Tag: MEDIA

  • Trump to announce awards for ‘most dishonest, corrupt media’

    U.S. President Donald Trump said he would announce awards for “most dishonest and corrupt” media outlets.

    “I will be announcing THE MOST DISHONEST & CORRUPT MEDIA AWARDS OF THE YEAR on Monday at 5:00 o’clock [22:00 GMT].

    “Subjects will cover Dishonesty & Bad Reporting in various categories from the Fake News Media. Stay tuned!” Trump wrote on his Twitter page on Wednesday.

    Trump has many times accused leading U.S. media of spreading fake news targeting him during the election campaign as well as after he became the 45th president.

     

  • Aso Rock Clinic: Jonathan blasts media, says ‘stop using me as scapegoat for the misdeeds of others’

    Aso Rock Clinic: Jonathan blasts media, says ‘stop using me as scapegoat for the misdeeds of others’

    Former President Goodluck Jonathan has warned the media to properly investigate their stories especially as it relates to the decays of the government of the day before attributing such to him.

    Reacting to the decision of the House of Representatives to probe allocations to the clinic from 2015-2017 and the subsequent mention of his name as a possible culprit, Jonathan said he had nothing to do with the implementation of the budget since May 29, 2015 when he handed over power to President Muhammadu Buhari.

    The ex-president’s reaction was contained in a statement signed by his Media Adviser, Ikechukwu Eze.

    The statement reads in full:

    “The House of representatives resolved Thursday 12 October, 2015, to probe 2015-2017 allocations to Aso Rock Clinic and some media reports are needlessly dragging the name of former President Goodluck Jonathan into it. We had thought that the media should be the first to remind Nigerians that since Dr. Jonathan left office on May 29, 2015, he had absolutely nothing to do with the implementation of the budget for that year.

    For emphasis, the 2015 Appropriation Bill which was passed by the parliament in April was signed into law in May, 2015. And since the procurement process, based on the new procurement law, takes atleast three months to complete, there was no way Jonathan would have had anything to do with the budget implementation for 2015, before vacating Aso Rock Villa on May 29, 2015.

    Going by the way some people make insinuations on issues that border on the development of our country, it would appear as if Ex-President Jonathan had been in office since independence in 1960, and probably still be in charge today. We expect media houses to always do proper investigations to avoid the convenient choice of always using Jonathan as the scapegoat for the misdeeds of others,” the statement said.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that wife of the President, Aisha Buhari had on Monday said the Aso Rock Clinic does not have syringes and x-ray machine to treat patients despite the billions of naira allocated to the clinic yearly.

    In her words: I called the Aso Clinic to find out if they have an X-Ray machine, they said it’s not working.

    In the end I had to go to a hospital owned and operated by foreigners 100 percent.

    There is a budget for the Hospital and if you go there now, you will see a number of constructions going on but they don’t have a single syringe there. What is the purpose of the buildings if there are no equipment there to work with?”

    You can imagine what happens across the states to governors wives if this will happen to me in Abuja,” she said.

  • To make money online: Brands go for credible, libel free media – Airtel Boss

    The Vice President Corporate Communications/CSR Director Airtel Nigeria and founder of Ethelberts, Mr. Emeka Oparah on Friday said brands across the world are always willing to invest and partner with credible, industrious and libel free media.

    Oparah stated this at the inaugural webinar of TheNewsGuru.com themed “Digital Media Gurus Speak: How to monetise online media opportunities online.”

    He noted that despite the array of opportunities freely available online, not many are able to tap into it because they lack the basic knowledge to do so.

    The Airtel boss noted that most brands look out for what they stand to benefit either on a short or long run before making any investment.

    “Brands look out for credible, libel free media to partner with. You must be creative and industrious to get business engagements with these brands. No business operator will place advert or do other forms of business with a medium that is enmeshed in controversies. To be specific, you must dig deep into the activities of Airtel before you get an advert or partnership with us. You shouldn’t just think by using our press releases or coverage of the launch of a particular product, you automatically qualify for business partnerships with us. You must be willing to go the extra mile and this applies to making money online or offline too,” Opara explained.

