BY PRISCA SAM-DURU

The annual  International Documentary Film Festival, IREP dedicated to the promotion of Documentary filmmaking as a veritable medium through which desirable change can take place in the world, came to  high point  last week on the day two of the programme as issues affecting operation of the media  in Africa were discussed.

With the theme, Democracy and Culture: The Documentary Film Intervention, screening of the film, Headlines, a documentary on 50years of the Nation Media of Kenya, set the mood for a critique by a panel of editors who  discussed the theme in relation with the peculiarity between Kenya and Nigeria media.

The panelists were comprised of President of  Nigerian Guild of Editors and Editor-in-Chief of Vanguard Media, Gbenga Adefaye; former Deputy Editor of The Guardian, Ben Tomoloju; broadcaster and  former Editor of Next 234 Kadaria Ahmed; Arts editor of National Mirror, Adenrele Niyi and Writer/Activist, Tolu Ogunlesi.

Considering the desire for participatory democracy and the fact that Africa is charting a fresh path into a future that is characterized by good governance, accountability, rule of law, true democracy and responsible leadership, the media round table  highlighted the role of documentary as an important change mechanism for any nation as evident in the documentary on media activities in Kenya.

Ben Tomoloju who set the ball rolling with response to a question posed by the moderator, Publisher Media Review, Lanre Idowu, on whether over censorship of the media is an African thing, pointed out that the issue is same in most other countries such as Russia, South Korea, Togo and  Gabon.

He hinted that the media in such instances were embraced when it towed the line of the nationals, but suddenly became an arc-enemy of the government as it began to criticise the beneficiaries of power or in general, set out to perform its duties conscientiously adding that, “this was the dilemma The Nation faced as individuals and groups who were pro government took sides with the government against the organization.

Tolu Ogunlesi in his opinion observed that broadcast media has potentials to influence public opinion because of its wider reach. He however lamented that  this has not been so and therefore  appealed to practitioners to be politically engaged rather than dishing out entertainment all  the time.

In his own contribution, Ownership of Print media by private individuals was noted by Adefaye to be constitutional. He however wondered whether it is right for politicians for instance, to seize the public space  in furthering their selfish desires. According to him, nobody has the right to stop anyone from establishing a print medium, but the Nigeria Union of Journalists should as a matter of urgency insist on good pay package.

The moderator however said there is nothing wrong with having so many newspapers in circulation but pointed out that  it would be more effective if the nation can have newspapers each focusing on a particular subject such as culture, environment etc.

The  Arts Editor of National Mirror Denrele on her own part, harped on focus on training for the Nigerian journalists to be competent professionals stressing that the media must become indispensable, which can only be achieved if it is totally independent.