IF PEOPLE HAVE CONFIDENCE IN YOU, AND THEY KNOW YOU CAN REPORT SUCH AN INFORMATION THEY INFORM YOU...Adese

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Prince Valentine Adese, Publisher of Reality Newspapers, Jos, is a very influential personality. He is a member of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Plateau State Council; the Chairman, Community Newspaper Publishers Association of Nigeria (CONPAN), Plateau State Chapter and also a member of the Plateau Publishers Forum. He is a reputed Journalist and Publisher.

Recently, the crew of “Naza’s Corner”, led by yours truly, the Anchor and Host, Chinazaekpere Nnabugwu, visited the Publisher, for an interview, which he graciously granted the team.

The interview, is among many, lined up, to familiarize Teens and Kids, who are the major target of “Naza’s Corner” with the various Professions and to expose them on their activities.

Chinazaekpere (Left) and Valentine Adese (Right)

Before presenting the interview, it is important to note that immediately the interview commenced, Prince Valentine Adese, pointed out that a Journalist should not show sign of confusion before the person he/she is interviewing. This was when he was observed signs of anxiety and jittery demonstrated by yours truly (Chinazaekpere) at the commencement of the interview.

Below are the excerpts. Please enjoy it.

Sir, I am Nnabugwu Chinazaekpere, from “Naza’s Corner”, an On-line Weekend Platform dedicated to Kingdom-minded, Success driven Teens and Kids. I am here to interview you on Journalism. Sir what is Journalism all about?

Well the purview of Journalism is informative. That means, we gather information, process them and disseminate them to Nigerians and whoever in the world. The reason is, so many things happen in the world, and they are segmented. More also they are hidden in certain places. It is the Journalist that help to bring them out to the open world, so that people will know that such events happened.

Who is the founder of Journalism?

Journalism has no particular founder. Journalism has different ways it developed in different Nations, especially under an oppressed situation. In America, it developed through the post office. In America it started as blue Journalism because of stress. Many countries started Journalism based on one event or the order. So, they now developed themselves to report certain things. In Nigeria, the Presbyterian Church is one of the key areas that led to the development of journalism in the country, because they started writing so many leaflets and pamphlets so that people will understand what is going on in the church and what is going on in the Christian communities. And it developed to certain parts of South West, were we have “IWE IROHIN” which was then published in Yoruba language, before the English language version. And that was how it developed in the South West. That is why you find out that most of the time people feel that the South West is the heart of modern day Journalism in Nigeria, but it’s not true. It all started in the Presbyterian Church, in Calabar, in the present day, Cross River State.

How do you get information of things happening around?

Things happen and when you are there you are there. If you are not there you are not there. If people have confidence in you, and they are reliable, and they know you can report such an information they inform you that A B C D is happening in such area. All you have to do is to get there. But sometimes it might happen in your presence accidentally and you report such. More also people write their opinions. Government also write policies and put them in paper. That is what we call the press release, coming from different quarters. We use that one to pass information and convert it if it’s just happening, as news.

What are some of the subjects a person needs to study to become a Journalist?

Well the key one is English and literature. They’re very important. They’re key. History is also part of them. There may be another one, but these three are key to the practice of Journalism.

Who are the people that work in a Newspaper industry?

The newspaper industry is very large. We have the Engineering department. We have the administration department. We have the editorial department. So, when you talk about the industry or company it’s very large. We even have the security men working there. Probably what you want to ask is, who are those people that report this News in a company such as a media house? They are the Journalists. They are professionally trained in the process of gathering information and processing them because they are responsible. More also because they are there, the 1995 constitution section 22 as amended has stipulated that it Journalists that would make Government responsible and accountable. These are the people we call in the editorial board of any media house so once you’re not part of the media house in the editorial board  you’re not practicing Journalism. There are people who read mass communication or Journalism they are not practicing they are in their various businesses either trading, manufacturing or probably preaching gospels but on till they are employed into a media house to perform that function they are not Journalists.

Are there rules or a particular way Journalists are supposed to operate?

Yes. There are two cardinal aspects of it.

There is what we call the code of conduct. The code of conduct are rules and regulations that guide the practice of Journalists in a particular state, region or country. Because the Journalists will sit together and say, look, let’s take this code and make sure we use that one to regulate the practice of Journalism in our country. But ordinarily there are certain rules that are worldwide. Where they feel that this is how you are supposed to behave as a Journalist, it is called (sic) it’s like a convention that every Journalist anywhere is supposed to behave like this. It’s like a Medical Doctor, probably he is supposed to keep a secret he is not doing that because there’s a code based on the Profession. The other one is of conduct in his country but because as a Doctor it is anticipated that he must behave in this way and that is what is happening. So, there are two rules that govern us. One is worldwide, which is based on the profession; then the local one that is from state to local government that also control’s the behaviour of the Journalists.

What are some of the equipment’s used by journalists and what are the purposes of the equipment?  

Well you see Journalism like I said is the purview. One of the major aspects of the Profession is collection of information. There are three forms under which you collect information. Either by recording it in an audio tape, or you bring up a visual tape. This audio and visual tapes are very key in recording. The reason we record is because of denial, future reference, documentation, and library essence. These are why you record them so that anybody who wants to make reference to such comments that you might at the end of the day disseminate can trace it to a particular index. More also because of self-defense, Journalists use instruments for recording such as audio and video so that there will not be denial at the end of the day. What are these instruments? Tapes: audio tapes use cassettes. Video cameras also use cassettes. Some also use memory cards that is what Journalists use. Don’t forget, the major instrument of every Journalist is interview. He/she uses interview to gather more data or collect information. So, if interview is key then the person must either be visualized or audio taped. These are just how Journalists operate.

How can the production of News-papers help in the development of Nigeria?

You know that they say information is power. If people are well informed of the policies, of government they will cash into it. If people are well informed on areas of opportunities they will cash into it. If people are well informed of security areas they will cash into it, and all these things because you are protecting lives you are bringing developmental interest to the people, definitely we will expect that development will take place in that area. Don’t forget also that the new development in Journalism is what we now call narrow casting. Before we had the broadcasting. Journalists are now operating in villages. Some are operating in local governments. Some are operating in states so that they can be able to disseminate this information at that level. And you can recall that when development now start from villages, going to local governments, definitely there’s going to be a development within that given area.

What can schools do to promote Journalism?

Well it depends on which school you are talking about: secondary and primary schools. Most importantly you know in secondary schools you discover that they write what we call essays. They teach it in English language. In the course of it they allow the students to write essays. To encourage youths to grow within that perspective, they should enable them have publications of those their write ups. There is nothing that motivates a youth seeing that what he or she had written is read by the generality of people. More also they should encourage them to make their mistakes than allowing them to make errors in the future. When you don’t encourage the youth to make their mistakes so that they can be corrected there and then definitely they will be afraid of making mistakes and of course end up committing errors in the public. So teachers must wake up to that responsibility. It is not just teaching them the English or allowing them to write what they have told them to write but to allow them to write their minds and at the same time build them up in the angle they feel this people are very good. Journalism is about fluency. The moment the person has an interest and a passion for that subject matter it will definitely flow.

END OF THE INTERVIEW

MY COMMENT: Dear esteemed friends and success partners, thank you for reading this piece, the first interview, I have ever conducted in my life. I must confess, it was real fun, enlightening, educating and informative, though challenging. I promise to keep on improving as we continue to "Pull and Push" together in this our collective journey of success and impact. More of such interviews will be on this Platform from time to time.

Till I come your way again, do please remember to stay out of trouble. Ciao! 

Nnabugwu Chinazaekpere, Anchor and Host.