What media can offer to get out of recession

The media as the fourth estate of the realm has been tasked to positively motivate the government and the general public to galvanise ways to generate wealth by making the best out of a seemingly unpalatable economy.

This is one of the resolution reached at the end of a two-day workshop organized by the TV Enterprises arm of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) in collaboration with Macro Vision Services Limited and the Centre of Excellence in Multimedia and Cinematography, Department of Mass Communication, University of Lagos. Also, the Nigerian Press Council supported the workshop.

Specifically, the workshop described the media as the gate of hope to synthesize ideas and aspirations that will manage poverty and engineer technological development that will salvage the syndrome of recession.

The workshop themed, ‘The media in a distressed economy, the way out’, noted the importance of training and retraining of journalists for better practice in a challenged economy.

In line with the conference, the United Nations Educatiional, scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) recognizes that “Society has a responsibility to ensure its journalists have the competencies to seek out and interpret information, and the judgment and integrity to communicate it in as objective and unbiased terms as possible. At the core of journalism is the need for newsrooms that are staffed by well-trained and critically minded journalists who are likely to influence the processes of democracy and development in their societies.”

The conference further advised that the media should ingenuously educate and orchestrate an avenue that will automate the change agenda to creativity of dedication, commitment and selfless service as the way out of the doldrums of recession.

Members, Mr. Aliu Oloruntimi Mohammed, Mrs. Aderonke Ajayi and P.O Izobo Agbebaku, jointly signed the communiqué, agreeing that the media should realize its potentials to look inward to evolve and emerge as a viable organ by establishing a reliable insurance scheme for the assistance of its members.

The conference pointed “An economy in distress is a challenge to re-orientate the government and the public by the media to adjust to the realities of the moment and come out stronger for the benefits of all.

It, however, advised that government should see the media as an industry to be recapitalized and benefit from government intervention such as bailout funds.

The workshop attracted journalists from the print, electronic, online media and the academia, with resource persons such as Dr. Yemi Faroubi, Prof. Ralph Akinfeleye, Mrs. Ifeyinwa Omowole among others.