By Lekan Otufodunrin

One of the earliest simplified definitions of communication I learnt in my first year at the Department of Mass Communication in the University of Lagos, in 1982 was that “communication is successful transfer of message from the sender to the receiver without any noise in the channel”.

I remember learning about messages being encoded and decoded. Until the message is clearly understood by the receiver, there is no communication yet. It is therefore incumbent on the sender to ensure that the message is sent in a way that the receiver will understand the message and be able to respond as expected.

The noise in the channel which may disrupt seamless transfer is not only physical sound; it could be semantic; language used, grammar, length of message and too much information and psychological; preconceived ideas to conversations, such as stereotypes, reputations, and assumptions.

“Noiseless communication” will be dissemination of message in a way that we are able to achieve mutual understanding, use the right and ethical language, be conflict sensitive, and keep to the etiquette of digital communication.  It will be communication that is based on truth, accuracy, fairness, devoid of hatred, assumptions and respects the rights of others.

While my ‘old school’ definition of communication is still relevant more than 35 years after and before then, the available channels for communication have witnessed tremendous expansion with new media platforms, including social media now available for sharing and receiving information.

Like every other channel, there have been all forms of abuses of new media to the extent that instead of the social media being acknowledged for how well it has eased communication and exchange of ideas, the misuse has made governments, organisations and even individuals to be alarmed about the danger it has become.

Maximising usage of social media for ‘noiseless’ communication will however require full understanding of how each platform works and which one is suitable for whoever wants to use it. The platforms should not be for dumping just any link from websites and blogs, sharing whatever comes to mind (when Facebook asks you what is on your mind) without properly reflecting on it, unverified content and abuses. Each platform is unique on its own and should be properly utilised as such. What is suitable for Facebook may not be suitable for LinkedIn, Instagram or Twitter. The audience is also largely not the same and their mode of engagement is different for maximum impact.

There are also rules, guidelines, policies and standards to ensure that there is decorum on social media platforms which attracts sanctions for violators.

The guidelines for social media platforms are similar as they are all meant to ensure that while everyone is able to share all manner of contents, we can all effectively communicate without ‘noise’ which can distort our messages or offend the sensibilities of others. Unfortunately many users prefer to be unruly and don’t mind been penalized.

How well Facebook and other social media platforms have been able to enforce their rules is debatable, but there is clearly room for improvement considering that some users will stop at nothing to violate them.

One factor that makes social media ‘noisy’ is that many people want to want to express their views at the same time and not many want to listen to the views of others. Some have views on virtually everything even when they don’t have necessary details and would want to be regarded as thought leaders for personal aggrandizement.

If only many know when to shut up, we would have less acrimony on social media.

Excerpts from keynote address at the Indigenous Language Media in Africa Conference at North West University, South Africa.

By Lekan Otufodunrin

I made a very difficult decision recently to relocate to my house in Otta, Ogun state, which I completed over a year ago.

Normally, I should have been excited above the movement which will spare me having to pay the high house rent I have been paying for years in Lagos, which has just been increased again, but I am still hoping I will be able to stay back fully without having to get a smaller apartment in Lagos to stay during the week due to the bad roads in Otta.

Portions of Lagos – Abeokuta and the Sango Idi-Iroko express roads which should normally be my route and that many other residents, to and from Lagos are in unbelievable bad conditions that driving or commuting on the roads is simply hellish.

If many residents of Otta and beyond who live and work in Lagos have their way, they would not stay back considering what they have to go through daily. I know some house owners who tried to live in Otta and had to return to Lagos.

Some residents of Otta and environs have to leave home as early as 4:30 am to beat the traffic caused by the bad roads. When it rains, some parts of the roads are almost impassable for both motorists and commuters.

But for the network of roads through the AIT/ Command axis of Lagos, built by the Ambode Administration and the Ogun part now completed by the Dapo Abiodun’s administration, the situation would have been worse.

