowing more than what the society knows.
To add value to the profession as a journalist, she or he must be endowed with an intelligence that is above average.
Quick-wittedness - ability to think or decide quickly - is also an imperative requisite.
May be all these journalistic essentials explain what President of the Media Council of Tanzania (MCT) Prof. Issa Shivji, said in his maiden speech during inauguration of the new MCT Governing Board on 24th March 2006 in Dar es Salaam.
In his maiden speech to journalists, he said that as the press entered the next 10 years of the Media Council, it should be aware of new sources of danger to the freedom of expression.
“Journalists should be the last to jump on populist bandwagons. They should be ahead of their societies, not tail the powers - that be, whether these powers are located in the state or in civil society.”
“And they should not abdicate their social responsibility - the social responsibility not only to inform, educate and entertain, but the responsibility to act as the mirror of society, a medium of self-reflection,” he said.
The operative advice he gave was the one saying: “journalists Should be ahead of their societies.”
Perhaps this statement includes the fact that pressmen should have full knowledge of their environment, well above what their societies know.
Also that journalists should be quick to know the machinations of the “powers - that - be “wherever they are located - in the state or the society itself.
Prof. Shivji, delivered his speech in the presence of the Deputy Minister for Information, Culture and Sports, Joel Bendera who inaugurated the MCT Governing Board on behalf of his Minister, Muhammed Seif Khatib.
Prof. Shivji’s advice came at the time the media sector has for many years, been an easy recipient of misfits - people who either have a low aptitude or are not trained, for the job. Some of them are ill trained and are wanting in intelligence.
This situation explains failure of the misfits to “be ahead of their societies”. Some of these misfits do not even make personal efforts to educate themselves to know more about journalism.
These are the people who force the society to think that journalism is “everybody’s job” - trained and untrained.
But journalism is a profession, period. Universities of journalism were not started for fun.
We also have a number of journalism institutions although some of them, if not most, should be closed down. They were opened simply to make money from donors.
It is unfortunate that applicants intending to join this noble profession are not given a vigorous aptitude, and intelligence test like those who want to be trained as pilots.
The situation as it stands, in our journalism institutions and universities, simply attracts people with the money to pay fees. Perhaps one would ask; “why not? This is business.”
Yet another unfortunate situation is that some of our gutter newspapers do employ people who have failed to join the popular national press. It is these unskilled or semi-skilled writers (not journalists) who fail to “be ahead of their societies”.
Indeed, as noted by Prof. Shivji, the MCT had “tried to regulate excesses through its code of conduct and through the other service that has made the council famous in, for example, its role of adjudication”.
Yet, we still have media outlets, which harbour writers who have no respect for the Code of Ethics, contained in a free booklet distributed by the MCT.
In his report presented at the Seventh National General Convention (NGC), the MCT Executive Secretary, Anthony Ngaiza, had something to say on this.
“While it is true that comparatively, the number of media outlets that have refused to conform to media ethics are few, the behaviour of these few media outlets could have a devastating effect to self regulation.
“This could put off the majority of those who are ethical and do adhere vigorously to professional standards,” Ngaiza said.
In other words, Ngaiza was actually saying that something must be done to the media outlets which have writers who call themselves journalists yet they can not “be ahead of their societies” through a broad professional knowledge, intelligence and high ethical quotient. They are wanting in these professional requisites.
Therefore they can not become good teachers like the fully trained professionals who have all these requisites - broad knowledge, intelligence, are ethical and thus they are always “ahead of their societies”.
If therefore we agree that journalism is a profession, a type of job that demands special training, or skills, especially one that needs a high level of education, the Bill that proposes enactment of the law to establish a council that will set standards, qualifications for those who want to join the profession, must be approved by all holding recognized documents.
However, I suggest that the law should allow employment of those who come straight from schools and universities, but giving them a different tittle. If I must suggest, call them “agents” or “contacts”.
While in employment as agents or contacts they should initially be trained “while on the job” preparing them for institutional training, six months for university graduates three years for Secondary School finalists.
Since it is not easy to get trained people in the regions, districts or villages, the law should allow agents to provide informations on any event.
Such information will form news stories developed by trained “re-writers” at the head offices.
Those who are not trained at institutions and are even more competent than graduates from journalism institutions should not be thrown out of service.
One thing they should understand is that if agreed that journalism is a profession like the legal, one can not be called a journalist until he goes through some training in recognised institutions.
If I claim to be a lawyer just because I know law like the one who has been to a university for three or four years, I can not claim to be a lawyer.
If I claim so, I will be prosecuted for impersonating.
Reason?
To maintain the standards of the legal profession. Likewise, to allow untrained people in the profession known as journalism is to lower its standards.
Since a journalist is a teacher at local and global levels, it is not enough that he or she knows what he or she writes about, but must know the technical-know how of delivering the message. He or she can get this knowledge from a recognized journalism institution.
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