By Okon Bassey
The leadership of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in the country has been urged to look inwards and weed out charlatans who have invaded the profession.
A retired managing director of Shell Petroleum, Mr. Samuel Inyang, made the call at a reception organized by the Akwa Ibom State Council of NUJ in honour of the state Deputy Governor, Mr Moses Ekpo
Inyang, who was the chairman of the occasion, said at the moment, the once revered profession has been bastardised by persons who have no business there.
“Today, the media business has more charlatans than should be. They engage in half-truths or no truth at all, sensational reporting and, sometimes, gutter and yellow journalism.
“An average reader is treated daily to disjointed reports, poor sentences construction, wrong spellings and pronunciations, bad grammar and ill-informed, poorly investigated reports. In such cases, society gets thrown into confusion and chaos many times, through the handiwork of undesirable men and women of an otherwise distinguished journalism profession”, he declared.
He noted that before now, the print and broadcast media were sources of truth, knowledge and reference, and practitioners obeyed their codes of ethics.
“I think it is high time the NUJ in the country looked inwards and weed from its ranks those who have, in their actions or inactions, brought its once revered name and reputation to mud.
“A mechanism should be put in place where those who violate the tenets of the practice are punished to serve as deterrent to others.
“Constant and continuous trainings should be organised for practising journalists to update their knowledge and be acquainted with global best practices,” he stressed.
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