I am aware of the ongoing repairs of the Lagos-Sango-Abeokuta express by the federal government, but until the job is completed, those who have no options but to take the route have to endure the hardship.

Governor Abiodun during his inspection visit to one of the roads being reconstructed by the government in Otta during the week, thankfully admitted that the state of the roads in the Otta axis is pitiable.

According to him, if the federal government had accepted his offer and that of the Lagos government, they would have taken over the repairs of the express road, while he would have also taken over the Sango-Idi Iroko road that leads to the Republic of Benin.

I’m not sure what excuse the federal government has for not granting the request by the Lagos and Ogun governor is, but the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Raji Fashola may need to see the state of the road to know how urgent the work on the roads need to be done before residents are cut off from being able to drive through to the connecting road to Lagos.

The Living Faith Church whose headquarters is along the Idi Iroko road had at various times done temporary filling of some bad portions of the roads, but the present state of damage requires major work to be done beyond palliative measures.

What’s happening in Otta and environs like in many parts of the country is simply an indication of how the government continues to fail to meet its obligations to the citizens. It’s sad that the state and federal governments have allowed the roads in the area to degenerate to the present level that has subjected residents to harrowing experiences daily.

Otta is supposed to be an Industrial town and neighbouring axis to accommodate the overflowing Lagos teaming population, but it’s unfortunate that it has been neglected over the years.

There is a massive movement of Lagos residents into Otta and environs but not enough is being done to acknowledge the need for the provision of commensurate facilities and basic needs of the people.

The Ogun state government has to give more attention to developments in the Otta end of the state which has lots of potentials to grow the economy of the state. The federal government should be concerned about the impression foreign visitors on the Idi Iroko route have of our country when they drive through the gullies on the road.

By Lekan Otufodunrin

There are some words whose meanings are well known for any English speaker, but sometimes it may be necessary to recheck the dictionary meaning to be sure they used approximately.

This was what I did with the word slaughter in the headline of this column. For a moment, I felt that the word may be too strong to describe the killings being perpetrated by terrorists in the northern part of the country and had to be sure I was not exaggerating.

I was reassured when I confirmed that slaughter also means to kill in a violent and bloody manner and kill in large numbers.

I was further comfortable with the use of slaughter when the synonyms included: massacre, murder, butcher, kill, kill off, annihilate, exterminate, execute, liquidate, eliminate, destroy, decimate, wipe out, mow down, cut down, cut to pieces, put to the sword, put to death, send to the gas chambers, literary slay.

All the above words aptly capture the endless killings that have been on for years in the region with no end in sight despite repeated assurances by the federal and state governments that they are doing their best to address the worrisome issue.

Read Also: Why killings, violence returned to Ibadan

Apart from the terrorist attacks, which have claimed thousands of lives, but displaced many from their natural locations, killings have become so common across the country without security agents guaranteeing lives and property.

A recent report by the International Committee on Nigeria (ICON) and Peace Building and Social Justice  (PSJ)  titled Nigeria’s Silent Slaughter: Genocide in Nigeria and the Implications for the

International Community revealed that between January 2000 and January 2020, deaths resulting from Fulani Militant attacks are about 19, 101 across the country. Similarly, 52, 861 persons were recorded to have been killed by the Boko Haram terrorist group, while 44, 303 were documented killed by other actors.

Many more have been killed since the period not covered by the report as indiscriminate killings by terrorists, bandits, kidnappers and unknown gunmen have become a daily occurrence in the country.

Last Wednesday, suspected Boko Haram terrorists killed about 24 villagers in Dabna community, Hong Local Council of Adamawa State and ruthlessly wounded many during an early hour raid. The District Head of Dabna, Simon Yakub, confirmed that the terrorists burnt all the churches in the village.

Also last Monday, at least 18 people were killed by suspected armed bandits in an attack in Tsauwa village in Batsari Local Government Area of Katsina State.

The above incidents are just two of the recent killings that were reported with many unreported incidents.

