Borno State
Governor Kashim Shettima said that instances where journalists break stories
that work against efforts of security agencies in Nigeria cause setbacks
because those in control of sensitive information do not take the journalists
into confidence
while at the same time they mostly give less information
believing that the journalists lack the capacity to get the facts.
Shettima
made this observation on Thursday at a workshop on synergy between the media
and the military jointly organized by the 7th Division of the Nigerian Army and
the Borno State council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists which held at the
Pinnacle Hotel in Maiduguri.
The workshop
was attended by senior Military and para-military officials including the
Theater commander, Operation Lafiya Dole, Major General Irabor as well as the
G.O.C 7th Division aside officials from outside the State.
Shettima
spoke after a paper delivered by former Defence spokesman, Retired General
Chris Olukolade whose presentation portrayed the Nigerian media as mostly
working against efforts by the Nigerian military in the fight against Boko
Haram across the northeast.
The Governor
in his address said in developed countries the media is often taken into
confidence and told the truth about security situations with the understanding
that the media manage their reports in ways that do not undermine security
interests of their host countries.
"I had
asked myself many times that why was it that in developed countries, Presidents
and other leaders would go to places like Afghanistan and Iraq to meet with
their soldiers at the battle fronts but such visits would not be instantly
reported by leading media houses of the world like the CNN, BBC, New York
Times, Aljazeera, Reuters, AFP and other media establishments. Reports about
these visits would mostly be made public only days after the visit of the
President or when the media is sure that the safety of the Presidents at the
front lines in Afghanistan would not be compromised.
"A lot
of us have heard how the CNN reported meetings between President Obama and
troops in battle fields only days after such visits. The International media
completely shielded Prince Harry when he was fighting as a soldier and member
of the British troops in Afghanistan between 2007 and 2008. He was only
reported 10 weeks into his deployment after leaving dangerous point in
Afghanistan.
"Let us
now compare this with a classical situation in Nigeria. When President Goodluck
Jonathan was said to be planning to visit Chibok in 2014, the trip was
instantly revealed by virtually all Nigerian media houses even when at that
time, the visit was supposed to be a secret one in order not to compromise the
safety of the President given the strength of the Boko Haram at that time.
"So
like I said at the beginning, I had asked myself, what was it that made the
International media concealed President Obama's and Prince Harry's visits to
Afghanistan and what was it that made our major media houses to act differently
by revealing President Goodluck Jonathan’s planned visit to Chibok.
"I was
wondering until I met one very experienced journalist in Lagos who had worked
with both Nigerian media and one of the leading International media
establishments in Europe and that journalist told me a very simple reason that
made the difference. The journalist said to me, that the reason why the
International media don't give instant or live reports concerning the visits of
Presidents and world leaders to any dangerous places is because the
international media houses are taken into confidence by those in charge of
managing the information on the side of the world leaders.
"The
International media establishments are told well about the plan and requested
to give blackouts or delayed report instead of real time. At most, the media
houses would mostly request that their reporters cover the trip or that clips
are given to them at the same time without giving undue to any media house so
as for all to break the news simultaneously after the visit.
"If you
compare that strategy with our case, it becomes clear that we mostly try to
hide important steps from the Nigerian media, we try to beat the media by
keeping our plans away from them, with a wrong notion that our journalists do
not have the capacity to know that which we hide from them. The worst
assumption any News-Maker can ever have is to assume that any journalist lacks
the capacity to find out what is being kept away from the journalist. In the
relationship between the News-maker and the journalist, the News-maker mostly
wants to be the one to give out what he wants the journalist to know while on
the other hand, the job of the journalist is not to just to report what the
News-maker tells but to be more curious about what the News-maker didn't tell,
what the News-maker doesn't want to tell and why he doesn't want to tell. This
is always the mind set of a good journalist. So, what is the way out? The way
out is to tell the journalist the whole story, the whole truth and seek his or
her understanding in managing the truth" the Governor said.
Shettima
also cautioned journalists against being used by Boko Haram insurgents to fight
psychological warfare using videos.
"The
Boko Haram insurgents are always coming up with psychological warfare
strategies. What we must know, is that for every video that the Boko Haram
releases, they are using such videos as weapons in their fight; the videos are
weapons in psychological warfare with the intention of slowing down our troops,
showing strength on the part of the insurgents, in order to instill fear in the
public, instill fear in our troops, instill fear in us the leaders and instill
fear in you the journalist who constitute members of the most strategic public.
When the journalists help to propagate insurgents warfare, the insurgents the
journalists himself is not spared, after all.
"When
Boko Haram was planning a suicide attack on the busy Emab shopping Plaza in
Abuja, they didn't care whether a senior editor of the New Telegraph was going
to be affected. They attacked that Plaza in June, 2014 and Suleiman Bisalla, a
Deputy Editor, was one of those killed in Abuja. The same thing happened in
Kano when Enenche Akogwu, a reporter and camera man with Channels TV was killed
during attacks by Boko Haram on 20th of January, 2012 in Kano. The instances
are many and this is why the journalist must see his or herself as an important
stakeholder in National Security; as someone who has a role to play in
discouraging the propaganda of Boko Haram" the Governor said.
Shettima
also paid glowing tributes to the military, police, DSS, para-military,
civilian JTF and journalists working in Borno State describing them as
courageous men and women who defied intense fears and threats to help in
addressing the challenges posed by the Boko Haram in the State through
different way.
"Around
2013, there were times I had to personally relocate some of the journalists
from dangerous locations in Maiduguri to safe locations. I was very particular
about the Christians amongst them. Even within the Christians, I was more
particular about those who neither understood nor spoke our local languages in
Maiduguri. These journalists were exposed to possible attacks, they were being
regarded as security men or some sort of spies given the fact that at that
time, we had Boko Haram fighters living in communities as against what it is
today" he noted.
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