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Tag: media

  • Media, law and good governance

    Text of a paper presented by Chief Joseph-Kyari Gadzama (SAN) at a Lawyers in the Media (LIM) forum of the  Nigerian Bar Associaition (NBA) event.

    This topic could not have been any more apt than it is now, given the recent national and global happenings as it provides an opportunity for all of us, lawyers, journalists, public officials and other professionals, to dispassionately assess the pivotal role played by the media not only today, but in the development of Nigeria from the Colonial days to the First, Second and Third Republic, naturally with the sporadic Military interventions in-between (one of which lasted for 13 unbroken years), and finally, the advent of our current nascent (one must never fail to use that word) democracy.

    Throughout these aforementioned periods, our ‘gentlemen of the media’ were there. Some of them were detained for donkey years without trial and it looked as though they would never again see the light of day; others disappeared mysteriously and were never heard of again. Still some others were battered and bruised but despite these obstacles, the media has always performed its primary duty; informing Nigerians.

    I would, therefore, be stating the obvious if I stressed the importance of the Media to the world at large. Without information dissemination through the media, whether through radio, television, social or print, the entire society would no doubt be in the dark and members of such a society would be deformed for not being informed. Our world’s age is so mass media-oriented that we learn almost everything we know today through some media of mass communication -radio, television, newspapers, social media, magazines, community media, traditional media, books, films and so on and so forth, among a host of other media of communication1.

    Imagine a country without information; a country where you are pathetically oblivious of all that happens around you and where you travel to the next state not knowing that people have been told to stay off the road in that other state because there has been massive flooding for the past 3 days. It would not be an exaggeration to suggest that one would not survive for very long in an environment without information.The media is certainly a lot more developed than it was 100 years ago. We now have a high number of outlets; the internet has of late, become a very strong media tool and news spreads much faster.

    In the past, you had to wait for the papers, watch the news on television or tune in to a radio station. Now, a status message on a person’s Blackberry Messenger Page, shared in ignorance, spreads faster than wild fire and may send half the nation into a panic induced frenzy within minutes.

    In assessing the development and impact of our media in the last century, I have taken a look at its history as well as the long journey towards press freedom in Nigeria (By press freedom, I refer not only to the press but to all those who have retained their right to publicly express their opinion). Some of the pertinent questions to ask are these; After 100 years, can we say the Nigerian media is better off? Can we say that this is what we fought for? Are we satisfied with what we have? If not, how can we improve it? If we can find answers to these questions, then we will be able to say that we have successfully assessed the journey of the Nigerian media after 100 years.We would naturally refer every now and then, to Law, which is an instrument of social engineering, and which has authorised the operation of the media in Nigeria. Freedom of expression and the press which has been made one of the Fundamental Human Rights in our Constitution2 is a clear manifestation in this regard. The recently passed Freedom of Information Act 2011 is another giant step in this direction.

    It would not be out of place to state that the law hadin the past, been found to serve as a two edged sword for and against the media in the struggle to influence governance positively in Nigeria. The “law”, during the colonial era and more predominantly during the military era was used to checkmate, whittle down, or cripple the smooth running of the media at one point or the other. This, no doubt accounts for the late emergence of privately owned Radio and Television outfits in Nigeria. As we celebrate the Nigerian media at 100 therefore, we would do well to remember some of these incidents which are deeply steeped in our history.

    Once again, I must express my profound gratitude to the Lawyers in Media Forum of the Nigerian Bar Association for affording me this very rare opportunity to assess one of the strongest and most important components of the Nigerian State. It is my belief that our media will only improve after this.

     

    Conceptual definitions

    (a)Mass Media:

    The Mass media is a term that will be used often in this paper. It may be used interchangeably (albeit loosely) with the “Media” and the “Press” but it is far larger than both as it comprises all means of communication to wit; the Press, Entertainment (Magazines ,Comics, Television and Cinema) and other means of communication which reach large heterogeneous audiences and in which there is an impersonal medium between the sender and receiver3.It basically describes a situation in which information is sent to a large audience at roughly the same time. Comics and magazines are sold en masse and News is beamed live and to billions of people globally for example.It is also possible for one to influence people’s attitude and thinking through the mass media. An anti-semitic blog for instance would generally whip up sentiments against Jews on a large scale due to the sheer number of innocent people who read what is posted daily.

     

    (b) Journalist

    The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary defines a journalist as a person whose job is to collect and write news stories for newspapers, magazines, radio or television4. In carrying out his job, he disseminates information on a grand scale.

     

    (c) The Press

    The name encompasses the editors, the news reporters, paparazzi (who are also the photographers), the media hounds and the members of the Fourth Estate of the Realm.  They aptly epitomize the old saying that ‘the pen is mightier than the sword’. Saddled with the task of reporting the daily news, interview people, take pictures, make video recordings and write reports.

    They are also referred to as the Fourth Estate of the Realm.

     

    1. Brief history of the media in Nigeria

    Under this discussion, we shall look at the history of Nigerian media under the colonial era which is the period marked by the British colonialism and the post-independence era comprising both the military and the democratic governments in Nigeria. In 1859, the first newspaper in Nigeria, “IWE IROHIN” was established published by Reverend Henry Townsend who reportedly stated “my object is to get the people to read; and get them to inculcate the habit of reading”55The Media and the Democratic Process in Nigeria (1)

     By Professor Sam Oyovbaire

    culled from

    The Guardian Online – http://www.ngrguardiannews.com

    , .It was written in the Yoruba language of the South Western part of the country.

