2024 World Press Freedom Day: An Opportunity To Reposition Journalism Practice

By Dele Atunbi, Esq

Dear Compatriots,

I wish to sincerely celebrate all journalists in our dear country for their resilience, commitment and courage in carrying out their journalism duties.

The candour with which you are carrying out your duties in spite of the enormous challenges and difficult working environment is not only impressive but commendable particularly when considered against the backdrop of the stack economic realities and the hazards of the profession.

A time like this, is an opportunity for stock taking thus, we should not shy away from the realities on ground and the need to press for total press freedom and liberation of the profession from the shackles of all forms of oppression.

As we celebrate the International World Press Freedom Day today, there is the need for all of us to come together to address the issue of the entry point for the practice of journalism in our dear country.

As media practitioners, we should be concerned with the development.

We should as professionals take a look at the law vis-a-viz the entry point of journalism in Nigeria which is Diploma.

As professionals, we should be curious that in a profession where over 95 per cent of its practitioners are university graduates, the entry point as prescribed by law and in line with the Nigerian Press Council Act, is Diploma. This tends to reduce the prestige and dignity of the profession.

This is a time for collective and proactive action towards addressing some of those ills affecting journalism practice in the country.

I am not unaware of the 2023 effort to raise the bar, but this must be followed up with appropriate advocacy for the amendment of some provisions of the NPC Act, which is long overdue.

In addition, for the uplift of the profession, we must collectively fight quackery in our midst to restore public confidence in the journalism practice in our dear country.

The need for us as practitioners to collectively strive hard to reposition journalism practice in Nigeria has certainly become paramount.

Once again, I wish all journalists in Nigeria, happy World Press Freedom Day .

Dele Atunbi, Esq.