Even if he does not carry out his threat to move the Baleysa State Assembly to pass a law criminalising rumour mongering, Governor Seriake Dickson has secured an eminent place in the Nigerian press in general and the sociology of the media in particular with a locution that is sure to go down as a seminal breakthrough in the taxonomy of news.
He called it “dem say dem say” journalism.
Unlike “hard news” and soft news” and “cocktail journalism” and even “junk news” (one person’s “junk” is another person’s treasure), the term leaves no room for ambiguity. Its meaning is clear, self-evident even. It is easy on the tongue, and has a rhythm, a cadence that is easy on the ears.
Above all, it has the great merit of being uniquely Nigerian. They are welcome to their radio trottoir (radio of the verandah) in Cameroun, where the natives are trapped in the Francophile/ Anglophile divide. Thankfully, we suffer no such encumbrance here.
Now, some context.
To the consternation of the authorities, a wave of rumours, compounded by an avalanche of propaganda, has been sweeping Balyesa in recent weeks, sponsored no doubt by people who, even without Dickson saying so, do not mean well for Bayelsa.
Indeed, Dickson could have added that the rumour mongers and propagandists also do not mean well for Nigeria. If they did, they would not be peddling their pernicious wares in President Goodluck Jonathan’s home state – his backyard, to put the matter bluntly — without fear and without remorse. The question cries out to be asked: Is nothing sacred to them?
Surely, no responsible government can allow that kind of thing – “dem say, dem say” journalism, to call it by his evocative coinage — to go on unchecked. Accordingly, he has put practitioners of that mode of communication on notice that they will henceforth be made to pay for their temerity, be they reporters, bloggers, or just plain talebearers.
This time, they will not be able to take refuge behind the usual shibboleths of “freedom of speech” and “human rights” and all that. And they can expect no aid or comfort from one of the usual sources, the United Kingdom. For the UK Government has felt obliged, in the face of the kind thing that has been going on in Bayelsa, to take measures to rein in the press.
It is not clear whether Governor Dickson was influenced by developments in the UK media, but he inaugurated last week a high-powered committee to tackle what he called “the pervading feeling of negativity” in the state, despite all the good things that have been happening there and the wonders Balyesans have been working at home and in Abuja.
“That is not right and must therefore be checked,” he told members of the committee on rumour-mongering, aforementioned, comprising ranking public servants, representatives of the clergy, traditional rulers, market women, and for good measure, an official each from the State Security Service and the police
To curb the tide of negativity in the state, Dickson will employ a two-pronged approach. The first, a campaign of mass education and enlightenment on the programs and policies of the Dickson Administration, belongs in the remit of the special committee. The goal is to promote value-orientation and good governance (ha!), and the Committee will work closely with other agencies of government to achieve that goal.
This approach is rooted in Dickson’s firm belief that underdevelopment, lack of education, and a decline in public ethics, are chiefly responsible for the propaganda and the avalanche of rumours that could overrun the state if not tackled firmly and decisively.
In addition, the Committee will serve as a “clearing house” for members of the public to settle their doubts on issues concerning the government and the state. The government will provide “dedicated hotlines” through which members of the public can seek and receive clarification on the issues of the day and thus avoid engaging in” unnecessary speculation.”
In this vexing matter, Dickson could have relied on the proposition settled centuries ago that ignorance of the law or of process to prescribe summary punishment for the rumour mongers and propagandists who are roiling Bayelsa. But, committed democrat that he is, he has gone out of his way to create an atmosphere in which no residents can claim that they had no reason to doubt what they heard or read.
The crucial test is: Did they avail themselves of the opportunities provided for the public to ascertain the veracity of what they heard or read? Does the material at issue come stamped with the imprimatur, the nihil obstat of the Committee?
The second tack of Dickson’s campaign has as its anchor a bill he is presenting to the Balyelsa Assembly for urgent enactment into a law providing stiff penalties for propaganda and rumour mongering.
Hear it from the Governor himself:
“Going forward, we hope to sponsor a legislation that will provide punishment for false dissemination of information and propaganda, either against the reputation of private individuals or about government or its officials.
“Of course, we are all aware that the existing laws provide for offences such as criminal defamation of character and so on. But we are going to come up with a legislation to punish ‘dem say, dem say’ people.”
So, there you have it, all ye practitioners of “dem say, dem say” journalism and all ye merchants of rumour and peddlers of propaganda, whether you are plying your trade on old media or new media.
Some people are already drawing dark parallels between the proposed law and the 1964 Newspaper (Amendment Act),and its precursor, the Eastern Nigeria Newspaper Law of 1957; Decree 11 of 1975 (the so-called Ohonbamu Decree promulgated by General Murtala Muhammed, Decree Four, which has continued to define General Muhammadu Buhari’s regime, and of course, section 59 of the Criminal Code.
Easy, gentlemen; easy. As the Bayelsan authorities have explained, journalists who adhere to the ethics and best practices of the profession, and those who stick only to what has been officially certified to be safe for public consumption have nothing to fear.
It is worth remarking that the proposed law is already curbing rumour and propaganda even before its enactment. Nobody seems willing to talk about the nature and content of the rumour and propaganda that led the authorities to move so resolutely against a plague that was about to consume the state.
All I could find out — in the strictest confidence, I should stress – is that there had been some murmurs about a ghost super-permanent secretary drawing a hefty salary and enjoying bountiful perks into the bargain and wielding enormous extra-ministerial power through remote control
Apparently, there had also been some whispers, barely audible, about one small town in the state that has been piled and continues to be piled with far more federal munificence that it can absorb – the latest being N6 billion on a church and a “youth centre” — as if there is no other town in Bayelsa worth developing.
Plus tales from the oil industry, the parallel one that does not figure in the national accounts: the major player, the surrogates, and the beneficiaries, names not withheld.
Who then can in good conscience blame Governor Dickson for moving so resolutely against such negativity?
Inside sources tell me that Aso Rock, an even bigger casualty of negativity, considers Bayelsa’s Anti-rumour Committee an attractive model and will be studying its proceedings carefully.