    IweIrohin was published by missionaries who had at least two objectives namely; to influence the traditional government they found in Egbaland whose mode of operation did not conform to their idea of “good” governance; and to further educate their Nigerian converts who had been taught to read and write as a means of promoting the assimilation of religious information6.

    Other newspapers followed IweIrohin not only in Yoruba, but also in English Language; and their locations were mainly in Abeokuta and Ibadan areas.

    The newspapers of the period, however were short lived as most of them lasted between six months and two years only.

    The important point however, is that between the 1850s and the late 1920s, the Christian press acquired some status of not only discharging the responsibilities of proselytising religion but also questioning the emergent colonialism and its multiple oppressive practices in Nigeria.

  • Jobs of the day

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    Interested applicant should send their applications by mail to magodospecialist@yahoo.co.uk, with their curriculum vitae (CV) attached.

     

     

    Media Vacancy

    Have you been looking for a job at a newspaper company? Grab your chance to join a newspaper publishing company with headquarters in Ibadan, Oyo state by applying for any of the following vacancy:

     

    1. Editor
    2. Reporter
    3. Page layout designers and web publishers
    4. Marketing and adverts
    5. Accountant

    QUALIFICATIONS

    Minimum of relevant HND/BSC degree, or its equivalent as well as relevant professional qualification.

    REQUIREMENT

    Applicant for any of the vacancies should normally not be older than 35 years and must:

    1. Posses verifiable, relevant and adequate experience
    2. Posses outstanding and demonstrable IT skills.
    3. Posses 0utstanding and demonstrable writing,reporting and interviewing skills
    4. Be creative, innovative, enterprising, problem solving,flexible and able to combine multiple roles.

    HOW TO APPLY

    Applicant should send their CV (scanned copies of certificate and a cover letter, indicating the position applied for and containing a clear justification of the applicant suitability to debbgoseanhd@gmail.com, not later than December 12, 2014.

     

  • Media and Osun election tribunal

    A section of the media has not served the cause of truth and has rather shown unconscionable partisanship on the Osun State governorship election and its aftermath.

    While it is generally agreed that media houses have their biases, their ultimate responsibility is to serve the cause of truth and promote democratic development in the land, irrespective of their bias.

    It is disheartening however that some media organisations either out of laziness or mischief or both are fond of taking news report written by Osun PDP media minders and slamming it on their front pages without crosschecking its veracity. This unprofessional conduct has caused confusion and portrayed the media concerned as liars and unreliable entities.

    Not long ago, an appellate court in Ilorin, Kwara State made a ruling on jurisdiction in a long standing suit on the 2011 elections in Osun. This means the trial of the suit proper is set to begin. However, in a bizarre twist, PDP rewrote the judgement and claimed that all elected legislators, state and federal, have been sacked and should vacate their seats. Almost all newspapers reported it as such. A few tried to ‘balance’ it with the reaction of Osun APC.

    One would have thought that the newspapers have their reporters in court and would rather rely on their own report. When their reporters are not in court, they should have obtained the certified true copy of the judgement and refer it to their legal departments for interpretation and meaning, in case the editors cannot understand court judgements.

    Now, the truth eventually came out that it was a preliminary ruling and to further put the media in shame, PDP has now withdrawn the original suit. How low can the media sink in the partisan quagmire?

    Again, Osun PDP spun an infernal lie that 100,000 invalid votes had been discovered among Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s lot in the ballot and this would mean that Senator Iyiola Omisore would be sworn in on November 27. The report also claimed that Aregbesola for this reason has asked for a rerun election. This evil report found its way into the website of AIT and the pages of Nigerian Tribune. Several internet rodents latched it and feasted on it with frenzy. The election petition tribunal was so incensed that it warned of dire consequences if such false reports were to appear in the media again.

    AIT pulled down the report and apologised on the same website. Nigerian Tribune, in its usual characteristics, is yet to make any amends. It is really instructive what has now become of the legacy of Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

    The questions we should be asking ourselves are: one, how much could PDP have paid that is worth the integrity of a newspaper? Secondly, why would media organisations deliberately inflict such pain on its audience that look up to it for the promotion of truth and justice?

    It is my sincere hope that media organisations will protect their name and integrity from being sullied as a result of Osun PDP’s fruitless desperation.

     

    • Mike Ogundele, 

    Osogbo, Osun State

  • Social media boosting online retail marketing

    Social media boosting online retail marketing

    Social media has become a veritable platform for firms to showcase their goods and services. It has also become channel for consumers to make informed choices in their relationships with market, reports TONIA ‘DIYAN

    In this modern age of information communications technology (ICT), business is supposed to be transacted at the speed of lightning. The information revolution is being accentuated by the social media. Curiously, everybody particularly in the retail industry has caught the bug from shoppers, manufactures, corporate bodies, entrepreneurs, name it.

    Today, retailers are becoming more aware of what is called the “social mobile consumers,” or in other words, the increasing number of people spending time on their smartphones browsing social media, helping an array of consumers from grocery to clothing to electronics – reach products on their devices.

    A keen examination of the trend in marketing initiatives will easily reveal that social media is developing as an important avenue for companies to build products and services. The rise of social media rests on three fundamental human values which are: the self-expression it engenders through product education, its ability to share information with friends and the attention it generates through the spoken word. More importantly, social media enables companies connect with customers in a way never possible.

