Six kidnap suspects arrested in Ekpoma

The people of Edo Central Senatorial District, particularly Ekpoma in the administrative headquarters of Esan West, may have heaved a sigh of relief following the recent arrest of six kidnap suspects who have been terrorizing the area.

Kidnapping in the community which is host to Ambrose Alli University had in recent times assumed a dangerous dimension in the area as no week passes without a major kidnap case, forcing residents to cry out to various security agencies for help.

Respite, however, seem to have come their way on Tuesday in Benin City when the Edo State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Foluso Adebanjo, paraded some apprehended kidnappers including six who have been terrorizing the people of Ekpoma and its environs.

They include Archibong Saviour, Ofeimu Luke, Okhualeigbe Ehikioya, Ekanem Effiong Nyakno, Effiong Udoh Emmanuel and Monday Samson.

These six kidnap suspects, apart from collecting huge sums of money as ransom from relatives of the victims in some cases murder their victims in cold blood.

According to CP Adebanjo, “The suspects confessed to be responsible for the kidnapped and murder of one Dr. Sunday Eruzegbua (a medical doctor working in Otibho Okhale Teaching Hospital, Irrua, on November 29, 2013.

"The police using both cover and overt intelligence was able to get the suspects arrested and recovered arms and ammunitions from them,” the Police boss stated.

He further disclosed that cash and one Toyota Camry car with registration number KRD 406 CE, were also recovered from the kidnappers.

But while commending the men and officers of the Edo State Police Command for arresting the kidnap suspects, the people of Ekpoma have called on the police authorities to ensure that the kidnap suspects are brought to justice.

The Ekpoma people also called on the various security agencies in the state to unmask the sponsors and collaborators of kidnappers to rid the state of the scourge of kidnapping.

In a related development, warring factions in Ilushi, Esan South East Local Government Area of Edo State have agreed to sheath their swords for the peaceful resolution of their lingering crisis.

The groups made this resolution in a stakeholders meeting at Ubiaja, the administrative headquarters of the council recently.

No fewer than eight policemen, four soldiers, a pregnant woman including uncountable number of houses have been lost to the age- long communal feud which recently claimed two indigenous lives and left hundreds of persons homeless.

The council boss, Hon. Joseph Ikpea, said the peace agreement will not only put an end to the wanton destruction of lives and property but equally create enabling environment to fashion out modalities to bringing lasting peace to the area.

He said arrangements has equally been put in place to constitute a committee who will liaise with the state government to resolve the crisis adding that some members of the warring groups will also be co-opted into a body responsible for revenue collection in Illushi market.

“Without peace, we cannot achieve success. This is why we have been clamouring for peace. We have made a milestone trying to see that the warring factions sheathe their weapons and embrace peace.”

On his part, DSP Mike Egwumba, Ubiaja Divisional Police Officer,  who expressed worries over the spate of killings in the area and indiscriminate manner in which people are buried in Illushi River urged the group to erase wickedness from their mind.

In August last year, one of the sons of Chief Ike-Kebordih, the Ebije1 of IIlushi, was beheaded and thrown into the river while in retaliation, one Abiodun  Ojobor, was equally killed by the rival group.

It's a March to May National Conference with 492 Delegates. NATIONAL CONFERENCE

table of representations

• Jonathan to nominate 46, governors 108  •Decisions to be based on consensus

The federal government has approved 492 delegates to participate in the proposed national conference, which presidency sources disclosed to us is expected to start in March and end in May this year.

In the modalities for its convocation which were released yesterday, of the 492 delegates, representing all shades of opinion and interest groups nationwide, President Goodluck Jonathan will nominate 46. These comprise 37 elder statesmen drawn from each of the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), six representatives from the judiciary as well as the chairman, deputy chairman and secretary of the conference.

The 36 state governors will nominate 108 delegates made up of three persons each to represent their states and one delegate will represent the FCT. However, where a state governor fails to nominate delegates, the president is empowered to pick representatives for such state.

The five major parties with representation in the National Assembly, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), All Progressives Congress (APC), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Labour Party (LP) and Accord Party (AP) will also  be required to send 10 delegates, comprising two nominees each.

The judiciary, media, the disabled, former political office holders, socio-cultural groups/ethnic nationalities and professional groups, among others, will also be represented at the conference whose major task is to draft an agenda for Nigeria's future.

According to details of the modalities for convening the national dialogue, which has now been officially christened “The National Conference”, that the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, released at a news conference in Abuja, the parley will hold in the FCT.

Anyim said at the press briefing that the release of the modalities followed the acceptance of recommendations of the Presidential Advisory Committee on National Dialogue by the president.

The 13-member committee headed by Afenifere chieftain, Senator Femi Okunrounmu, which the president inaugurated on October 7, 2013, submitted its report last December.

Announcing the highlights of the recommendations approved by the federal government for immediate implementation at the press briefing attended by Okunrounmu and the committee's Secretary, Dr. Akilu Indabawa, Anyim said the government, after long and mature deliberations on the committee's report, accepted the following recommendations for immediate implementation:

•The official name of the conversation/conference shall be "The National Conference";
•The National Conference shall hold in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja;

•The National Conference shall tentatively last for three months and shall discuss any subject matter, except the indivisibility and indissolubility of Nigeria as a nation, therefore the unity of Nigeria is non-negotiable;

•A Conference Management Secretariat shall be established to manage, administer and run the affairs of the conference;

•Decisions at The National Conference shall be by consensus;
•But where it is not achievable, it shall be by 75 per cent majority;
•The National Conference shall advise the government on the legal framework, legal procedures and options for integrating the decisions and outcomes of The National Conference into the constitution and laws of the country; and
•The National Conference shall have a chairperson and a deputy chairperson of unimpeachable integrity.

