To many journalists, theirs is one of the best, if not the best profession in the world as it confers on them some privileges. However, the profession is not without its hazards especially now that thugs and security operatives hound and wound journalists in the course of carrying out their assignments. Taiwo Olanrewaju and Doyin Adeoye report.IF one decides to follow the brutality on journalists, one would lose count at some point, as journalists still remain at the receiving end of government officials and the general public's expression of their frustrations.Attack on journalists dates back to the military era, when any pressman who dared the powers that be was arrested and dealt with. Early victims of these brutalities included the Nigerian Observer newspaper reporter, late Minere Amakiri, whose head was shaved with a broken bottle for criticising the then Rivers State military governor, Commodore Alfred Diete-Spiff.Minere Amakiri, in 1973, had contributed a piece about an impending strike by teachers in the state. Because the news item was published ' through no fault of Amakiri's - on the 31st birthday of the Rivers State Governor, Amakiri was accused of embarrassing him. And also for his refusal to disclose his source of information concerning the military governor's itinerary when his state was on fire, Commodore Diete-Spiff ordered his ADC to publicly shave Amakiri's head bald and beat him with 24 lashes of a cane in the presence of his guests.He was later put in the guardroom, where he was subjected to further brutalisation so that he could divulge the source of his information but he stood his ground choosing to take the pain rather than implicate a source.His professional colleagues also stood by him as all newspapers ran a front page earpiece, 'What Did Amakiri do'' for months. Finally, justice came through a court ruling giving Amakiri and, by extension, the Nigerian press victory over military tyranny and impunity.The story of the late Newswatch founding Editor-in-Chief, Dele Giwa, is well known.Giwa was the first Nigerian journalist to be killed by a letter bomb at his Ikeja GRA, Lagos home on 19 October, 1986. The assassination occurred two days after he had been interviewed by State Security Service officials.Many journalists' lives have been cut short in the line of duty. Bayo Ohu, the Guardian's Assistant News Editor and ace political reporter, was shot dead in his apartment in Egbeda, a Lagos suburb. Ohu was just getting set to attend church service after seeing off his wife, Ochuko, and sister-in-law, to the early morning service when the gunmen came knocking on his door at about 6.52 a.m.According to eye-witnesses, the five or six men came in a white Toyota Camry saloon car, wearing white flowing gowns with matching skull caps. They made no attempt to enter any other apartment in the four-flat house. Ohu heard a knock on his door and as he opened the front door to ask who was knocking, the gunmen hit him with a volley of bullets. He staggered back into the house screaming for help, but his assailants followed him inside and rained more bullets into him. Curiously, the assailants made away with only his laptop and mobile phone handset.Bagauda Kaltho was a journalist with The News Magazine who was killed by a bomb that exploded in his bathroom during the reign of General Sani Abacha. What about Abayomi Ogundeji and Godwin Agbroko, both of ThisDay, and Edo Ugbagwu of The Nation' Yet, many of these people seemed to have died in vain as nothing has yet been done to arrest their killers.Two Nigerian journalists, Dayo Awotunsin and Krees Imodibe, were killed in Liberia because of the perception that the then Nigerian government, under the leadership of General Sani Abacha, was supporting one side, the side of Samuel Doe, against the others.The bomb blast in media houses is yet another challenge to journalists as many now fear for their safety. Such is the bomb blast at the ThisDay offices in Abuja and Kaduna.A photojournalist, with the Compass Newspaper, Mr. Tunde Ogundeji, was also attacked in Ikeja area of Lagos, by a mob for taking photographs of some passengers who didn't want to pay the fare for a train trip and would usually risk their lives by hanging on windows, doors and on top of a moving train. But those that vented their anger on photojournalist, Benedict Uwalaka, of Leadership Newspapers, were employees of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) mortuary, where he went on an official assignment.In a chat with the Nigerian Tribune, the assaulted Leadership Newspaper photojournalist described the treatment meted on him at Lagos State Teaching Hospital Ikeja, TOS mortuary premises as injustice to humanity.Mr Benedict Uwalaka said he had been attacked on several occasions in the process of carrying out his official duty but that of Thursday 9th August, 2012 was gruesome. When narrating his ordeal, he said on that fateful day, his editor sent him to TOS mortuary in LASUTH to cover the release of the corpses of the ill fated Dana air crash victims to their families."We were not allowed to take pictures, I only took the picture of an ambulance because we were barricaded from taking the pictures of the corpses, he stated.'From a distance, I took the pictures of the vehicles, suddenly I heard a voice behind me, saying, 'show me your camera, show me your camera'. What pictures are you taking' Suddenly, somebody came from behind and snatched the camera from me.'The attackers numbering about four began to beat me mercilessly hitting me with their fists, sticks, bottles and other dangerous weapons, resulting in serious bodily injuries especially to my face.'As I tried to ask them what the trouble was, two other men rushed out from the door and slapped me and hit me on my eyes. I quickly called on my other colleagues to assist when another one came out again with electric prodding device.'According to him, "it was the last man who inflicted the most serious injuries to my face causing a serious damage to my left eyes, the other two hit me with broken bottle at the back of my head inflicting serious injuries. 