    The impact social media has on brand is huge and Ebay’s estimates that in the next two years, the value of social media for retail will be more than double £1.5billion to reach around £3.3billion.

    Social media, in the last one decade has evolved into one of Nigeria’s strongest platforms through which infopreneurs showcase products and services and provide an avenue for consumers to make choices.

    Instant messaging platforms such as yahoo messenger and many others are gradually being replaced by social media platforms such as Palmchat, and the likes that are more engaging, more customer friendly, more beneficial to the users, more personal and definitely more interesting. Palmchat owned by Afmobil Group has since recognised the endless possibilities of the social media in terms of its sphere of influence among others.

    The current reach of Palmchat across the country is estimated to be an average of five million users in Nigeria alone and over 39 million users worldwide.

    With over 80,000 new users signing up daily from different mobile devices, Palmchat is fast becoming the choice social mobile platform for users around the world.

    Speaking with The Nation Shopping on the potentials of the app for startup retail businesses, Blessing Joe, who has responsibility for the company’s Brand Management said there is immense potential for retail businesses with Palmchat, particularly for startup businesses.

    Joe said: “As a startup, the social media is a veritable tool for networking generally, especially with little or no cost.

    ”You can stay really social on Palmchat even with as little as 30MB data using the Palmchat voice messaging function. Just hold down the ‘Voice’ button, record your message following the prompt and send your voice recording to your friend or group of friends using the broadcast function.

    “You can also share your cool pictures, music and recordings with your friends, getting in touch with them in private messaging. Yep, clever incentives are good motivators and in this age of social media frenzy; with loads of social platforms literally sprouting out from nowhere, cool incentives play a key role in building that reason-why-I-love-this-platform kind of loyalty.

    ”Palmchat is an amazing innovative mobile social app that is compactable with all mobile operating system and downloadable from all mobile app stores:  Java, Windows store, Apple store, Google play, Blackberry world-among others. It has interactive and fun features: Shake-Shake and Look around with other functional capabilities like the file share, instant messaging and voice recording.

    “Palmchat is a unique instant messenger which is targeted at the Nigerian youths to bring everything they need to their doorsteps, at their convenience. With its unique interface, trendy and hilarious smileys and emoticons, engaging chatrooms, Palmchat is indeed the “happening instant messaging,” she said.

    “One of the most exciting and unique things about Palmchat is the “shake shake” feature. Now all you have to do to find friends around is shake your phone to select who thrills your fancy and get chatting. You might just strike a business deal or find a business proposal for your startup as an entrepreneur.”

    She further said the company has a working partnership and brand affiliation with Tecno Nigeria and Tecno International, which enables perfect user interface for potential customers with smart phones.

    “With its wide reach, startups are assured of improved social networking at a pocket-friendly cost unlike other product offerings out there,” she said.

    Joe who said her company has been giving incentives to drive traffic towards the brand, said: “This time, Palmchat is offering a car. It works like a referral thing; after downloading Palmchat, the applicant is expected to visit the palmchat.hotreferralinc.com site and register with his/her unique Palmchat I.D. After which a referral link to invite friends to download Palmchat will be obtained, and with this link unique to a person’s ID alone, such person will earn reward points for every person referred. And even earn extra points, maybe even double points if it’s a girl referred. The person with the highest points at the end date automatically wins the car!”

    Palmchat as a social networking app is also a matchmaker of some sorts with happy-ever-after stories being told by users who met online using the Look-Around feature to connect with one another on their first date. As a business networking apps, it connects people with common business interests who along the line, benefit from each other in diverse ways.

    According to experts, a unique feature of Palmchat is the look-around feature that gives the users the power to avoid all the queer chatties and connect with that special one just over their shoulders. “Citing the story of Mrs. BimpeAjayi, a Human Resource Manager with a multinational company in Lagos, who met her hubby, Frederick on Palmchat, Joe recalled the couple’s love story thus: “It was a very pleasant night; the first night of our honeymoon. Frederick is such a loveable person; he always has something amusing to say, quite an accommodating gentle man and slow to anger. Some people find it hard to believe me when I tell them that I met this amazing man on Palmchat.”

    “I didn’t just bump into him on Palmchat-no. I wanted him, I dreamt of that special one but I just didn’t know how, where and when I will meet him until a friend introduced me to Palmchat,” Joe recounted the lovey-dovey tale of the Ajayis.

    Mr. Mounir Boukali, who manages a team of public relations specialists, managers and several high level agencies who handle TRANSSION Holdings’ brands, believes that social apps such as Palmchats have limitless possibilities when it comes to user-engagements.

    He said:  ”Now you wish social platforms don’t consume your data all-too-quickly.  You are probably not on Palmchat-yep, you’re not a Palmchatter. On the Palmchat platform you will chat more for less…I mean 30MB data on your mobile device is just good enough.

    “Nigerian ladies can join the world of hi-tech beauties on Palmchat; check out whose story is the most inspiring and whose selfie is making the buzz as Nigeria’s premiere beauty contest gets social as well as join the growing community of Palmchatters; sign up on Nigeria’s most trending mobile social platform with over 30000 daily sign ups. Be a Palmchatter.”