    The Editor (Online and Special Publications) of The Nation Newspapers, Mr. Lekan Otufodunrin, reiterated that despite the fact that the new media was here to stay, it, however, does not pose a threat to the existence of the print and broadcast media. He said rather, they complement each other to serve the readers better.

    To make money online, Otufodunrin emphasized the need for people to apply knowledge and be creative.

    “The online media is here to stay and does not pose any threat to the existence of the traditional media. Rather, both arms of the media should be coordinated to serve the reading public better. Knowledge and creativity are keys to making money online. You must be willing to go the extra mile to get investors’ attention. A reporter must add human interest angles to a story that broke yesterday to appeal to people to buy the papers today. People mistake the internet as a cheap source of making money. While I won’t say it is not, however, some degrees of hard and smart work are needed to succeed,” the veteran journalist said.

    Also speaking at the event, the publisher of CKN News and President, Guild of Professional Bloggers, Chris Kehinde Nwandu said most people have the erroneous impression that they can make money instantly online by just posting anything on any of the social media platforms.

    “The online platform is not an end to making money. It only provides a leverage to flourish especially for those who are willing to tap into such leverages. For me, I made my first money online two years after establishing CKN News. And that was just N5000. This was after two consecutive years of hard work in the online space,” the CKN publisher said.

    Asked what the Guild of Professional Bloggers which he currently presides over is doing to curtail the excesses of fake and unverified news flying around mostly from bloggers, Nwandu said the Guild had inaugurated an Ethics committee to monitor news contents from blogging sites. He noted further that despite conscious efforts put in place by the Guild, the task of enforcing strict adherence was an issue as the number of blogging sites are well over a million.

    “One of the first things we did on assumption of office was to inaugurate an ethics committee to monitor contents and strict adherence to ethical standards. Moreover, most bloggers don’t have any journalistic background and the social media has a way of regulating itself. People will automatically stop visiting a site that dishes out fake and unverified news all the time and with time such sites will shut down permanently,’ Nwandu noted.

    The event which was moderated by the publisher, TheNewsGuru.com, Mr. Mideno Bayagbon also had in attendance the Group Managing Editor, TheNewsGuru.com, Mr. Jewel Dafinone, online editors of TheGuardian Newspapers, Mr. Tonye Bakare; NewTelegraph, Mr. Michael Abimbola, The Sun, Ikenna Emewu and other seasoned media practitioners.

     

  • Nigeria, China sign MoU on Information, Media Cooperation

    Nigeria, China sign MoU on Information, Media Cooperation

    The Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Peoples Republic of China on Friday in Abuja signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enhance friendly cooperation in Media and Information Exchanges.

    The MoU was signed between the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture of Nigeria and the State Council Information Office of China

    Speaking at the event, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed who signed on behalf of Nigeria said the MoU was a very important milestone in diplomatic relations between Nigeria and China.

    The minister said that the MoU would also enhance friendly cooperation and interaction between government media agencies of the two countries,

    He said it would facilitate news exchange, joint coverage, mutual visits including wider coverage of economic, cultural and social news and other events in the respective mass media.

    In addition to the wide areas covered by the MoU, the minister requested capacity building cooperation programmes for Resident Information Officers in his ministry and media practitioners in general.

    Specifically, he requested that China should offer training to Nigerian Journalists, Broadcasters, Media Practitioners, Social Media Practitioners, as well as Community Radio, Television and Newspapers.

    Mohammed said that his ministry was also interested in co-operation pogrammes mutually beneficial in the area of animation and co-production of films which project the culture of both Nigeria and China.

    The minister said the cooperation should extend to film distributions as well as collaboration between the National Films and Video Censors Board and the Chinese Censors Board to eradicate piracy and production of fake and adulterated films

    He called for partnership to address infrastructure deficit in Nigeria creative industry, particularly in the area of building community cinemas across the country.

    The minister also called for strengthening of the existing MoU between the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) and its Chinese counterpart, XINHUA

    He said the partnership would go a long way in addressing the problem of fake news.

    “This is significant because we are in the era of fake news and unlike China, the social media here is unrestrained.