While the efforts of the security forces are acknowledged, with some of the officers and men being killed by terrorists too, it will be necessary for them to be able to as ICON and PSJ called for demonstrably, emphatically, and proactively tackle and address the present crisis of insecurity to make the country safe again.

The current rate of slaughter cannot be allowed to continue and whatever needs to be done must be done urgently.

The security forces have to be adequately equipped to battle the insurgents who seem to have more sophisticated weapons to unleash violence on innocent citizens nationwide.

By Lekan Otufodunrin

There are many issues arising from the alleged murder of the CEO of Super TV, Michael Atega by a student of the University of Lagos, Chidinma Ojukwu.

Following her parade by the Police on Thursday and the statement she made while being interviewed by journalists, there have been various perspectives on who to blame for the incident.

The statement she made on camera has justifiably made her the main suspect of the crime. Although she seems to be claiming to have acted in self defence. But, as far as many are concerned, she is guilty of murder even before she is charged.

Withdrawing money from the late CEO’s account after the incident and not reporting herself before she was tracked down by the police weakens any claim of innocence or not committing a premeditated murder.

She will definitely have her day in court and it will be up to the judge to determine how culpable she is and the commensurate punishment.

Cases like this, especially if the accused gets a lawyer who can come up with all kinds of legal arguments in her favour, can last for years when many would have forgotten about it or a more sensational one would have come up.

We should indeed be alarmed when avoidable incidents like this happen. They shock us to the reality of how we have sunk on the scale of values that used to define our being. They provide us an opportunity to seriously address the moral decadence which we are all aware of and have been raising our voices on, but have defied needed solution.

However, beyond Chidinma who is the current poster girl for our ‘spoilt’ youths indulging in all kind of vices, we should not spare the late CEO, though not alive to defend himself, and his type who take advantage of vulnerable girls, young enough to be their daughters and sisters because they have money to throw around to satisfy their lust.

We can blame Chidima for choosing to be wayward for whatever indefensible reason, but why should a married man like Atega, not be restrained enough, for the sake of his family and his integrity, avoid such escapade that they should be ashamed of.

If only Atega knows the shame his indiscretions will bring to his family, he would have kept his marital vows and not got into the kind of situation that led to his death. How does he wants his wife and children to mourn his demise? They would miss him, but the circumstance of his death would make them wish they had a more responsible husband and father.

The crisis we have at hand is not only about young girls indulging in ‘runs’ and youths doing drugs alone, we are faced with a situation where supposed responsible adults are not living up to expectations. Adults like Atega are as guilty as the youths we are complaining about.

Atega is unlucky to have been ‘caught in the act’, and paying the ultimate price, but there are many others like him who still take pride in what they should be ashamed of.

I’m not sure many will learn from this case, but they should know that their own day of reckoning may come soon if they don’t desist from engaging in extramarital affairs.

There is also the issue of parade of accused persons by the police and subjecting them to questioning by journalists during which they may make implicating statements.

Under the law, accused person remains innocent until he or she is pronounced guilty.

Even for what appears to be a grievous crime, it will take the court to determine the severity of the crime. It should be enough to parade an accused person, but they should be spared unnecessary interrogation by the media.

It is what they say under oath that can be admissible in court, not what is reported about them or they are quoted to have said.

Should Chidinma’s parents be blamed for not knowing the kind of girl she is? Should the lecturers not have been bothered that she has not been coming for lectures? Many questions begging for answers.

 

By Lekan Otufodunrin

This piece is not meant for new students of journalism who have to be schooled about what journalism is all about in their first year. It’s an attempt to reopen the age-long discussion about who should truly be called a journalist and what the profession is.

Until the advent of new media platforms, when sourcing and sharing of information became easy, there was not much controversy over who a journalist was. Even if you did not study Mass Communication or Journalism, you must be identified with one media organization or the other to claim to be a journalist.

The fact that people get published or present a programme on broadcast stations did not even qualify them to be journalists. They were simply writers that they were or producer.

