Fw: Elusive search for public service media | Punch Nigeria

[ayo_ol...@yahoo.com]

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From: Ajibabi Omotoso <bankom...@gmail.com>

Date: Fri, 13 Nov 2015 04:08:37 +0100

To: <ayo_ol...@yahoo.com>

Subject: Re: Elusive search for public service media | Punch Nigeria

Thanks Ayo for this. There seems to be a balancing act though achieved through the competition between the state federal media and the state media. It would be of interest to research how the state federal media usually favours the state opposition to the state media that favours the state party in power. I know this happens a lot in Akure, Ondo State. Thanks and stay well.
Kole Omotoso

On 13 Nov 2015 4:48 am, <ayo_ol...@yahoo.com> wrote:

http://punchng.com/elusive-search-for-public-service-media/

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.

[ayo_ol...@yahoo.com]

[ayo_ol...@yahoo.com]

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.

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From: "Haastrup, Deji Olaolu" <DejiHa...@chevron.com>

Date: Fri, 13 Nov 2015 06:02:08 +0000

To: ayo_ol...@yahoo.com<ayo_ol...@yahoo.com>

Subject: RE: Fw: Elusive search for public service media | Punch Nigeria

Thank you Ayo as always;

 

Very apt and timely. We needed to address this matter long ago and no time is better than before the next election cycle.

 

There is a misconception in Nigeria that a service paid for by the people’s money (tax payers) belongs not to the people who have paid for it but a party or government temporarily in power. The flawed assumption is that the government interest is the people’s interest. If that were so, there would be no need for elections, no reason to choose between one party and the other since every party is deemed to represent the people’s interest.  But in a democracy the people have  different shades of opinions and the people have the right and obligation to offer their perspective and debate their representatives. It is the public media  that gives voice to this diversity of opinion and provides a platform for a rich debate. To deny the people a service they  have paid for is unfair and fraudulent.  To correct this there must be protection for those who are entrusted with the management of the public media from victimization by those who are temporarily in power. When the Chief Executive of a public media (Federal or state government owned) is sworn in, he/she should commit to protecting the interest of the people and protected by law from the arbitrariness of power.

 

Have a lovely day.

DH

 

 

[ayo_ol...@yahoo.com]

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From: azubuike ishiekwene <azuish...@gmail.com>

Date: Fri, 13 Nov 2015 11:18:10 +0100

To: <ayo_ol...@yahoo.com>

Subject: Re: Fw: Elusive search for public service media | Punch Nigeria

Dear Prof,

I have just finished reading your piece. Deep and thoughtful, as usual. I agree on the broad objective, but have a slightly different view on the necessity - even the viability - of public service broadcasting.

Here's my two cents:

1. Increasingly difficult challenge of funding has forced Public Service Broadcasters (PSB) from South Africa to Canada and the UK to rely more and more on licensing for survival. Interestingly, the cost of enforcement is quite high and has been sustained, in most cases, by legislation. But with radio, TV and video services available on the Internet, the future of PSB is quite bleak. PSBs now rely on a relatively smaller range of services to be viable.

2. You made a very strong case for the protection of the interests of minorities and local communities. Great point. My conversations with members of the Paris-based Global Editors Network, of which I am a board member, suggests that more content providers - through online and offline platforms - have stepped in to fill hyper-local demands for news and information sharing. 

3. Long story short, the internet has completely changed the ecosystem. We may never again have the kind of PSB we used to have. Neither do we need them!

Best, always.

Azu

On Fri, Nov 13, 2015 at 4:43 AM, <ayo_ol...@yahoo.com> wrote:

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.

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From: Ajibabi Omotoso <bankom...@gmail.com>

Date: Fri, 13 Nov 2015 04:08:37 +0100

To: <ayo_ol...@yahoo.com>

Subject: Re: Elusive search for public service media | Punch Nigeria

Thanks Ayo for this. There seems to be a balancing act though achieved through the competition between the state federal media and the state media. It would be of interest to research how the state federal media usually favours the state opposition to the state media that favours the state party in power. I know this happens a lot in Akure, Ondo State. Thanks and stay well.
Kole Omotoso

On 13 Nov 2015 4:48 am, <ayo_ol...@yahoo.com> wrote:

http://punchng.com/elusive-search-for-public-service-media/

[ayo_ol...@yahoo.com]

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.

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From: Yomi Layinka <you...@yahoo.co.uk>