'At that point, l slumped, lying in the pool of my blood before I was rushed to the Area F police station few blocks away from the hospital.'Uwalaka said his statement was obtained before he was advised to seek medical aid and he was rushed to the emergency unit.'I lost some of my personal belongings to the assailants who took away my phone, with a PENTAX 30mm zoom lens camera," he said.He showed a letter to Nigerian Tribune dated 14th August, 2012 issued by LASUTH stating that 'LASUTH management has set up an investigative panel to look into the alleged maltreatment of a journalist on Thursday 9th August, 2012 at the TOS mortuary premises and interview on the issue will take place on Friday 17th August, 2012 by 11am'.The Nigeria Union of Journalists carried out a protest on brutality against journalists on Thursday 16th August, 2012 especially in respect of the assault on Uwalaka and also to prevent future occurrence, he said.Journalists are referred to as the fourth estate of the realm. Wikipedia, the on-line dictionary explains thus: 'The Fourth Estate is a societal or political force or institution whose influence is not consistently or officially recognised. Fourth Estate most commonly refers to the news media; especially print journalism or the press. Thomas Carlyle attributed the origin of the term to Edmund Burke, who used it in a parliamentary debate in 1787 on the opening up of press reporting of the House of Commons of Great Britain. Earlier writers have applied the term to lawyers, to the British queens consort (acting as a free agent, independent of the king), and to the proletariat. The term makes implicit reference to the earlier division of the three estates of the realm.The media has the mandatory role of informing, educating and entertaining, especially in a democratic setting because we choose our leaders, we should know not only what they say they plan to do, but what they actually do and why.In essence, journalists oftentimes leak government's secrets to the populace, for which it gets chastised by the government at times. But the story becomes pathetic when the people rise up arms in hand against journalists who protect their interests.Explaining why journalists seem to have become endangered, Pastor Olaolu Jacobson, who also doubles as a freelance broadcaster said our culture, society and people's temperament, especially during tragic moments contribute to making journalists and other people inclusive, endangered species.He added, 'Some journalists are also guilty of blackmailing the well-to-do in the society for cash reward and when that becomes incessant, the well-to-do could plan to assassinate them. Some journalists who are bent on using particular stories for the good of the society also get assassinated. This is due to the fact that our society is very corrupt and perpetrators of evil do not want to be exposed, especially our so called leaders and people who hold sensitive positions in the society.'At times, journalists, due to human error, make mistakes, misquoting an interviewee or editing a story out of context, could be due to time pressure since the job is all about deadlines; but most people believe that such journalists do such for monetary reward. Even co-journalists, who are supposed to protect their own, also accuse their colleagues of double standard.'On finding a lasting solution to the problem, 'I want to appeal to journalists to be very careful, especially in the choice of words they use because nobody likes to be maligned. It is not everybody that reads a story that will likely read the retraction if that story happens to be false and a dent image is not easily straightened.'I want my colleagues to remember that journalism does not thrive on lies, rumour, and falsehood. Let us be fair and truthful on our job. And as a pastor, I will say that we should not only ponder about but also write about what is pure, true, noble and of good report.'Also, the different media houses in conjunction with the unions have the role of teaching their staff and members what constitute the ethics of the profession, and what journalism is all about. I can assure you, this is one profession that is misunderstood and misconstrued. The government has the responsibility to protect journalists because some have been killed because they published the truth.'The chairman, Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Oyo State chapter, Comrade Gbenga Opadotun, condemned in its entirety, the recent assault on Mr Benedict Uwalaka, claiming that it was one assault too many, even as he said he thought the public would have learnt to accommodate journalists in the course of performing their duties.He explained further that the codes of conduct and the codes of ethics of journalism and the newly introduced Freedom of Information Law forbade the harassment, intimidation or hunting of journalists in the course of their duty, saying that the fact that journalists were still brutalised in the course of their duty meant that the public was insensitive to the plight of the average journalist.He said the national headquarters of the NUJ would take up the case in a law court even as he thanked the members of the public who had stepped into the case and called on the federal government to register journalists in the NHIS scheme.In her submission, Mrs Olayinka Adeniyi, a lawyer, decried the current abuse and attack on journalists, which she described as unfortunate considering theimportance and great contribution of journalists to the society.She summed up the causes as including corruption, politics of the day, ignorance and unprofessionalism and legal ignorance of journalists. According to her, 'Our society is one that traditionally does not accept the frank truth being laid bare. This is because of the endemic corruption in our society. Hence, some people seejournalists as rumour mongers, and this perception endangers them.'She added that, 'Ignorance of the duties of the journalists and their importance in the growth and advancement of any society, ignorance of the law of the rights of individuals including journalists and the society at large are reasons some people brutalise journalists.'Mrs Adeniyi also said a lot of journalists had been unprofessional in their reports and many times neither followed the input of law in their work nor balanced their reports. 'This is borne out of ignorance and has opened them up to abuse, assault and danger,' she added.On the way forward, the lawyer cum author said, 'I think the solution is a combination of legal and social action (socio-legal) work. Journalists and the society should be made to be aware of the law in protection of individual and respect of citizens' rights.'Journalists should take cognisance of the law of torts, slander, libel and criminality of such issues when it can lead to disturbance of public peace or unrest. They should be aware of their responsibility towards the society, especially in fulfilling their professional duties.'Individuals and citizens should be made to be aware of the law and work on their personalities especially on the respect of other people's rights and opinions. Our political leaders should imbibe the trait of responsible governance which includes openness and accountability to the people they serve which is what journalists are after.'Importantly, the basic law is the provision of the constitution which is the highest law in the land from which other laws derive their authority and authenticity. Other laws or provisions like the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) are particularly important.'She, however, admonished everybody to join hands and work together to protect all endangered species in the society.Additional reports by Matthew Asabor, Lagos.
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