    Rating Palmchat high, experts have said thousands of visitors to the Palmchat site engage in lively discussions on their daily experience with products and businesses. For retailers, this Platform serves as a means of reaching out to consumers.

    Mrs. Folashade Randle of The Home Store in Surulere, Lagos said Palmchat provides consumers with access to content to be able to choose from. From Romance to business, from shopping to discount offers and the list goes on.

    Mrs. Randle said Palmchat makes consumer awareness easier and helps with decisions consumers make on a daily basis concerning products and their personal lives.

    She said: “Communication is key and Palmchat helps bridge the gap between the two opposite sex and between products and consumers.”

    Richard Ugoahor, a follower of the Palmchat page, had this to say about the platform: He said: “I have tasted all the apps on Palmchat. The experiences are incomparable with others in the same category.”

  • The beauty of social media

    This should be about my third article on social media in the last six weeks. No doubt, the social media – and the Internet – have radically altered the way we do things. In the past, I’ve written and drawn attention to some vices that the phenomenon has thrown up which, unfortunately, has led to crimes such as murder and numerous cases of fraud. Whenever I sit with our students, one of my main concerns has always been what they do with social media platforms and how it impacts their education and lifestyles.

    I had an opportunity to engage some of them last week and our discussion deviated from the usual into Nigeria’s certification of being Ebola free by the World Health Organization (WHO). One of them rightly pointed out that social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook played a prominent role in creating the awareness that led to the containment of the dreaded disease that kills more than 70 per cent of its victims. Most Nigerians – this columnist inclusive – were worried that the disease might assume epidemic proportion because of the “Nigerian way” of handling things.

    Because of the clinical way it was handled, the students were convinced that all is not lost with the country as they believe they may still have a stake in the future. But one of them argued that curtailing Ebola was successful because “it has to do with death.” This drew a thunderous laughter from all. The lesson for me, however, is that Nigerians can do almost anything if they put their mind to it and have the right set of people handling issues. I ask myself, would we have had this level of success if a politician or non-professional were handling the Health ministry? That’s food for thought.

    I was glad a few days after our discussion when the Minister of Communications Technology, Dr. Omobola Johnson corroborated our views by stating that the use of a combination of an Android app, Facebook and Twitter were instrumental in Nigeria’s fight to contain Ebola. The minister said this while delivering a policy statement during the International Telecommunications Union 2014 Plenipotentiary Conference in Busan, Republic of Korea.

    She revealed that the phone app helped in reducing reporting times of infections by 75 per cent. She said that test results were scanned to tablets and uploaded to emergency databases and field teams got text message alerts on their phones informing them of the results. Johnson reiterated that the combination of the Internet and mobile cellular phones had opened up tremendous opportunities for countries like Nigeria.

    According to her, a number of factors drive the sharp increase in mobile use, “particularly, the additional ways in which mobile phones are being used in Nigeria. Beyond conducting voice conversations, mobile phones are often the preferred channel for receiving data and for conducting transactions in Nigeria, therefore making phones an indispensable tool used as cameras, wallets, shops, music players, movie screens, and information or service centres of Nigerians.”

    At the last Ngozi Agbo memorial lecture held in the University of Lagos, the online editor of this newspaper, Mr. Lekan Otufodurin took out time to educate the students on how social media has impacted positively on almost all endeavours of life. Using Journalism as plank, he took them down memory lane on how reporters in the past send in their stories.

    Since there are few typewriters in the newsroom then, a reporter will write his stories on sheets of paper and pass it on to a typesetter to type. After that, the stories would be proof read and returned back to the typesetter for adjustments. When this is done, it is then taken to the editor who further edits the report and the process continues until the final copy is approved. For those of us in the writing business, when we look back we thank the innovators of the computer and the internet because they’ve made life so easy. Today a reporter can file his stories from anywhere in the world at the click of a button!

    As the positive change continues, no one should be in doubt that the mobile Internet revolution spreading across the globe has come to stay. The challenge would be to create a viable environment for the proliferation of lower-priced devices, increased investment in network infrastructure, and increase availability of spectrum for mobile broadband in the knowledge that these will further drive growth in the Information and Communication Technology sector.

    The revolution has indeed impacted positively on the education sector as there are loads of academic resource materials online and one can now earn a credible degree online as well. To further add to its credibility, there are now software’s that guide against plagiarism so that researchers can be original and innovative in their research. Many Nigerians are now exploring this online option of improving on their education, business and jobs.

    In just over a decade, we have seen mobile subscription increase from 87 million active SIM cards to over 131 million and mobile Internet subscription stood at 67 million as of June 2014 according to the National Communications Commission (NCC). This means that close to half of the country’s population are hooked to the internet either through their phones or tablets.

    Beyond just using phones and accessing data, the sector has been impacting positively on the economy. Mrs. Johnson pointed out in the address I mentioned earlier that: “The ICT sector’s contribution to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product is growing and was about 10.44 per cent in 2013. The sector also indirectly affects GDP through its influence on other key sectors. For example, in the 2013, ICTs were responsible for 12 per cent of the value added by the finance and insurance sector to GDP. In terms of social growth, ICTs are helping government to meet health objectives, and are amplifying benefits in the education and agriculture sectors.”

    Talking about agriculture, I was made to also understand that farmers are now contacted on phone by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development whenever new suppliers of fertilizer arrives through an initiative introduced by the minister Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, Known as the Electronic Wallet System which allows smallholder farmers to receive electronic vouchers for subsidized seeds and fertilizers directly on their mobile phones and enable them to pay for farm inputs from private sector agricultural input dealers.