In the timetable released towards the convocation of The National Conference, the federal government fixed January 30 (yesterday) for the formal release of the modalities for The National Conference while the nomination of delegates will begin from January 30 to February 20.

The inauguration of the conference is expected to come after the successful compilation of the delegates' list.

Of the 492 delegates to participate in the conference, according to a breakdown given by Anyim, the president will nominate 37 who shall be elder statesmen, drawn from each of the 36 states of the federation and FCT.

Retired military and security personnel, comprising the military, police as well as the State Security Service (SSS) and National Intelligence Agency (NIA) will contribute 18 delegates.
A member from each of the three sub-groups is to be nominated by stakeholders from each of the six geopolitical zones of the federation.

Traditional rulers will be represented by 13 delegates, comprising two from each of the six geopolitical zones and one from FCT, while retired civil servants will contribute six persons, drawn from the six geopolitical zones and nominated by stakeholders.

The list also showed that labour would have 24 representatives, 12 each to be nominated by the nation's two central unions, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC).  Their nominations are expected to reflect geopolitical and gender balance.

In addition, the organised private sector (OPS) will nominate eight delegates to the conference and Nigerian youth organisations will send 18 delegates who are to come from the six geopolitical zones.

The nominations are to be done by the stakeholders and the federal government.
Women groups, including the National Council of Women Societies (NCWS), market women associations and National Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) will be represented by 24 delegates, drawn from the six geopolitical zones.
Christian and Muslim leaders are to be represented by 12 delegates, comprising six nominees each to stand for the two religions, while civil society groups will have 24 representations.

Other delegates are to come from Nigerians in Diaspora (eight), People Living with Disabilities (six), Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria (two), Nigeria Guild of Editors (two), Nigeria Union of Journalists (two), Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (two), socio-political/cultural and ethnic nationality groups (90), professional bodies, including Nigerian Bar Association, Nigerian Society of Engineers, Nigerian Medical Association and Nigeria Economic Society (13), and National Academies such as the Academy of Science, Academy of Engineering and Academy of Education (five).

The rest of the delegates are to be made up of representatives of the judiciary (six), former political office holders (24), Federal Government of Nigeria (20), state governments and FCT (109) and former local government area chairmen (six).

The list of nominees is to be submitted either online to www.osgf.gov.ng or in hard copy to the Office of the Permanent Secretary (Special Duties Office), Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Federal Secretariat Complex, Phase I, 3rd Floor, Central Business District, Abuja. 

Earlier, Anyim had said the federal government was satisfied with how the Okunrounmu committee diligently discharged its task to the nation and even exceeded expectations.

He recalled that Jonathan had in his Independence Day national broadcast of October 1, 2013, set up the advisory committee with a mandate to advise the federal government on the framework for a national dialogue by consulting widely with Nigerians.

He said: “The federal government is satisfied that the committee has diligently discharged its task to the nation and posterity. This is more so, especially as one recalls the foundational principles of their assignment as espoused by President Jonathan at the inauguration of the committee.

"Therefore, one of the objectives for setting up the committee was to lend weight and direction to the national dialogue. You may also recall that Mr. President has also allayed the fears of those who think the national dialogue will call the integrity of Nigeria into question,” adding that the national dialogue would strengthen the union and address issues that were often on the front burner, but too frequently ignored.

To allay fears that the conference would distract attention from the 2015 elections, Anyim said delegates must conclude their deliberations before the polls.

“The National Conference will be over before we hit the next political season. There is nothing that will hold us down so that we will not finish with the conference before the start of next political season.

“For us, we have not received any form of formal notification from any group or political party that they will not support the conference.

“If you look, you will find out that representation of political parties is minimal. A critical look at the proposed delegates will show you that politicians are in the minority so that it will not be politicised.

“I want you to know that it is done in such a way that ethnic nationalities are more represented and that the modalities we have set up are proposed by Nigerians,” he added.
Also speaking, Okunrounmu disclosed that most of the groups and geopolitical zones were ready for the planned conference.

“They even plan to have zonal conferences so that there will be no conflicts before the commencement of the national conference,” he said.

INTRODUCTION TO JOURNALISM.

Kelly Ogbemudia Udebhulu

By Kelly Ogbemudia Udebhulu

INTRODUCTION: 

A warm cup of tea in one hand and a national newspaper in the other hand and many viewers focus on television at every tea bar in the cities, towns and offices reveal the ways people are hungry for news in the morning because it is a must to begin the new day with.  It is the handiwork of editor, news reporter and broadcaster that feed these people every day. Thus, the art of gathering, editing and reporting news to the audience is known as journalism.

One of the major functions of journalism is the "watchdog" role in every sector of our daily lives. Understanding the concept of journalism means recognizing the functions of media which are achieved through good journalism; accuracy, fairness, balance and thoroughness.  Furthermore, good journalism consists of the intelligent assembly of relevant facts. Getting the facts to work with is not an easy task. Yet, it is the most important responsibility of the reporter. News gathering therefore concerns the ‘what’, ‘where’ and ‘How’ of recognizing, choosing, assembling and doling out of information for publication in the newspaper, magazine, radio, television. To achieve all this, requires the special skill of nosing for news.

To highlight on the introduction to journalism as a course, goals to achieve must be enumerated and are:

1. An Overview of the role of journalist in the society and governance,

 2. Information gathering, organization and discrimination for print and broadcast media.

3. Journalists as agents of change and development.

4. Journalism and the New Media.

DEFINITION:

Journalism covers a very large scope of disciplines as a form of communication in every country of the World. Almost 87% of the World population read, listen, take part and disseminate information daily in order to be informed, entertained and educated effectively. People require information about the happenings in their immediate environment and the outside World because person cannot be here and there at the same seconds of time. Journalism has an important influence on the ways people behave, their attitude and thinking towards one another.

