Free, vibrant press, more powerful than three traditional Arms of Government combined – Gov. Bello

By Correspondent in Lokoja.

Gov. Yahaya Bello of Kogi State has described a truly free and vibrant press as more powerful than the three traditional Arms of Government combined.

Gov. Bello made the postulation while delivering his welcome address at the Opening session of the Nigerian Media Merit (Nmma) Awards, 2021 holding in Lokoja, Kogi State.

We are therefore the Big Heart at the Centre of the Nation! The term, ‘fourth estate of the realm’ with reference to the media and her practitioners is attributed to Edmund Burke, a British parliamentarian of the 18th century.

Gov. Bello acknowledged the importance of the three Arms of Government, but noted that the ‘fourth estate’ is equally powerful.

Gov. Bello noted that modern society cannot do without journalists said the world would be a scary and dark place without the Journalism profession,
said aside dispelling falsehood, eliminating dangerous assumptions, they provide societies with the basic premises upon which governance and other decisions can be made.

The governor disclosed that while journalist help to bring order to society and engender human cooperation, but however lamented that lives and whole societies have been ruined by the irresponsible practice of journalism by media practitioners, or quacks who impersonate them.

According to Gov. Bello, ” the use of the tools of the journalist’s trade to deal in hate speech has set off many a fire which ultimately consumed whole politics and their people. Fake news is ubiquitous nowadays, whether it is rumour-mongering, dangerous innuendo, character assassination or other forms of inaccurate reportage.

“The problem is so endemic that in Q3 2020 alone, statistics show there were 1.8 billion engagements with fake news on Facebook alone! Nigeria, like many countries, has fallen victim to it many times, sometimes with devastating loss of lives or properties.

” The Press is therefore one of the inescapable hallmarks of modern society and in particular, the custodian of public perception. What a divine responsibility”.

While noting the usefulness of the Press, urged that they functions within the ambits of verity and veracity and in line with demands of propriety.

The Governor called on the Media to regulate itself with the help of the Law to avoid malfunction, insisting that Practitioners must recognise that due to the incredible powers which society has entrusted to them, there is a corresponding demand for responsibility, ethics and professionalism in the exercise of those powers by journalists.

Gov. Bello called on journalists to stand up and be counted when it comes to taking back their profession from the quacks and the hacks, specifically he said the myriad of unregulated persons armed with Internet-enabled devices who haunt the media space, especially on social media must be curtailed.

The Governor described the Nigerian Media Merit Awards (NMMA) Trust as perhaps one of the most important institutions which could exist right now, said by rewarding merit in the way individuals and media houses practice journalism, the NMMAs provide critical motivation for the real journalists to do their work professionally.

He noted that by so doing the NMMAs would help promote sanity in the industry and simultaneously function as an accountability partner for most professional journalists.