Under the Nigeria Union of Journalists Constitution, graduates of other courses have to get a minimum of a Diploma in Journalism or must have worked for a number of years to be a full member. Though this requirement has not been enforced, but for those in this category, there was enough check and balance to ensure that the rules of journalism was complied with.

Even those who claimed to be citizen journalists knew their bounds. They did their best to abide by well-known guiding principles of truth, fairness, balance and other ethics of their profession.

Some of them even have to pass the information they have through recognized media organizations.

However, with new media all the above no longer obtain.

Just anyone who can type content or record audio or video now claim to be a journalist and are accorded such recognition.

One of the easiest things to do these days is to launch a website or have a blog and start sharing information that used to be the exclusive jobs of trained journalists and claim to be a journalist.

While the Constitution guarantees freedom of expression through any channel, doing this does not automatically make one a journalist.

Journalism is a profession with body of knowledge and ethics of practice. It is a profession with courses at various levels to learn what it entails.

Even back in the days when journalism was for “floatsams and Jetsams” of the society, apologies to former Premier of Western Region, Late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, there was an apprenticeship process for interested persons to know the basic rules.

While anyone can make false claims to be a journalist, it’s necessary that such people are not accorded such status, but should be seen for what they are and made to face the wrath of the law when they violate the basic rules of journalism.

This piece was informed by a post by Senator Babafemi Ojodu titled “This is not acceptable and an Abhorrent kind of journalism”, condemning a false Facebook post by a blogger Femi Salako that a popular eulogist, Kunle Ologundudu has been assassinated in Lagos.

Ologundudu has since confirmed that he is alive and well, while Salako is nowhere to be found to justify his false publication that has caused unnecessary tension home and abroad.

I have tried hard to find out Salako’s link to journalism and the best I have found is that he is a content writer along with being a musician. He is definitely not a journalist in anyway as content writing is not same as journalism.

Anyone can write content as Salako has done and should not be mistaken to be a journalist. People like him are Information traffickers as Professor Abigail Oguwesi of the University of Lagos will describe them.

They peddle true and false information for whatever motive without, thinking of the implications of their misdemeanor.

Instead of allowing such people to get away with spreading falsehood and being mistaken as journalists, they should be described in the words of President Muhamadu Buhari – “treated then in the language they will understand” the implications of their act.

By Lekan Otufodunrin

Shocked by the recent suspension of the operations of the microblogging platform, Twitter in the country,  my first son, a graduate of History and International Relations who belongs to the generation of largely apolitical youths of this country made a shocking statement that makes the this topic very apt.

“I didn’t know that the government can be this powerful. I never imagined that the government can suspend Twitter just like that and we will be struggling to have access to what we all took for granted before” he said.

My response was that he should have known that the government is indeed powerful with constitutional provisions to decide on various aspects of our lives, but the suspension of Twitter, which I described as unfathomable, is an abuse of power.

I told him that under a military regime as he knows, based on the final year project he wrote on the media under the military regime: A case study of The Punch, such a decision would not have been as shocking as it is in a democratic administration.

Unfortunately, here we are, under a government that rode to power with the massive use of the traditional and new media to discredit the previous administration, battling to insist on having respect for the freedom of expression of the citizens and the press.

As the US Government aptly stated in its official response to the continued suspension on Thursday, the threat to prosecute users of the platform and warning by the Nigeria Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to broadcast stations to stop using Twitter is undemocratic.

“Unduly restricting the ability of Nigerians to report, gather, and disseminate opinions and information has no place in a democracy. Freedom of expression and access to information both online and offline are foundational to prosperous and secure democratic societies.”

I acknowledge the concern of the government about the misuse of social media by some individuals and organization and the need to tighten the moderation of such abuses by social media companies, but we must not allow our government to give a dog a bad name just to hang it.