Precisely, journalism is the art of gathering, weighing and passing of information to the audience in order to achieve the desired goals of entertaining, informing and educating the audience. However, Richard Rudin (August 6, 2013) argued that relaying of real events that is pure is not journalism, he further cited examples that the broadcasting of proceedings in parliament, unvarnished and unadorned by any form of editing and commentary is not journalism, to him, it is merely relaying of an event. Other examples cited were a football commentary. In his definition, journalism involves the sifting and editing of information, comments and events into a form that is recognizably different from the pure form in which they first occurred. 

Journalism is about putting events, ideas, stories, thoughts and controversies into context.

 Under this prefix to journalism, one needs understand that journalism has different types, journalists pass information or news to the people through the print, broadcasting (radio, television etc.), and online media otherwise refer to as the "new media".

Influences of Journalism:

Galtung and Ruge (van Genneken, 1998) saw the major influences on journalism on both process and product.

i) Ownership and control:

Journalists are likely to fix in amended information that will agree with the ideology, interest and ambition of institution, organization and government. Ownership of an institutional media will definitely have an agreed ideology and policy which must be adhered to by every journalist under the institution or organization and government.

ii) Economic Influence:

The amount of finance put into the industry will determine the scope of coverage, credibility of facts from fictions and willingness of the journalist to work effectively or not.

iii) Time, Space and Technology:

Journalism has to be fashioned to a fixed deadline: conversely, journalists are compelled to produce or pass information across to the audience in a less than "unadulterated" state and before facts and other materials can be properly patterned. Technology affects in no small measures the level of broadcasting news and reporting events.  A coverage of event or disaster in United States of America will be far better and effective than a coverage any event and disaster in a developing countries for a simple reason that USA attained a higher developed technology more than most developing countries.

iv) Bureaucracy:

An agreed principle, policy and ideology often dictate the aftermaths of journalism in any institution, organization or country. Journalistic works must pass through the agreed protocols before getting to the audience under traditional journalism which the "new media" is gradually changing.

v) Elite People: News about people varies from one person to another. A theft carried out by a Hollywood actress is broadcasted more than a theft incidence involving a common person.

A)  Journalism and the New Media.

Around the 21st century, journalism is taking another dimension and facial look which is caused by the improvement of modern technology. Prior to this time, print journalism like newspapers, was the major new medium, gradually, broadcasting emerged and subsequent online journalism which comprises of blogging, streaming, internet television, pod-casting, web-casting, even other unconventional ways  of reporting, broadcasting and dissemination of news, story and advertisement to the audience emerged.  According to Richard Rudin ( 2013), around the turn of the twenty first century,  there was much thrilled talk about information technology, especially the internet journalism-and the media generally- into a brave new World in which  the customer, citizen or consumer would be king: access to news and current activities of all kind would be available to all, anytime, anywhere.

It is vital to note that media firms are investing heavily in the technology; many nursed the fear that traditional journalism like print and broadcasting will fade out gradually. This is so with the prospect of multimedia technology or converging technologies.

Just as the millennium began, we have phenomenon of the burst of the dot com bubble; the stock market, investment fund-holder and financial institutions suddenly lost confidence on newspaper or broadcasting firms. Undoubtedly, the new media has really given people things to do at leisure time with the use of the World Wide Web, to the traditional journalists; it serves as major source of information through researches and data collections for facts from fictions and stories. Digital technology has freed journalists from embarking on too many craft skills to produce effective and acceptable products because the multimedia technology serves as boost to relaying of events, facts and information to the public.

However, the quest to relay news 24 hours to the public has made many journalists to be tied to the news stand for hours and repeat unverified and untested information to the public as no time free to go out for real sourcing of pure or original news before sifting, evaluating and publishing took place (Purdey 2000). This has turned most journalists to "processor" because all news became breaking news  as a result that the source of the news is mainly from calls from the scenes of crime, events and disaster to emergency services; fire, crime, hospital and accidents on the road.

Cultural commentators have criticized journalism for demeaning cultural definition of things by ways of reporting and promoting those ways of life that are culturally wrong from one region to another. Politics and judgment are complemented often if not replaced technologically with material of “human note”, corruption, sexual ferocity and human peculiarities (Williams, 1998: 51). Though many view the emergence of the new media as variation to the traditional journalism, its coming has do more good than wrong to the advancement of journalism today.

B). Information Gathering, Organization and Discrimination for Print and Broadcast Media.

One of the ways of gathering news is on the geographical foundation. News are source primarily from the environment or a location that are nearer to the base of the organization, except in exceptional cases like serious crime or disaster happens like the tsunami of 2004, terrorist attack of September 11 and so on. Most times, freelance journalists report such outside news and it depends on the organization whether it is a large organization where they have foreign correspondents.

The news media are further gathered on the basis of specific locations that regularly have news, stories, reports such as hospital, police station, law court, university, market place, Government building (both local and national) and so on. These media news gathered here are provided by specialists who arranged ways of gathering their news from these places professionally. There is news that requires continuity which is basically followed by specialists like cases in the law court involving a high profile politician or Hollywood actor or actress.

News is organized on the basis of topic. In journalism, news is presented organizationally such as sport news, politics, economy, environmental news et cetera. Much news have a specific department that does not deal with day to day news but produce news or articles of human interest such as romance, education, entertainment and psychology.

One major source of news to any news media should be its own staff. This is mainly true of local or state news rooms where the employees live close or in the region of the news media. They are quickly connected to events, stories and reports in the area and pass it for dissemination by their respective new media.

c). Overview of the Role of Journalist in the Society, Governance and as Agents of Change and Development.

