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Truth is that sometimes there is no
smoke and there is no fire, it’s just the business we are in. There are
some stories that are true though but sometimes I wish our journalists
will do more investigative journalism before they go ahead to destroy
friendships, homes, businesses and opportunities. I don’t think they
realise the amount of damage that they cause all in the name of getting a
promotion or impressing their boss. I also wonder how some of them are
able to sleep knowing that they have cooked up untrue stories about
people that can affect the children and families of these people.
I
believe that most of these journalists that write these “fictitious
stories” are very creative though, because if you consider the amount of
work they put into creating these stories you will see that they can be
the best script writers ever.
I am suggesting that they start
looking into scriptwriting, this brings in a lot of money, especially in
our country where the movie industry is thriving; without a script
there can be no movie. They can also write for advertising agencies for
adverts, jingles and then move on to writing for television series,
radio dramas, etc. The opportunities are endless as we must realise that
that journalism is broken down into different types. Instead of writing
junk to keep a job it might be better to consider things like setting
up a small media consultancy company, become a publicist for individuals
and corporate brands/ products. Your company can be on contract as the
media department and public relations by big companies that need their
products and services to be brought to the attention of the people.
If
a journalist who has had experience in publicity, approaches an artiste
who needs good media hype, all he needs to do is to spell out the
benefit of having a publicist who would take the media aspect of your
business and turn it into a money spinner. This means that if he
succeeds in putting the celeb in the minds of the people as a positive
role model, the celeb can have endorsement deals, be called to anchor
events, become an ambassador for different organizations, etc. That way,
the artiste will give a certain percentage of that to your media firm.
The
more the journalist portrays the artiste positively, the more these
brands will want to employ the services of the artistes and the more
money the journalist will make.
Most of these journalists can also
write small handbooks on how upcoming artistes can handle the media and
how to handle their public persona, sale of the books can also bring in
money.
They can also organize seminars and invite one or two big
media gurus to talk about the country and how to resolve the issues we
are facing in Nigeria today by giving people the right kind of
information.
How do we get this present young generation to bring
that change in governance if the media cannot contribute in giving them
an idea of what should be and how it should be done?
I personally
believe that instead of destroying people and feeding the public with so
much negativity, these journalists can make money with their talents
and at the same time help in the development of the country by being
innovative and objective.
Please note that I am not referring to all journalists, just those that write junk and believe it is journalism.
I
want to commend those that have been objective and truthful in their
information, I appreciate those who have helped us one way or the other
in the eyes of the world because now we are seeing the benefits.
Gradually Hollywood feels safe enough to come and work with Nollywood, brands can now use most of us as brand ambassadors, etc.
Let us try and see how we can use our talents and creativity to make money and develop our country positively.
Quote:If you want the unusual, avoid conventional wisdom. —Leke Alder
Credit Stella Damasus, Culled from PM News
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