    The system – I was also made to understand – has reached over 6 million farmers and enhanced food security for 30 million persons in rural farm households. Women farmers, previously marginalized under the old fertilizer distribution system, now have better yielding fields with subsidized farm inputs received on their mobile phones.

    With the success of the electronic wallet system, Nigeria has become the first country in Africa to reach farmers with subsidized farm inputs through their mobile phones. The impact is already being noticed beyond Nigeria with several African countries, Brazil, India and China now expressing interest in adopting it.

    There may still be some who have fears that technology – and by inference – social media may be going “too far” by replacing it with teachers. To answer that, let me take a portion of Bill Gates book “The Road Ahead.”

    Gates wrote: “Some fear that technology will dehumanize formal education. But anyone who has seen kids working together around a computer, the way my friends and I did in 1968, or watched exchanges between students in classrooms separated by oceans, know that technology can humanize the educational environment.”

    No doubt, the information superhighway has given us access to seemingly unlimited information, anytime and anyplace. I often encourage our students – both on and off these pages – to make best use of the information at their disposal. Previous generations never had this opportunity. But the sad part for me in all this is that people are reading less in an era of unsurpassed information generation.

  • The social media again

    I arrived almost two hours early for a public lecture at the University of Lagos two weeks ago and decided to use the extra time to visit my former lecturers. I was walking briskly to the Faculty of Arts complex when an elderly lady standing beside a young lady politely beckoned on me to come. After exchanging pleasantries I asked why she wanted my attention.

    “Take a good look at this young lady and tell me what you see,” she said. Confused, I looked at the lady, who is probably between 18 and 19 years old and couldn’t immediately picture anything since I was seeing both of them for the very first time. When she saw my befuddled look she said: “Just look at what she wore, I know her parents and I know she can never dress like this at home. I have been talking to her for a while and she did not see anything wrong in dressing so provocatively. This is why I wanted you to be a witness that I voiced out my concerns.”

    Not knowing what else to add, I appealed to the young lady to listen to the counsel of the elderly lady. One thing I deduced before leaving was the young lady’s disposition, she wasn’t rude or defensive. She said what she wore was what “my mentors wear on social media and I don’t see anything wrong with it.” Beyond this brief encounter, the social media may be controlling our lives more than we think.

    The social media, a platform for social interaction among people in which they create, share or exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks has radically altered the way we live and interact. Anchored on mobile and web-based technologies to create highly interactive platforms through which individuals and communities share, co-create, discuss, and modify user-generated content, it is considered revolutionary. Like everything about life, it has both positives and negatives. This is where the issues lie because most people do not know how to draw the line.

    On my way from work recently, I stopped at a provision store to pick up some items. As I walked out of the store something caught my attention, I saw a young man of about 22 watching raw pornography on his mobile phone. What however got me worried was a young boy of about 9 years watching with him, I stopped in my track and felt I have a duty to perform here, I told the child to walk away while I sat down with the young man to see why he would be so unconcerned showing such lewd stuff to a child.

    It turned out that he’s an undergraduate of one of the universities in Lagos. He said he only watches it when he is “bored” and “it does not affect my being in any way.” Probing further, I asked “what about the child?” “Well, I did not invite him to watch” was his lame answer. The positive side is that when we met weeks later he proudly told me he does not watch “such stuff anymore because they are not good for my spiritual life.”

    Social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace allow us to find and connect with just about anyone, from a coworker to a long lost neighbour. Browsing these sites can make you feel connected to a larger community, but such easy, casual connection in an electronic environment can also have its downside. They can make it more difficult for us to distinguish between the meaningful relationships we foster in the real world, and the numerous casual relationships formed through them. By focusing so much of our time and psychic energy on these less meaningful relationships, our most important connections may weaken.

    Some of us may have heard about cyber-bullying. Kids especially are vulnerable to the practice of cyber-bullying in which the perpetrators, anonymously or even posing as people their victims trust, terrorise individuals in front of their peers. Though not yet popular in Nigeria, the devastation of these online attacks can leave deep mental scars on kids as some have even been driven to suicide.

    The veil of anonymity afforded online can bring out dark impulses that might otherwise be suppressed in real life. In the west – where we copy nearly everything – cyber-bullying has spread widely among youth, with 42% of American youths reporting that they have been victims, according to a recent CBS News report.

    While many businesses use social networking sites to find and communicate with clients and customers, the sites can also prove a great distraction to employees who may show more interest in what their friends are posting than in their work tasks. Wired.com posted two studies which demonstrated damage to productivity caused by social networking: Nucleus Research reported that Facebook shaves 1.5% off office productivity while Morse claimed that British companies lost 2.2 billion a year to the social phenomenon. It is based on this that new technology products have become available that allows social networks to be blocked, but their effectiveness is not total.

    It is now obvious now that most social networking sites encourage people to be more public about their personal lives. Because intimate details of our lives can be posted so easily, users are prone to bypass the filters they might normally employ when talking about their private lives. What’s more, the things they post remain available indefinitely.

    While at one moment a photo of friends doing “funny stuffs” at a party may seem harmless, the image may appear less attractive in the context of an employer doing a background check. While most sites allow their users to control who sees the things they’ve posted, such limitations are often forgotten, can be difficult to control or don’t work as well as advertised just like the nude iCloud pictures of some celebrities that were released to the public after their accounts were hacked.