 We all recognize the fact that journalism is to inform, educate and entertain the people and no society exists without news media. Journalism plays important role in the day to day affairs of every government in areas of policy making, execution and implementation. Before I proceed, it is wise to look at what government and society are. The government is a system of institution, laws, policy and processes that guarantee transparency, popular participation, accountability and respect for the rule of law at all people. Governance is different from government. Governance is a system while government is an institution of the governance system like civil society, private organization, media institution such as newspapers, television and radio stations including associations of journalists. Society on the other hand is a group of people that have a general thoughts living together in a particular place or geographical location having an organized rules, values and regulations that bind them.

Governance can be good or bad. It is good when it adhere strictly to the rule of  law and provide for the well being of the people in areas of social amenities like good health, education, water, electricity, good road, railway, airport and respect for fundamental human rights of the people.

Having looked at the concept of government, governance and society, it is cleared to recognize the role of the media in fostering the objectives of every government and society.  In most countries of the World, the function of journalism is to holding the government accountable on behalf of the people. Constitutionally, all state owned news media are provided fair opportunities and facilities for the presentation and dissemination of divergent news and information.

Getting the government accountable is a constitutional prerequisite so that as the administrator of the resources, wealth of the society and protectors of life, liberty and property of the citizen, the government will be accessed to deliver the goods and services for which they have been elected or appointed. The importance of the media in how best or not the government or institution will implement its roles can best be viewed in the analysis of Joseph Pulitzer, an American, citizen of Hungarian who staged numerous successful crusades against bad governance in government and business in USA in 1904, writing in The North American Review in support of his proposal for the founding of a school of journalism, Pulitzer summarized his credo as thus:

“Our Republic and its press will rise or fall together. An able, disinterested, public-spirited press, with trained intelligence to know the right and courage to do it, can preserve that public virtue without which popular government is a sham and a mockery. A cynical, mercenary, demagogic press will produce in time a people as base as itself. The power to mound the future of the Republic will be in the hands of the journalists of future generations.”

From the above quotation, it implies that the media can build and break a society depending on the part it plays in its functions.

Looking at the accountability from the functions of media simply identify accountability as the process of taking responsibility for actions and decisions by governments and public organizations as well by the individuals working in such organizations. How these individuals manage the resources or whether there is fairness and accurate dissemination of information or news to the public come into mind for evaluation of performance results in relation to constitutional rights, values and plans?

Media make the people to be informed about decisions, policies and developmental plans the government have embarked upon and their roles, responsibility and effects to be realized easily. Hence, the society and the government do all it takes to have transparency as a watchdog in the governance. They make sure that easy access are granted to the media practitioners to gather, evaluate and disseminate news to the people in order to acquire the aftermath effects accordingly.

To bring a clearer picture for the roles of journalism in the society, government and the people, the words of Swedish minister summarizes it all this way.

 “It upsets us when we read about politicians who are forced to resign because of corruption. But at the same time we should also be grateful that such information is published and reaches the public. In 1974 the so-called Watergate scandal eventually forced American president Richard Nixon to resign. This, as you know, was mainly the result of efforts by two journalists at the Washington Post. What if they had lived in a country where they had not been allowed to pursue that story? What if, during their investigative work, they had been told by their editor-in-chief that they should stop their work immediately because the president is above criticism? Democracy and poverty reduction can never be guaranteed by politicians alone, whether they are elected or self-nominated. In the end, it is a question of people’s opportunities to influence their situation, claim their rights and being able to voice their concerns. But to exercise these rights presupposes that citizens have access to information that has not been filtered, censored or distorted. How can I claim my rights if I don’t know what they are? How can I voice my concerns if I risk being prosecuted for doing so? These are a few examples of why the role of media is crucial to the development of a country. The quality of the information an individual is able to access will, by necessity, greatly influence his or her ability to participate in the political process. In other words, journalists have a responsibility towards their fellow citizens to provide correct and analytical information.”

 Madi Jobarteh (World Press Freedom Day symposium on 3 May 2012 – TANGO Conference Hall)

 

To summarize  in brief, introduction of journalism as a course reveals the meaning of journalism, functions of the media and media institutions, the “dos and don`ts” of journalism as a professional, responsibilities of journalism to the society, government and economic organization. Skills to arrive at qualitative information were highlighted.  At the conclusive note therefore, journalism promotes and enhances peace, justice, development and respect for human rights in every nation internationally.

 

References:

 

1) Introduction to Journalism: Essential techniques and background knowledge. By Richard Rudin, Trevor Ibbotson (CRC Press, 2013)

2) The Birth of Broadcast Journalism: Turning Points in History By Edward R. Mucrow and Bob Edwards. (John Wiley & Sons, Inc. USA, 2004)

3) Mass Media Research: An Introduction - 4th ed. By Wimmer, R. and Dominick, J. (Wadsworth Publishing Company, Belmont, CA, 1994)

4)  Allan, S. (2005) Journalism: critical issues, Maidenhead: Open University Press.

5) Introduction to Journalism By Carole Fleming (2006, Sage)

 

 

RADIO/TV SCRIPT WRITING.

Kelly Ogbemudia Udebhulu

By Kelly Ogbemudia Udebhulu

 INTRODUCTION: 

Osemudiamen and Ehinomen hauled the remote control of the television to have a view of the popular radio and television program series because they have their respective favorite on the news caster. I do ask to know the reasons for their hurry spirits to arrive home from school and take the remote control. Only to discover that the chronological and fluent presentation of the program by the presenter arrested the favorite spirits of my children and mimic the intonation of the presenter at times during their leisure time.  To achieve this required skillful writing and presentation which will be discussed below?

Broadcasting is one form of journalism that delivered news to the public in a variety of ways, including radio, television and internet. Broadcast journalists are our source of information concerning events, crimes, wars, social unrest and day to day government policies in our world. Through the radio or television, you can be placed in a thick of changing world events including politics, finance and entertainment.

