SIR: How come Fox News not only zoom their lenses on Republican Party news but also on Democratic Party news? They do so because in journalism you need to get a balanced view of all sides. Not a jaundiced view of issues. A well-groomed journalist must have an open mind to see beyond the parapet, to increase vanishing points and, stop admiring only the frescos on his/her walls.
In Journalism, you have to have your spear in the sand, you excel if you work on conviction, your beliefs – but you do not have to wear your opinions on your sleeve, dig it in and leave a heel. You do not have to act like your views are superior to those of others even when you are a dilettante. After all we are all dilettantes at something.
Fox News went a step further to have an exclusive interview with Hillary Clinton after the convention. They also brought in high profile supporters of Clinton (Rtd. Generals) to discuss her policies.
In contrast to the US, our local administrators (governors) have made state-owned television stations so partisan that they see members of the other party and their parties as adversaries. As adversaries the doors to the state’s media houses (radio and television) are shut in their faces. Any attempt by party hawks from these opposite parties to gain entry is resisted and they are sent back with fleas in their ears. They can’t reach the people through it. They are prevented from trumpeting their plans for the people or broadcast achievements during past tours of duty on those channels. What a way to lose revenue. You would think access to these stations is free. How can political parties subject themselves to microscopic inspections if the opportunities for engagement, of questions-and-answer sessions, of bringing governance to people to solve problems are denied them?
Not long ago I went looking for someone in a state television station and overhead people bantering about how a general manager of that station was suspended by that state’s administrator only because an archival officer sent in a tape which was played on air. That tape was about the achievement of the other party. That was shocking! The general manager I gathered didn’t give the “all clear” and didn’t even know about the tape before it was played. What’s wrong with playing a political tape of the other party if it isn’t a threat to state or national security? Aren’t media people supposed to have an open mind even where partisanship is expected? Aren’t they supposed to be in the realm where the journalistic spirit is free from discrimination?
If you belong to the other party, you automatically become a Charybdis. The frontal-lobe crisis prevents party henchmen from extending the olive branch to members of the opposite party for growth of state and country. Governance is only directed to people who belong to the party in power.
While we nit-pick and, suffer from the neurosis of our petty challenges, we miss the chance to promote democratic norms, of equality and rights for all within the ambit of reasonableness.
The big issues do not matter; only the small issues. We engage in barroom banters but instead of leaving the banter in the bar, we take it into our media houses (television, radio and print).
Saddening and maddening! What we have in some places in Nigeria are Pharaohs not Democrats.
- Simon Abah,
Port Harcourt, Rivers State.