    While on the surface it appears social networking brings people together across the Internet, in a larger sense it may create social isolation. As people spend increasing amounts of time on social networks, they experience less face-to-face interaction.

    Scientists have evaluated social isolation in many studies, and have determined that it can lead to a host of mental, psychological, emotional and physical problems including depression, anxiety and many others. In fact, a University of Illinois, Chicago School of Medicine animal study showed social isolation impaired brain hormones, which is the likely reason socially isolated people experience tremendous levels of stress, aggression, anxiety and other mental issues.

    While the above studies show actual correlations between social networking and negative consequences, others argue that many other negative consequences may exist that have not yet been studied.

    What about it encouraging poor grammar, usage and spellings? Most youths these days find it difficult to write five straight sentences without abbreviation. Beyond that, it also allows the spread of misinformation that may be perceived as fact even in light of evidence to the contrary thereby creating a culture in which a single mistake, such as a careless picture or poorly thought-out comment, can cause irreparable harm to an individual’s reputation.

    Even though no disease or disorder has yet been linked to social networking addiction, still a number of behaviours associated with excessive use of social media have lately become the subject of much discussion and research. A social networking addict could be considered as someone who uses social media excessively to a point where it interferes with other daily activities.

    A research team headed by Wilhelm Hoffmann of Chicago University in 2012 concluded that twitter is harder to resist than cigarettes and alcohol. The team used Blackberry’s to gauge the willpower of 205 people aged between 18 and 85. The results showed that with each day the ‘self-control’ dropped lower and lower and concluded that between social media, cigarettes and alcohol, the ‘self-control-failure’ rate was highest with social media. Other researchers have also linked anxiety, sleep deprivation, depression and some psychological disorders to people who spend too much time online.

  • Stopping social media abuse

    The phenomenal growth in digital technology and the rise of social media platforms, over the past few years, have revolutionised the way in which people communicate and share information. The emergence of new communication technology has impacted on the society positively and negatively. These technologies have affected the socio-cultural, political and economic structures of our contemporary society.

    Advancement in technology has eased and expanded the frontiers of information reception and dissemination among people. The Information and Communication Technology (ICT), particularly the internet, have impacted greatly on the society, increasing access to information and creating fresh challenges for the society.

    Social media are seen generally to include all the online creations – social networks, search engines, affiliate programmes, forums, blogs and message boards that can be used by the general public for interactions across distance, to mention a few. They are powerful communication tools that have significant impacts on organisational, professional and individual reputations.

    Also, social media includes a variety of web-based tools and services that are designed to promote community development through collaboration and information sharing. These tools provide opportunities for individual expressions, as well as interactions with other users. These technologies have brought together many diverse communities and societies around the world. In fact, the world is fast becoming a “global village” as a result of the new information and communication technology. Today, we are living in a very fast developing and globalising world.

    No doubt, scientific innovations and advancement in technology have eased communication processes. It has also made tasks less tedious in many professions like business, banking, entertainment, and so on.  Technology has transformed our lives in many positive ways. But the negative impacts of these innovations in our social and educational pursuits overweigh its positives. This is in line with the fact that there is hardly anything invented by man, no matter its level of perfection that is without some flaws.

    As a matter of fact, education is a very essential aspect of our lives. Education to a society is more important than anything. Advancement in technology has eased the processes of academic research. Findings also reveal that, today, students show very much interest in using social networks, which in turn affects education severely. As noted earlier, the negatives of social media on students and education, in general, supersedes the positives.

    The social media has grabbed the attention of students and diverted them toward non-educational, unethical and inappropriate actions, such as examination malpractices. It has made students so lazy that they hardly resort to extensive study before sitting for any examination. Instead of studying very hard to write and pass examinations, students now cultivate the habit of cheating through browsing on their mobile phones while in examination halls. Reading culture among students is on the verge of extinction.

    Concentration in the classroom during lecture periods is gradually becoming a thing of the past among students. While classes are being held, some students resort to chatting on social networks. This unwholesome practice has created one problem or the other in students’ educational pursuits and performances. That informs why communication skills have declined among students.

    The emergence of ICT has eased the processes of research thereby providing unlimited access to information on virtually all spheres of human endeavours. Looking at the quantity of information available on the internet, one can agree with the fact that most of the information accessed on social media is not accurate and factual. This is because anybody who has access to the internet can write and share information of all sorts, regardless of their quality.

    It is, therefore, in tune to state that the dependence of students on social media for the sourcing of materials for academic research has degraded the value of most academic works undertaken by students. Today, students are fond of plagiarism. They regard creativity as a waste of efforts.

    There are possible ways out of these challenges. Stakeholders in the education sector should encourage creativity among students. Creativity should be made competitive among students through scholarship and other educational grants to those who are creative, as this will motivate and boost the performances of others to be creative.

    The provision of standard research and practical facilities in schools can also help the situation. Where students lack adequate research facilities like books and other relevant and referencing materials in libraries, they tend to resort to the easy “copy and paste” method from the social media. Today, you will find out that students write and present final year project works without being able to defend what they claim to have written.