Having failed to get through its desired social media bills to stifle civil discourse which are most times damming verdict on the performance of the government, the administration will stop at nothing to get its pound of flesh from the window of opportunity to regulate not only the social media, but even the traditional platforms considering the contentions penalties the NBC been regularly imposing on broadcast stations.

How can NBC be asking broadcast stations to deactivate their Twitter handles when the regulatory organization, the Presidency and other officials have not done the same.

With a government like this that seems determined to tamper with the freedom of the media and the rights of the citizens in various ways and endanger our cherished return to democratic dispensation, we need a very bold and not just a bold media.

If our democracy is to endure without fear of desecration of its basic and fundamental tenets which could return us to the pre-1999 era as we are witnessing in some neighbouring countries, the media must effectively play its watchdog roles without fear or favour.

We must not be a lap dog as the distinguished Professor of Mass Communication of the University of Lagos, Ralph Akinfeleye once noted. We must monitor, watch, bark and if need be bite. We cannot afford to be regarded as a toothless dog by the public who depend on us to speak up on their behalf.

We must not take it for granted that we are far gone into having a democratic government that cannot be truncated based on the worrisome state of the nation and gradual slide to anarchy.

The media must be alive to its responsibilities and not be cowed by threats by self-professed democrats and defenders of the rule of the law whose actions and inactions are denying Nigerians the full dividends of democracy.

The government will definitely not be comfortable with our coverage most of the time, but our focus should be that of strengthening our democracy than doing the bidding of the government.

Thankfully, unlike other professionals, the role of the media to hold the government accountable to the people is clearly stated in the constitution and we must boldly assert our independence as the fourth estate of the realm.

We must not condone the ongoing abuse of powers as it is the case of a pronouncement not backed by law to deny Nigerians their freedom of expression and other instances before now and check the excesses of government officials who seemed to have forgotten their oath of office to uphold the fundamental principles of the constitution.

Since democracy is supposed to be the government of the people, for the people and by the people, the media must insist on good governance which will ensure that elected officials at all levels fulfil their electoral promises.

For our democracy to endure, the need for effective separation of powers as contained in the constitution must be respected by all arms of government.

Every arm of the presidential system of government we are practising must be made to be alive to their responsibilities.

To be bold and speak truth to power the media must not be contented with routine reporting and analysis of government policies and actions. We must more than ever before insist on optimum performance and compliance with democratic norms.

We must be bold and free enough to provide incisive and investigative reports even if the government will not like it. Our interviews must cover necessary issues that require answers, our editorial and commentaries must be pungent and unsparing.

With fact-checking and data journalism, we must not spare the government or any of its officials who make false claims or twist facts to deceive the public.

We should invoke the freedom of Information Act when necessary and ensure that the people are not denied the information they should have.

That will be backlashes and attempts to cow us in form of all kinds of harassments, attacks, arrests, detention and others but we must remain bold and regard whatever happens as part of the hazards of the job.

The Nigeria Union of Journalists and other media groups must be ready to stand by us when we are not allowed to do our work the way we should in defence of democracy.

Being bold does not mean we should not acknowledge achievements or progress recorded in any sector. We should, so we don’t give the wrong impression that “government is not doing anything “as some analysts say.

If what is being done is not good enough let’s say so, but not that nothing is being done.

Being bold is not a license to be reckless. Our freedom should be exercised with a high sense of responsibility. We must abide by the ethics of the profession and not allow content that will make it easy for our detractors to label us as purveyors of fake news and junk analysts.

I must not fail to note that it will be easy to be bold and damn any consequence for doing our expected job when our media organizations have the required wherewithal for their operations and journalists are adequately remunerated.

Necessary attention should be paid to the corporate viability of media organizations and commensurate salaries and allowances for journalists.

A bold and professional media is indeed a major pillar to having enduring democracy anywhere in the world. To a large extent, the Nigerian media has been doing its best despite limitations to be as bold as possible.

We can only hope that it will remain steadfast as we march forward to have democracy firmly rooted in our country.

Excerpts from comments at National Media Community Award.