    “It is important you get your news from official source, the News Agency of Nigeria and the Ministry Official App created for the country,’’ he said.

    The minister seized the opportunity to clarify that contrary to lies being peddled in the social media, the government “is working assiduously to redeem its electoral promises’’.

    “We have succeeded in nursing a very sick economy and very soon we will get out of recession.

    “Our fight against insecurity is yielding fruits and our fight against corruption is focused.

    “We are resolute that we will fight corruption until it goes down,’’ he said.

    Mohammed said he was optimistic that both countries would work to ensure a thorough implementation of the MoU for the benefit of their peoples.

    In his remarks, Mr. Guo Weimin, China’s Vice Minister of the State Council Information Office said the signing of the MoU marked a new beginning in the relations between the two countries in the area of media and cultural relations.

    He said staff training and programme exchanges would further solidify the cultural ties between both nations.

    Weimin said his ministry would scale up the broadcast of news about Nigeria in China and appealed to the minister to reciprocate the gesture.

    The Chinese Vice Minister acceded to Mohammed’s request for the training of the Resident Information Officers and said the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria would fine-tune the capacity building engagement.

    Weimin was accompanied by the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Dr. Zhou Pingjian to the signing of the MOU.

     

     

    NAN

  • How I kept my engagement to Banky W from the media- Adesua Etomi

    Nollywood actress, Adesua Etomi shocked her fans when out of the blues she revealed that she is engaged to RnB star, Banky W. Recall that Banky W and Adesua played the role of newly-weds in the popular blockbuster flick, The Wedding Party. Some ladies secretly crushing on Banky W are still yet to recover from the shock. The bubbling screen goddess has opened up on how she kept her engagement to Banky W away from the media.

    The bubbling screen goddess has opened up on how she kept her engagement to Banky W away from the media.

    “I’m very particular about my inner circle, you can count my closest friends on one hand and that’s because I believe you just needing a few good friends, I am very friendly to everybody else. Also my family, my mum, those are the people that keep it all together for me and they are always there and you can’t beat that” she says.

    Etomi attributed her swift rise in Nollywood to prayer and divine connections. She said her original plan was to stay in Nigeria for three months and head back to the UK.

    “ I didn’t come here thinking I am going to meet this person and meet that person, my strategy was prayer and divine connections. That was what I was going for, I wasn’t trying to look for who was going to help me or give me a handout.The original plan was to stay in Nigeria for three months and head back to the UK but as plans changed she knew she had to hit the ground running, “I knew what I wanted to become and I didn’t know how I wanted to get there but I knew the things I didn’t want to do to get there. I knew there were certain things that were associated with success and that’s preparation, staying prepared, keeping the work at the forefront of everything that I do”

    “I knew what I wanted to become and I didn’t know how I wanted to get there but I knew the things I didn’t want to do to get there. I knew there were certain things that were associated with success and that’s preparation, staying prepared, keeping the work at the forefront of everything that I do” .

     

     

  • We’ll support media in anti-corruption war – Sagay

    Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption has expressed its readiness to cooperate with the media in the fight against corruption.

    Prof. Itse Sagay, the chairman of the committee, gave the assurance at the 12th Annual Ramadan Symposium organised by the Muslim Media Practitioners of Nigeria on Saturday in Abuja.

    He advised the media to be more determined and focused in identifying and reporting corruption in the country.

    He also urged journalists not to be deterred, scarred or frustrated in exposing corrupt practice.

    Sagay also appealed to media outfits to give their employees a decent salary with a view to make them more ethical and professional.

    He emphasised the need for journalists to evolve the strategy and use of investigating journalism effectively.

    In his speech, Malam Nuhu Ribadu, former Chairman, Economic and Financial Crime Commission, said media practitioners had a great role to play in the ongoing fight to emancipate the country from corruption.

    Ribadu, therefore, cautioned the media to continuously rise up and resist attempt to desecrate the country, insisting that the media should be up against corruption in all forms.

    Alhaji Abdur-Rahaman Balogun, the chairman of Muslim Media Practitioners of Nigeria, said the aim of the symposium was to support the ongoing anti-corruption crusade of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

    The theme of the symposium was “Anti-corruption: The Role of Media as a Change Agent.’’