    Moreover, there should also be regulation in the education sector with regards to the use of social networks among students. Although, this task can be very tedious to achieve, but the provision of regulatory frameworks in this regard will reduce the challenges posed by social media on students’ performances. There should be strict rules prohibiting students’ use of mobile phones in classrooms.

     

    Ahmad, 300-Level Mass Comm., NSUK

  • Media should be wary of Omisore

    Media should be wary of Omisore

    SIR: While it is generally agreed that no medium exists without its own bias, the greater truth is that the media is a public trust and its hallmark is integrity established by truth. When a medium publishes falsehood, either deliberately or inadvertently, it undermines the basis of its credibility.

    This is the trap that the defeated candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Iyiola Omisore, set for the media before, during and after the August 9, governorship election in Osun State.

    Omisore asked for the removal of the State Resident Electoral Commission, Ambassador Rufus Akeju, alleging that Akeju is a card-carrying member of the then Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) which later metamorphosed into the All Progressives Congress (APC).  He did not offer any evidence. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Akeju’s employer, asked him to substantiate his claim, since he who asserts must prove. Almost four years down the line, he is yet to come up with anything. The media, regrettably, has been amplifying this false allegation for him.

    Again, he has been fulminating that INEC conducted the 2011 general election against a subsisting court order. He trumpeted this lie with a demonic frenzy, regrettably with the help of the media.

    The truth however is that the PDP went to court asking for an interlocutory injunction preventing Akeju from conducting the 2011 election. INEC agreed and was preparing to replace Akeju when PDP went back to the same court and asked for a ‘stay of execution’.

    The judge, Babs Kuewumi, was scandalised. He told them that their demand defied logic since it’s the loser that asks for an injunction, not the winner, who should be savouring the fruits of his victory. He then granted the stay of execution of the injunction he had earlier granted.

    It is inconceivable that Omisore will now turn round to accuse INEC of flouting court order. The media reported this falsehood with reckless abandon, without cross-checking the facts.

    Then again, the media on September 2, were awash with an interesting news item – a report that INEC had suspended two Electoral Officers (EO) for Obokun and Osogbo Local Governments. The report gleefully and recklessly claimed they were suspended for helping APC to rig the August 9, governorship election in Osun State.

    The next day INEC came out to rebut the story. INEC was categorical in denying that the two EOs were suspended for helping APC rig the election. Indeed, the EO for Obokun was suspended for diverting election materials and arrested by the police while doing so. What INEC did not mention was that the news actually broke on the eve of the election, how vigilant youths in Otan-Ile had apprehended the EO while taking the materials to the residence of a PDP chief in Ilase, and how he was released by police to a PDP national officer from the state.

    The second EO for Osogbo was actually suspended following the petition written against him for attempting to manipulate the election against APC. He hid the accreditation tags of APC party agents and did not release them until after accreditation had taken place. He also hid form EC8C in a waste bin and caused the delay in compiling the result for Osogbo until about 2.00 am the next day.

    How then could the two EOs have rigged for APC? Interestingly, the same media had reported these events when they occurred. All they needed to do was crosscheck with their own record.

    The irony is that each time the public read a report in the media that is patently false, instead of Omisore, it is the media that gets discredited. Believability is the media’s daily bread and once it is lost, nothing is left.

    Omisore is a mere bird of passage, he should not be allowed to destroy the media that have been built over time with the sweat and blood of our patriots and heroes of the profession.

     

    • Tunji Ayandele,

     Osogbo, Osun State

     

  • Invasion 1897: Lancelot Imasuen delights at media unveiling, screening

    Invasion 1897: Lancelot Imasuen delights at media unveiling, screening

    Like a woman who was experiencing the proverbial seventh heaven after being safely delivered of her baby, ace filmmaker and director, Lancelot Imasuen, was in palpable joy last Thursday at the media unveiling and first screening of his much-anticipated epic movie, Invasion 1897, at the cinema room of Silverbird Galleria, Victoria Island, Lagos.

    At the well-attended event anchored by ex-Big Brother Africa winner, model and TV presenter, Uti Nwachukwu, there was both spoken and unspoken agreement among the audience comprising media professionals and Nollywood stars that the historical movie is the end result of a great artistic work which had put the cast and crew through their paces while the production lasted.

    Although Imasuen had been on a number of international TV stations to promote the breath-taking feature movie, the event, no doubt, literally marked a milestone in the life of the movie, as some promotional materials like post cards, posters as well as its trailer were unveiled, amidst enthusiastic responses by the audience.

    Imasuen, who profusely expressed his gratitude to the sponsors of the movie, first took the audience on a voyage around the making of the film. He likened it to a food that had taken some efforts to cook. But confident that it would leave a good after-taste, he didn’t have any reservation inviting the critical media professionals and colleagues to first gorge themselves on it.  “The food is ready and the snippet of it is what we have invited you to come and see,” he said with glee.

    Giving some background details about the movie, he further said: “The research and scripting took about 10 months to one year and the production took one year and 10 months. We shot in Benin from April 9, 2012 to May 10, 2012 for the bits in Nigeria. Then, we had a break. Later, we started the post-production…and the scenes to be shot in London, which took about one year and eight months before we were able to actualise that. Then, we started the post-production from Benin to Lagos and from Lagos to the United Kingdom and then Hollywood, U.S., where the actual film was finalised.”