Date: Fri, 13 Nov 2015 08:44:02 +0100

To: <ayo_ol...@yahoo.com>

Cc: AAkonai<riak...@yahoo.com>; Abel Abasi<abela...@googlemail.com>; Abigail Ogwezzy-Nd<abiga...@yahoo.com>; abiodun raufu<abiodu...@yahoo.com>; Abiodun Salawu<Abiodun...@nwu.ac.za>; Adagbo Onoja<adagb...@gmail.com>; Adebayo<adeb...@hotmail.com>; Adebayo Ninalowo<adebayo....@gmail.com>; adele jinadu<laji...@yahoo.com>; Ademola Dasylva<dasy...@gmail.com>; <adeolaad...@yahoo.com>; adesaid<ade...@yahoo.com>; <ainaol...@yahoo.com>; Akanmu Adebayo<aade...@kennesaw.edu>; Alaba Ogunsanwo<alabaog...@gmail.com>; Akinseye Akinola<akinseye...@gmail.com>; antonia simbine<tsom...@yahoo.com>; <anu...@yahoo.com>; <aoy...@aol.com>; <madeye...@yahoo.com>; Margaret Ayansola<mdaya...@gmail.com>; <mashom...@yahoo.com>; <fade...@oauife.edu.ng>; Fola Arthur-Worrey<fol...@yahoo.com>; Francis Onaiyekan<fonai...@yahoo.com>; Francis Ojo<ojof...@gmail.com>; Olayemi Folusho<offlin...@gmail.com>; <die...@gmail.com>; dijiaina<diji...@yahoo.com>; Dr. Badru Ronald Olufemi<femmy...@gmail.com>; Michael Vickers<mvic...@mvickers.plus.com>; Meda<med...@yahoo.com>; Charles Ukeje<charle...@yahoo.com>; Christina Olaoluwa<tina...@yahoo.com>; cyril obi<cyri...@hotmail.com>; <cynthi...@gmail.com>; <bayoo...@gmail.com>; <gaby...@hotmail.com>; Ganiyu Obaaro<adesinat...@yahoo.com>; Grace Edema<gmso2...@gmail.com>; Omatsola Edema<charli...@yahoo.co.uk>; Omo Adugbe<omoa...@gmail.com>; Ogunfolakan Adisa<baba...@yahoo.com>; Olanrewaju Smart<wasiu...@gmail.com>; OLASOJI OMOTUNDE<sojiom...@yahoo.com>; Iyabobola Ajibola<iyabo...@gmail.com>; Nosa Owens-Ibie<noso...@gmail.com>; Paul izah<piza...@yahoo.com>; Janet Chima<talk2ja...@yahoo.com>; Jibrin Ibrahim<jib...@gmail.com>; Jimi Olusoga<ji...@olusoga.com>; Jones Dada<oyi...@yahoo.com>; Jide Oluwajuyitan<joluwa...@gmail.com>; <lona...@yahoo.com>; Ndifreke ette<ndifre...@yahoo.com>; Ngozi<mediawo...@yahoo.com>; <moses....@covenantuniversity.edu.ng>; WOGU POWER<ike....@covenantuniversity.edu.ng>; samuel egwu<sge...@yahoo.com>; Samuel Oloruntoba<soloru...@gmail.com>; Sharon Omotoso<sharon...@gmail.com>; simon Emeje<simon...@yahoo.com>; <simonk...@yahoo.com>; <solomon_...@yahoo.com>; Solomon Uwaifo<so_u...@yahoo.co.uk>; eojo12000<eojo...@yahoo.com>; Kehinde Emoruwa<emor...@yahoo.com>

Subject: Re: Elusive search for public service media | Punch Nigeria

Ayo,

I agree wholeheartedly that our democratic experience can only truly be deepened and sustained by the unabated and rigorous improvements in the capacity of our state institutions to function as conceived and as expected. 

Yet, we all know that what we suffer in our country is not necessarily the lack of appropriate and enabling laws but the sheer inability or deliberate refusal of most of our public officials to implement the mandates of their respective offices. In the Judiciary, judges swear to oaths that they soon deliberately undermine; in the Legislature, lawmakers get sworn in as if to willfully mock their oaths while in the Executive, presidents and governors come into office with the vengeful intentions of crippling the capacities of our nation's institutions.

As to the state-owned media and their seeming unwillingness to live up to their billings as public service platforms, I have argued consistently that while most of the reasons adduced by you and others truly reflect and contribute quite significantly to the problem, one of the most insidious and self-inflicted causes of the unsavory situation is hardly ever mentioned or given the emphasis it deserves: this is the incidence of self-censorship by media practitioners at  the head of those state-owned corporations whether at national or state levels. These acts of self-censorship manifest in a variety of manners but with one common and ultimate purpose: to pretend to be acting like His Master's Voice while in actuality, s/he is only ingratiating him/herself for some crumbs thrown from the master 's table!

As an observer/participant, I can assure you that if half of those media executives know their professional onions enough and possess the modicum of self-respect incumbent on practitioners so called, most of what passes off as the impositions of  the blighted and jejune opinions of marauding politicians and sundry dictators could have been held in abeyance. But because like the counterparts in the ivory towers and the other professions, every media executive these days also seems bitten by the hustle bug: to become one of the 'big boys' at the master's table in order to gain entry into the current Elites' District. So, rather than do you what they know to be patently and professionally right, our professors, architects, townplanners, accountants, engineers and these media operators willfully supplant their own ethical values for the proverbial mesh of pottage.

My point is that until truly self-respecting professionals are put in charge of these institutions - including state-owned, public-funded media houses - there will always be a clash between the intent of their enabling laws and the reality of their service delivery as experienced by stakeholders.

Yomi Layinka

[Ifedioramma E. Nwana]

You are compelled to listen to all and still be left with an only option: decide for yourself which version to believe or accept.  I wonder how objective our opinions are several national issues!!

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