     

     

    NAN

  • Regulating Facebook, Whatsapp will negatively affect ICT growth – Danbatta

    Regulating Facebook, Whatsapp will negatively affect ICT growth – Danbatta

    Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, on Tuesday allayed fears in some quarters that the Commission is out to regulate over the Top (OTT) services.

    Danbatta who made the statement at an ongoing interaction with media executives in Lagos stressed that Over the Top Services (OTT), such as facebook, Whatsapp among others breed innovation.

    The NCC boss added Regulating them [OTT – Facebook, Whatsapp etc] will negatively impact ICT growth.

    Also read…In photos: NCC boss, Danbatta meets media executives in Lagos

    He however mentioned that the resolution of the National Economic Council (NEC) on multiple taxation & multiple regulations in telecoms need to be implemented.

    Full details soon…

  • In photos: NCC boss, Danbatta meets media executives in Lagos

    In photos: NCC boss, Danbatta meets media executives in Lagos

    The Executive Vice Chairman of Nigerian Communications Commission, (NCC) Prof. Umar Danbatta, is currently holding a special interaction with media executives in Lagos.

    From Left: Mrs Funlola Akiode (Director licensing and authorization), Sunday Dare (executive director, stakeholders management), Prof Umar Garba Danbatta EVC/CEO NCC), Tony Ojobo, (Director Public Affairs) and TheNewsGuru publisher, Mideno Bayagbon)

    NCC host media chiefs: Omoniyi Ibietan, Mr. Tony Ojobo [both of NCC]; Mideno Bayagbon and Group Managing Director, TheNewsGuru.com, Mr. Jewell Dafinone of TNG

  • Homosexuality and Western media – Dele Cole

    By PATRICK DELE COLE

    The last few years has been seen a revolution in human sexual behavior; some good, some not so good.

    We have now reached the level where English words have changed their meaning. Marriage used to mean a union between a man and a woman.

    To-day it means any two people, even of the same sex can be married. The West have passed laws making this queer relationship legal – it is too early to know how this would affect children in the future

    The English word of what two homosexuals do when they say they are making love is “buggering”, which is sometimes a synonym for sodomy. That behavior has been frowned upon for centuries for all kinds of reasons.

    But members of the Press, the English establishment, writers, etc. who continually push the boundaries of morally acceptable behavior have fought a successful war to legitimize what used to be aberrant behavior. It is believed that up to half Tony Blair’s cabinet was from the GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender) community.

    A few years ago the norm was such behavior was alright between consenting adults. But the Gay community would not rest with the acceptance that what two adults do in private is their affair. Instead they organized the most affective campaign ever to force people of a different orientation to accept their offensive behavior.

    I would not go into the justification proffered which had led to the present GBLT acceptance by society at large. They do have one strong argument, though, that if you are to fights prejudice that you cannot condemn the GBLT because it is a question of choice and ultimately of freedom: and that opposing it is prejudicial.

    My son showed me a male hippopotamus humping another male. He further assured me that many cows and sheep do it – that is how they are wired. Ergo homosexual men and lesbian women are wired that way and to condemn what to them is natural is to discriminate against them. I pointed out that millions of sheep, cows and hippos behave remarkably differently and the behavior of a few misguided animals cannot be used to justify human behavior!! I did not win the argument.

    The literati class seems to attract this aberrant behavior of people (I use the word “aberrant” in its neutral sense)! But far more important is that quite a few geniuses in mathematics, music, painting, etc. had chosen this life style whether consciously just to be different, or, in fact, cannot help themselves.

    Proponents argued that just as racism was at one time considered an aberrant behavior if we do not accepts GBLT then those who are racists were equally justified on the basis that they cannot help themselves. I have deliberately turned the argument around to show its latent stupidity and absurdity.

    But danger lurks. Our children go to play games, join boy scouts, girl guides and choirs – all good causes. It would seem that the GBLT recruiters find their way into these groups and molest our children until some of them begin to feel that they are naturally gay.