    Indeed, it was not an empty boast, as the over 10-minute preview of the movie further accentuated his artistic ingenuity as well as the thematic preoccupation of the film.  From the clips, Invasion 1897 is gripping. It evokes, in an engaging way, the evil visited on the Benin Kingdom, while celebrating the heroic struggles of the lead character played by Mike Omoriegbe. The visual effects, which were done by Nigerians, bear testimony to what the future holds for Nigerian, nay African films. The court room scene in London is spellbinding. The costumes, props et al are awesome. Above all, the film has a great appeal.

    Soon after the preview, Imasuen, who disclosed that four of the characters died within four years of the movie production, further said: “Change has never been easy anywhere in the world.  For years, I have been telling people that they are making a mistake judging us from what they have seen of Nollywood. The capacity is here and that is the point I wanted to prove with this film to the glory of God. The Association of Movie Producers (AMP), for the first time, gave an endorsement to a film; the Directors Guild of Nigeria ( DGN),  Centre for Black and Africa Arts and Civilization( CBAAC), Society for Theatre Artistes, Association of International Theatre Critics, among others, have all sent their endorsements for this film.  In fact, the Abuja International Film Festival (AIFF) has fully taken over the film, saying the President must see it since this is the first government that is coming out boldly to support Nollywood.  For the outlook, because of the international acceptance, I went to Film Look Studios in Hollywood. But we have bought the machine. Nollywood, this is your product.”

    The national president of the Association of Movie Producers, Zik Zulu Okafor, didn’t agree less with Imasuen. According to him, it is time Nigerian filmmakers began to write a new chapter in the history of Nollywood. “We have been able to tell the African story and showcase the African costumes, norms, values and the totality of our ways of life; but now, we are moving to the next level to tell the world that we can compete internationally and meet international benchmarks. But beyond the artistic excellence, it is important for the media to begin to appreciate the scholarship that this film challenges us to see. This is not a Nigerian film; it is an African film. We need to understand that if the Benin massacre didn’t happen, the African story would be different.  This movie doesn’t only challenge us to raise the bar professionally, but it is asking us to do some research about the African story and the massacre of the Benin Kingdom. We have celebrated the Wole Soyinkas and I bow to them for their achievements, but it is time to look into the artistic minds of some younger people like Imasuen. We need to know what is driving him, the workings of his mind and his psyche.

    Also, Uzoma Eshikire, who stood in for Senator Daisy Danjuma, the executive producer of the movie, described it as an excellent work, adding that “It is interesting that it is coming out of Nigeria by one of our own; we didn’t leave it for the oyinbos to come and get us together to do this.”

    Another Nollywood great and newly appointed Director-General of the Abuja International Film Festival, Fred Amata, who lauded Imasuen’s artistic gift, said: “Even before we saw the film, we had decided that we needed to do something different at this year’s Abuja International Film Festival. We needed to seek some of the things we can proudly say are coming out of Nigeria. We agreed that we have a guy who can deliver what we need as our premiere movie for the Festival for this year and we thought of Lancelot’s Invasion 1897.”

    Quoting the lead actor’s line during a court trial in London, he said the capacity obtainable in Nigeria to dominate the world in films had been showcased in Invasion 1897. “This is the capacity we want to show the President at the festival.  When the lead actor asks the question: ‘So, it (the artifacts) has been there (London) for 100 years, but does it belong to you? It belongs to me!’ So, filmmaking belongs to us, Africans,” he said.

    The movie is based on the invasion of the great Benin Kingdom by the British in 1897, who then carted off Benin arts and artifacts which, till date, still adorn some museums around the world. It stars both  Nigerian and British actors like Segun Arinze, Charles Inojie, Nosa Ehimwen, Paul Obazele, Leo Mezie, Mike Omoriegbe( Oba Ovonrawmen), Idiata Otiagbe, the late Justus Esiri( in a cameo)  Rudolph Walker, Charles “Chucky” Venn, Annika Álofti, Garett Mort, Hannah Raehse-Felstead, Tim Robinson, Rob Spackman, Patrick Thompson and Keith Davinson.

  • Media agency makes debut

    Dentsu Aegis Network, a global media buying and planning agency, has entered the market through a joint venture agreement with a full-service media agency, Media Fuse Ltd.

    In a statement from its global office, the agency said its entry is in line with Dentsu Aegis Network’s expansion and investment into the African market and it expects Media Fuse to operate in Nigeria under a trademark, Media Fuse Dentsu Aegis Network.

    With this, Media Fuse will be joining the strong network of Dentsu Aegis Network brands in Sub-Saharan Africa: Carat, iProspect, Isobar, Posterscope and Vizeum.

    Media Fuse is led by immediate past Managing Director of Media Perspective, Emeka Okeke, as its Chief Executive Officer.

    Media Fuse Dentsu Aegis Network, having worked in some West African countries, including, Ghana, Cameroon, Senegal, Cote D’Ivoire, Sierra-Leone, Gambia and Liberia.

    “With its buoyant economy and the largest population and consumer market in Africa, Nigeria offers great growth potential and business opportunities for Dentsu Aegis and our clients. This investment further expands our reach into the Nigerian market and strengthens our business and capability in the region,” the CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network Americas and EMEA, Nigel Morris, said.

    “With this development, Nigeria and indeed, the West Africa sub-region are set for fresh impetus in brand building and communication experience with global access to tested tools, capacity building processes and the fiscal discipline that the Dentsu Aegis Network is known for on the global stage,” said  Okeke.