This is an interesting part of journalism if the products and services associated with mass communication skills and techniques. It is focused at those people who wished to specialize on radio and television writing skills to professional standards.  It is geared to develop once knowledge of storytelling, the demands of media of broadcasting and radio and to elevate once creative potentials for the 21^st century script-writing market especially to meet the fast growing world of digital technology.

Radio and television script writing means writing for”  ears and eyes”. It is different from writing for newspapers or print media.  In print media, one can explain by writing a long essay but not so in broadcast script writing, sentences are short and straight to the point.

Noble newscast writers use words that sound nice. They also use words that evoke images, even when they know that visual rudiments will govern their story. There are numerous useful tip-offs for broadcast script-writing:

i) It is vocalized:

 One major principle is to write simple words that are popularly familiar with because it is not writing   a piece for written literature. Chosen words

WE should remember that we are not writing a piece of written literature. So we should use spoken words of everyday language. It must be natural.

EXAMPLE: Do not write: The road is not motorable OTHERWISE WRITE   LIKE the road is blocked or closed.

Any writing to broadcast must be freed of abbreviations, words like: isn`t, won`t, `ll and so on should be replaced as: is not, would not shall or will, et cetera.

ii) It is instant:

Radio and TV scripts are written in immediate format. Radio and television information are considered immediate news. Broadcast is a “now” medium whereas in print media, stories and events of the past can be published.

Example: Do not write: The Minister of Finance said today the Nation’s economy was flourishing. INSTEAD WRITE LIKE:

The Minister of Finance says the Nation’s economy is flourishing.

iii) It is Person to Person:

Writing for radio and television must casual. It is thing of YOU AND ME medium. This implies that when a script is written for radio and television to be transmitted, one supposed to deliver the writing in person to person format. Though, within a limited time, thousands of listeners and viewers would be listening and viewing but they should feel that they are carried along in the news simultaneously. There must be friendly tone and writing must contain words that their meanings are familiar and understand by  the audience.

iv) It is Perceived Once:

When we write for radio and television, we should keep in mind that the words are heard and understood once because it cannot be reversed back to be cleared or re-read unlike in print media. In newspaper, one can go back a page to grasp the content unlike broadcast media. Clarity must be adhered to strictly. Avoid superfluous information and go direct to information free of confusion but with facts and ideas.

v) It is sound/picture:

Do bear in mind that it is broadcast through the sound & audio system as well to be delivered through pictures in case of television. Note that your chosen words are your bridge between you and the audience, therefore, always use soft words and polite language.

vi) Use a Lead-in Sentence:

The use of lead-in sentence alerts viewers and listeners about a new story or new.  It is mainly used broadcasting journalism than in print media.

For Example: There are more dead people in Syria today.

Note that this sentence does not say very much but it lets the listener or viewer to be suspended on the next news that follows about Syria. It stands as headline for the story.

Broadcast news: Twenty rebels including Eight Syrian army died after a serious gun battle in Damascus today.

vii) Put Designation at the Beginning of the Sentence:

Print media usually put designation at the end of the sentence while in broadcast script writing, it comes first.

Example:

Print media: Two kidnappers were arrested, said the police.

Broadcast: The police say two kidnappers were arrested.

Ethics:

Our main effort should go for the ethics in broadcasting journalism which is effective gathering of information for the electronic media.  Though we have modern cameras and shooting mechanisms for video coverage, ethics must be strictly adhered to if effective and qualitative radio and television writing will be attained. Even if one is writing RDRs, without visual images to worry about, there are some rules to keep in mind.

First, the format itself must be attended to carefully. IS 30 OR 40 SECONDS ENOUGH TO GIVE THE AUDIENCE EFFECTIVE AND CONVINCING NEWS?  For some news, 30 or 40 seconds is not enough but where event or issue is more difficult, contemplate a longer package that includes images and audio bites.

Furthermore, in struggling for a casual tone, are we belittling a story or teasing the people in it? There is a difference between a casual tone and unsuitable buoyancy, teasing or irony.

As I mentioned earlier, do the features of radio and television writing in a way to give viewers or listeners a false impression of information or the timing of action? The most visible instance is the use of present tense in writing for radio and television broadcast. As in print media, are we careful to make the words serve the facts? In making our writing as compelling as possible, there is a constant temptation to outrun what we know already.

Strategies:

Every aspects of reporting and dissemination of information, story and facts to the public that will entertain, educate and inform audience has strategies that is dynamic and tested. Among such tips:

i) Is that as a writer for print does in finding the impact and elements, wrestling with words that will show so it is in writing for radio and television broadcast.

ii) Another strategy is that the audience must be given seconds to pay attention. Remember that audience cannot reverse a broadcast news or story.

iii) Subsequently, in writing for broadcasting, story personal story for your audience that will please them and write as you speak, with this, a better and efficient broadcast script will be actualized.

iv) Again, limitation oneself to one thought per sentence will govern a writer to strive for an average sentence length of about 16 words which will make the writing precise and simple to understand.

v) For radio broadcast, person must know that he or she is writing for an “ear “while that of the television must realize that he or she is writing for an “eye”.

vi) Present tense words must be put in story but reflecting on what is happening now. Importantly, people should not be quoted indiscriminately in RDRs.

vii) Reading it loud is important because an anchor will read the written story aloud, and an audience has to understand it in the first time. The audience can`t reverse and read it again.

viii) 30 seconds must not be exceeded in RDRs.

         

References:

1) A Complete Guide to Writing, Formatting and Selling Your Script. By David Trottier. ( 5th Ed, 2010).

        2 ) Syd Field A Step By Step Guide From Concepts To Finished Script (Nov. 29, 2005)

3) Wutzel, A. and Acker, SR. (1989) Television Production, New York, McGraw Hill Book Company.p494-497

4) Adedire, kayode,  (2000), Inside Broadcast Journalism, Osogbo, Sumob   Publishers.p.1-5

5) Head, S and Sterling, C. (1982), Broadcasting in America; A Survey of Television, Radio, and New Technologies (4th Edition), Boston Houghton Mifflin Company.

