Journalism must probe not only the State, but the Society itself

Journalism must probe not only the State, but the Society itself

 (Excerpts from pre-recorded interview with Professor Wole Soyinka for the  3^rd anniversary of Naija Times)

ON NAIJA TIMES…

I DIDN’T even know those who were behind it or anything of the sort, but I began to take a look at it, and I thought, mmm, a new entry. I said this is now making sense out of what an online media publication should be. It is quite a relief to find that when one turns to the virtual realm for information, one does not encounter only what I call the garbage-in garbage-out of the trolls… the whole thing just became nauseating and I went off it for a long time.

I congratulate the initiative and those behind it. Actually, I consider it almost like a sibling product of the COVID times, because it was also — tragically, unfortunately, ironically — the lockdown that enabled me complete my last work: Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People in the World. So, it’s like, every cloud has a silver lining. And I consider this (Naija Times) the silver lining of the dark cloud of the Covid period upon which a silver should be. It is illuminating in many ways.

Congratulations on your anniversary is all I can say. Happy birthday. I hope many, many more years of editions of production. Do not drop the gauntlet.

JOURNALISM IN THE SERVICE OF SOCIETY.

FOR me, first of all, it’s a collective issue, it’s a collective task. It goes even beyond the journalists themselves, because journalists rely on human products, human activities, human stories and so the society itself is part and parcel, for me, of the journalistic enterprise. Sometimes, I feel that perhaps that there is not enough of attention on the other side, the other side of the community, maybe journalist don’t quite probe deeply into their behaviour…. I’m talking about the people themselves; you know.

Until the social media came on board, I used to boast that Nigeria holds at least one of the strongest, most courageous media enterprises in the whole African continent. We’ve seen the quality of its products, of its services during dire times of dictatorships. Even now, when we’re supposed to be running a democracy, we’ve seen how journalism rises to the task of keeping the state on its toes.

Dealing with the state makes you an obvious target… the state stands to save or ruin the society, we know that, but sometimes, and this is what led to my Chronicles, sometimes society itself has to be taken to task. I mean, rigorously and ruthlessly, we have to ask ourselves, just what kind of people are we? What are we becoming? I certainly think it’s possible for journalists to report and then to become so consistently reported that it seems as if a negative culture, a negative view of humanity, valuation of humanity is just being discarded and trampled upon. Now, this is where I think journalism really must tread new grounds, break new grounds completely and really confront society with what it has become no matter in which sector of productive society.

Once again, the challenge has got to be taken up and accepted, otherwise society then slides completely into an inescapable morass from which there’s no escape. Knowledge is… first of all, to give credit to technology… technology has to a large extent democratised the people, really empowered the people in a democratic way? The question is: Are the people abusing that technology? That for me has become the issue. And since we cannot escape that technology, it has to be sanitised. Journals, journalists, editors, Op Ed writers, reporters and so on have to accept the fact that certain rules obtained, certain yardsticks of responsibility obtained in the print media.