    Is the gay movement not a class feature – only the upper classes or people who have reached a certain level of prosperity in society seemed to want to be gay.

    The Catholic Church used to be a bastion of gay activity between priests and children who serve Mass. The church has paid billions in compensation to keep the activities of many of their priests quiet.

    The point is that our children are exposed at the time they are most vulnerable to the advances of these predators. Boarding schools – male and female are fertile recruiting grounds for the GLBT community because of the vulnerability of the children at these schools.

    The oddities are that so many geniuses have been homosexual. Great poets, scientists etc. Even in ancient Rome and Greece – the culture of homosexuality existed. Lately, pop artists, other artists are reputed to be – Andy Warhol, Elton John etc. Some of leading mathematicians – the breakers of the enigma code, a substantial number of those who have headed or worked in the most sophisticated listening posts in the world – GCHQ – have been homosexuals. Several were arrested and jailed for what was then considered a crime.

    Now they have passed a law to decriminalize them, even to pardon them: The great Steve Jobs of Apple, I – phone etc. was gay and a host of others have all come out to proclaim their deviant sexual behaviour and to wear symbols expressing that difference in behaviour.

    A new scandal is building up in the United Kingdom where over 77 football academies are being investigated for sexual exploitation of children in the academy. This scandal will be much bigger than the scandal that followed the famous TV presenter Jimmy Savile and the equally infamous children story teller and actor, Rolf Harris.

    It would seem to me that these are dangerous trends – the setting up of standards of behavior today which differ remarkably to old standards under which sexual deviants lived. They knew that they were behaving illegally. Where does one draw the line? Last week there was a reprint of Hitler’s, Mein Kampf: will there not be, before long, an attempt to exculpate him?

    Does Nigeria have anything to fear from homosexuals, Lesbians, Bisexuals and Transgender? (GLBT).

    Nigeria is open to predators because several homosexuals exploit the poverty of our people. There are male prostitutes in Nigeria servicing the expatriate and Nigeria homosexual clients. There are gay and lesbian clubs and bars flourishing in Lagos and several other Nigerian cities.

    Moreover Nigerian parents are unable to talk to their children about sex; some have lost control over them through inability to provide for them. Boarding schools are breeding grounds of first sexual experience, usually homosexual and lesbian in nature but most grow out of it while some remain inured to it.

    Western media and entertainment almost inordinately affect us – one homosexual movie a couple of years ago won the Oscar and to- day films dedicated to the GLBT community abound aplenty. Nollywood is an uncritical copycat and will see nothing wrong in copying these deviances. (I have seen a Ghanaian version of same sex relationships).

    It would seem that our religious leaders are unable to refocus on the unacceptability of these sexual mores. Islam is ambivalent on these issues and many Moslem are known to be homosexuals. The Christians are no better.

     

  • 156 media workers killed in 2016- report

    Geneva-based Press Emblem Campaign (PEC) said on Thursday that 156 media workers were killed in 2016 in 33 countries.

    According to the PEC, the figure is the highest in 10 years and an increase of 15 per cent compared to 2015.

    The figure included the nine Russian journalists killed in a plane crash in the Black Sea on Dec. 25 on their way to Syria to report on the conflict.

    According to the PEC, the war in Syria has already claimed the lives of over 110 journalists since 2012.

    “This figure does not cover the journalists who disappeared or those who are still in detention like the American journalist Austin Tice.

    “The year 2016 was a very difficult year for the journalists’ safety.

    “The price for covering news was very high with three journalists killed every week on average,’’ PEC Secretary-General Blaise Lempen, said.

    Lempen added that two thirds of the fallen journalists were killed in war-torn countries.

    The PEC records showed that 135 journalists were killed in 2015; 138 in 2014; 129 in 2013; 141 in 2012; 107 in 2011; 110 in 2010; 122 in 2009; 91 in 2008; 115 in 2007, and 96 in 2006.

    The PEC is a non-governmental organisation with special consultative UN status, was founded in June 2004 by a group of journalists from several countries.

    Its aim is to strengthen the legal protection and safety of journalists in zones of conflict and civil unrest or on dangerous missions.