6) Uche, L. U. (1989), Mass Media, People and Politics. New Delhi; Concept Publishing Co.61—74

          7) Uyo, Adidi  (1987), Mass Communication Media Classification and Characteristics; New York, Civiletis International.p1-3.and 24-25

8) The Birth of Broadcast Journalism: Turning Points in History By Edward R. Mucrow and Bob Edwards. (John Wiley & Sons, Inc. USA, 2004)

9) Introduction to Journalism: Essential techniques and background knowledge. By Richard Rudin, Trevor Ibbotson (CRC Press, 2013)

COURSE: ON-LINE JOURNALISM.

Kelly O. Udebhulu

 By Kelly Ogbemudia Udebhulu.

INTRODUCTION:

We need information as a people to embark upon for our daily social, economic, political, religious, traditional and cultural activities (Quinn, 1998; Pavlik, 1999). We must be informed, educated and entertained to acquire our desired goals in life. Hence, Journalism is the gathering and weighing of news for presentation to the audience via the media -mass media. Journalism is of different types and forms (Singer, 1998; Deuze, 1999). Online Journalism which is one type of journalism  is the gathering, presentation and dissemination of story, facts and reports (information) to the public or people through the online media or World Wide Web - the internet services ( we can understand this from the Ross and Middleberg online journalism surveys of 1996-2000; Deuze, 2000). This online journalism comes in many forms, some are not published anywhere else (Professional) while some are published everywhere. Blogs, Online videos and others which I shall briefly discuss below, are types of online journalism. One key characteristic of online journalists is that they often not adhere to the ethical standards of journalism. Online news are present everywhere on the web in many different forms and the users are confronted to differentiate between facts and fictions from the news presented ( wannam, 2012).

“Journalism is carried out in specific institutional circumstances, within concrete organizational settings and under particular technological conditions. The advent of cyberspace will inevitably impact on the factors which shape how journalism gets done - and may well even color how we define what journalism is” (Dahlgren, 1996: 60).

1 – The Nature and concept of  Online  Journalism:

 When we talk about the nature of online journalism, we tend to refer to the features and characteristics of this type of journalism, though similarities exist among all forms of journalism but visible features for recognition are vital. It has similarities with the media of broadcasting, radio, print and television including communication of news and other pressing issues in the information industry and retains the ethical journalistic tenets of other types of journalism. This writer suggests that the major features of online journalism are customization of content (putting a journalistic product together to cater for the individual citizen), interactivity (making the reader/user part of the news experience), hypertextuality (aspect of offering information about information - producing ‘beyond information’) and  multimediality - convergence of traditional media formats -  image, text, sound - in one story told online.
 (Newhagen and Rafaeli, 1996; Singer, 1998; Pavlik, 1997 and 1999; Deuze, 1999 and 2001a, Guay, 1995.)

However, print journalism does not have infinite number of pages which online journalism does, that is, space is not an issue to worry about in online journalism. Articles and stories can take many pages as the author or writer wishes. One vital nature of online journalism is the use of multimedia, news disseminated or published on the internet or web can be supported with animations, audio, graphics, photographs, audio streams and video footage. Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) online is a good example where multimedia comes into display.

Another distinguish nature of Online journalism is the lightning speed of breaking news, news from the web as breaking news can reach millions of people within minutes in the World, unlike print journalism that has limited audience and more notably is that online journalism is cheap and easier to publish than to publish such news in any other form of journalism like newspapers and magazines. Online journalism is now regarded as the fastest way to pass news to millions of people with a lightning speed.(Schultz, 1999; Pavlik, 1999; Kenney, Gorelik and Mwangi, 2000).

Furthermore, deadline is not much pronounced in online journalism when online journalist or reporter is posting news, stories and articles. There is the interactive mood among readers and web users online via comments, boxes and online forum or page than any other form of journalism. The rigid or non-easy go approach to rectify mistakes or errors in print or other forms of journalism is not found in online journalism as such mistakes or errors are easily corrected. Subsequently, print journalism or other forms of journalism create more jobs than online journalism.


2 – Types of online media:

To grasp the full understanding of online journalism, it is important to know the types of online journalism we do have in this present dispensation as technology enlarges daily.
They are enumerated below:

i) Website which comprises of private -intranets and extranets, and public- websites.

ii) Internet Telephony which comprises voice-over-internet protocol, e.g., Skype, voipmobile etc.

iii) Mobile Website such as mobile devices like android messages and so on

iv) Internet television including both television transmission delivered by internet services such as ATDonline and Bell Fibe service or individual television series or shows.

v) Email which make up of instant messages, chat even twitter can be regarded as online journalism services.

vi) Streaming audio which includes internet radio and podcasts.

vii) Organizational pages, forums and message boards which allow text-based conversations are parts of the online journalism.

viii) Screaming video like webcasts, podcasts, youtube videos.

ix) eBooks like tablets

x) Games includes console (based and online) only.

Others include wiki, blogs and e-commerce sites.

3 - Research techniques in online Journalism:

Content analysis to separate facts from fiction distinctly in order to draw a general and representative conclusions that summarize the main information rather than posting all necessary or unnecessary news is a core research technique in online journalism.(Neuendorf 2002, 15).

Another technique is the triangulation method which is combining quantitative contents in order to give an overview of the changes that occur on the researched web, with this kind of technique of qualitative discourse analysis, it enables one to study the texts in greater details but also in the light of its processual development through the quantitative analysis.

Regular-Interval Content Capturing (RICC), which is a technique for gathering the empirical material, stands out to be useful. Furthermore, discourse analysis epitomizes one of the most popular configurations of theory and method in writing an online journalism. Through this technique,  the relationship between power and ‘the social constructions of reality’ and the  daily encounter through the language in the online media is enhanced.

Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) has arguably become the standard work for media texts from an approach like the one above. The three-dimensional model of
(a) Texts,
 (b) Discourse practices, and
(c) Socio-cultural practices

 suggested by Norman Fairclough (1995; 2003) is perhaps the most established for the study of media discourse. From Fairclough,  we can also understand discourse analysis as ‘seeing texts in terms of the different discourses, genres and styles they draw upon and articulate together’ and a key feature is that the link between texts and society/culture is seen as mediated by discourse practices (2003, 58).

4 - Writing the Online News:

Writing the online news or posting news through the World wide web-internet needs skills and knowledge of right thing to do in order to have the news acceptable void of junks and "unacceptable information". To achieve the desire goals, the reporter or writer must get to the crux points, dig deep to clinch the facts and identify the original or source so that the facts might be right.

Another vital thing is the mastering of the advanced search engine skills to identify source of news in seconds as learning about the "hidden web" in order to identify and access key databases more quickly produce a skillful writer in online journalism.

Information from the social networks like Facebook, Twitter etc. should be mined properly. Subsequently, pushing the boundaries with techniques and tactics for inner and investigative works must be recognized.


6 - Gate keeping and the online media:

Information to be passed to the audience or public are often guided, monitored and supervised either by the government or corporation. One sees Gatekeeping as the process through which information is filtered before dissemination.  Be it publication, broadcasting, the Internet, or some other type of communication. In the words of Pamela Shoemaker and Tim Vos, Gatekeeping is the "process of culling and crafting countless bits of information into the limited number of messages that reach people every day.”

Gatekeeping as a news process was identified as early as 1922, though not given a formal theoretical name until formally identified in Kurt Lewin’s publication, Forces behind Food Habits and Methods of Change (1943).

Gatekeeping is functioning qualitatively for the transmission and dissemination of news because the precise message they hope to relay to the public is in fact relayed impeccably (though not always credibly). Obviously, however, this scrutiny exercise really endangers free flow of requested information.

Not all journalists continue to adhere to the role and standards of gatekeeper. Hard evidence is sometimes hard to come by, and some journalists have shirked their journalistic responsibilities to build a story where facts are scarce. It is important to note that during the tsunami 26 December 2004, many journalists abandoned gatekeeping in the coverage. "The bigger and more diffuse the disaster, the more the gatekeeping function of the media fails in the rush to get the story out." Tsunami coverage was rife with rumor, and wild death-toll estimates, many of which originated in online accounts.

EFFECTS:

Gatekeeping has taken on an intriguing new shape in the form of Africa’s new online news shows. Major shows rely on different topics for a special interest (cars, fashion, technology and the like), so their news value is limited at this point. The novelty is the format: the shows are in chapter format, so viewers can pick and choose what they want to watch and read. Enabling readers and viewers become their own gatekeepers in online journalism and  have positive and/or negative results. Possibly the public gatekeeping will enable journalists to broaden their sphere of coverage and target a wider audience. Equally probable, however, online broadcasters could opt to cut the less-visited news chapters on their online shows, thus limiting the scope of broadcast news.

Political Effect:

 Gatekeeping at times are noticed under political posture, mainly to contribute and prevent free flow of classified information. Some Gatekeepers are conscious of the tendencies or biases in media content that are capable to bringing a Nation to her disrepute or to a glorified status.  Media content matters to campaign dynamics and voting behavior (e.g., Bartels 1993; Johnston et al. 2004; Weaver 1996); it matters to public attitudes and political and policy preferences more generally ( Iyengar and Kinder 1987; Jordan 1993; Nadeau et al. 1999); and it matters to policy making itself ( Edwards and Wood 1999; Soroka 2003).

Furthermore, differences in the distribution of information before and after some form of mediation or filtering—by government, individuals or institutions—are of importance in online media. The flow of political information has played an important role in the study of, for instance, the political importance of social networks ( Huckfeldt and Sprague 1987; Katz and Lazarsfeld 1955), new technologies and legislative politics (Frantzich 1982), and policy implementation  in which information is processed by the relevant governing institutions. That is, there is a given (unmeasured) distribution of information which, fed through policymaking institutions, produces a distribution of policy change. The explication that follows, borrows from and contributes to this growing body of work by the policy makers and executors respectively.

8 - Challenges of regulation and control in online Journalism:

 Regulation and control are often refers to as the internet censorship which is the control or suppression of the publishing of, or access to information on the Internet. It may be carried out by governments or by private organizations at the behest of government, regulators, or on their own initiative. Corporation, institution, governmental bodies and organization may embark in self-censorship for moral, religious, or business reasons, to conform to societal norms, value, and rules due to intimidation, or out of fear of legal or other consequences.

Many people have diverse views or arguments for and against control in online journalism. It is worthy to note that internet censorship varies from one country to another. Some countries today have less control of the internet news while some do.  While some countries resolved to limit the access of information, place ban on certain information to be disseminated or passed out and even suppress social networks through policies and regulations, some free her press.  Internet censorship also occurs in response to or in anticipation of events such as elections, protests, and riots.

As more people are known to the use of internet so also internet censorship increases in many countries. There is more on sophisticated techniques these recent years as a result in global terrorism and drug trafficking in order to have a successful control of the situation by the government of every country. Most importantly is that the motives for internet censorship from one country to another varies.

Notable countries that have state-mandated filtering are mainly in East Asia, Central Asia and Middle East. In the United States, state-mandated Internet filtering occurs on some computers in libraries and K-12 schools. While in Germany and France, issues relating to Nazism and Holocaust denial are blocked. Child pornography, hate speech, and sites that encourage the theft of intellectual property are blocked in many countries throughout the world. In fact, many countries throughout the world, including some democracies with long traditions of strong support for freedom of expression and freedom of the press, are engaged in some amount of online censorship, often with substantial public support.

7 - The concept of citizen – Journalism:

The concept is viewed by many as unconventional ways  of reporting, broadcasting and dissemination of news, story and advertisement to the audience by non-trained journalists. The term “citizen journalism” is popularized recently but it is really literarily old as the rocks. There is an argument to make that the citizen journalist title is a variant of Martin Luther’s observation (paraphrased) that “every man is a priest.” If there is a new Martin Luther in this New Media, it is Oh Yeon-ho.

Martin Lurther said every man is a priest. Oh Yeon-ho asserted that every citizen is a reporter. Blogging gave citizens public diaries. Oh Yeon-ho gave them their own newspaper.  Around 2000, Oh Yeoh-ho and three colleagues began a political movement via the online media to get the South Koreans educated and informed about the real down to earth information in the country. Yeoh engaged all non-journalistic techniques to source for information and news and spread it unconventionally to the public and people. In one research, Oh resorted to what he called “guerilla methods” – using volunteer reporters and posting the material on the Internet instead of printing it.

Historically, the best recognized citizen journalists of the young American nation were Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay. Their 85 essays published in newspapers in 1787 and 1788 later became a standard of civics class homework: The Federalist Papers. But the papers were not the work of paid writers. Their work ran under a mysterious byline “Publius” and was dribbled out to reader’s piece-by-piece. In the 21st century, we might call them bloggers.

From the aforementioned details, Citizen Journalism can be view as when individuals do essentially what professional reporters do – report new. Information can take many forms, from a podcast editorial to a report about a crime, rally, protest and seminars on a blog. It can include text, pictures, audio and video. Many view it as the “new media” and include everything from passionate letters to the editor and comments on blogs and news sites, to bloggers scooping stories or exposing doctored or omitted facts from mainstream media reports. Citizen journalists often argued that they promote traditional journalism and promote the flow and enrichment of journalism in the World today. Citizen journalists complement information from the scenes of events and crime such as bringing in useful grassroots video and pictures of the events and happenings.

Social networking sites, for example, Facebook and MySpace, characterized the functions of citizen journalism in many ways. These social networking sites are established after the owner fills out a questionnaire about demographics, personality and history. The software allows quick links to people sharing similar characteristics, creating an instant community of lost or previously unknown “friends.” MySpace, owned by global media giant Rupert Murdoch, has 110 million active users worldwide. Facebook, an upstart created by a team of Harvard students, has 60 million users but huge penetration among young people. It is also shares more photos than the dedicated photo sites like Flickr and Picassa.

Citizen journalism differ in areas of covering and sharing information with the traditional journalism. A trained journalist giving a story or event to report or write about will research for facts, original facts to be precise in order to arrive at the desired goal but citizen journalist will report such issues as it is presented to him or from his own personal conviction. Citizen journalist share a bit of their personal lives than people`s opinions. It does not mean that traditional journalists do not apply their personal feelings to news too.

In a nutshell, Citizen Journalists are becoming more effective in all aspects of daily activities and information technologies. Today, a single smart phone offers the public a journalist’s hand book as against many years ago where one need a heavy loaded bag or box to carry tools in order to have a successful news report. This new media functions effectively in exposing corruption, enhances accountability, serve as corrective mechanisms to politicians, technocrats, actors, actresses, administrators and the people as well. Oppositions to the government uses it as tools such as recent events in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, as it is also used by the government of the day to promote policy, image and other governmental propaganda as it is happening in China, Russia and United States Of America and Europe.  Citizen journalism has the shortcomings in areas of qualitative, professional and ethical ways of reporting news which endangers the ethical standard of traditional journalism.


8 -Web casting, pod casting and web publishing:

Journalism is modifying daily as a result of streaming media technology; webcasting, podcasting and web publishing; they have really be identified as major improvement in the online media.  Many see webcast as a media presentation distributed over the Internet using streaming media technology to disseminate a single content source to as many people as possible as listeners/viewers simultaneously. It may either be disseminated live or on demand. Notably, webcasting is broadcasting over the World Wide Web. The largest "webcasters" include existing radio and TV stations, which "simulcast" their output through online TV or online radio streaming, as well as a multitude of Internet only "stations". The term webcasting usually refers to non-interactive linear streams or events. Rights and licensing bodies offer specific "webcasting licenses" to those wishing to carry out Internet broadcasting using copyrighted material.

 To further enlarge the scope of online journalism, we talk about “Podcasting" which is a way to distribute audio and video programming over the Web that differs from earlier online audio and video publishing because the material is automatically transferred to the user’s computer and can be consumed at any time, usually on an Apple iPod or another kind of portable digital music player commonly known as an MP3 player.” users download the file into their mobile  media player or PC which include everything from NPR news reports to episode recaps of HBO’s hit series, Entourage, etc.

Having gone through all the main facets of online journalism, ranging from the definition of online journalism as the gathering, editing and publishing of facts, information, stories and report to the audience via the internet services. A step was made further to talk about the nature of online media under its similarities and differences with/ between other forms of journalism. It is worthy of note that the main nature of online journalism where  briefly highlighted as this writer suggests that the major features of online journalism are customization of content (putting a journalistic product together to cater for the individual citizen), interactivity (making the reader/user part of the news experience), hypertextuality (aspect of offering information about information - producing ‘beyond information’) and  multimediality (convergence of traditional media formats - image, text, sound - in one story told online).

Furthermore, the types of online journalism was touched and enumerated briefly which subsequently carried the writer to the online research techniques which was discussed and concluded with techniques of writing online news. It is vital conclusively that online journalism have put more sugar to the relevance of modern day’s journalism and efforts are generated daily to move higher and higher in the information industry as technology enlarges.


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