TB JOSHUA AND THE N50,000 'GIFT' TO JOURNALISTS BY SIMON ATEBA

People have been asking me, "Simon , were you at that press conference on 13 September where Prophet T.B. Joshua allegedly gave N50,000 to journalists to write a positive story on the building collapse that killed many people?", my answer is always the same. I was not at that event and cannot comment on it. But I do not feel better or more righteous in any way than those who might have collected anything. The truth is this, as long as journalists in Nigeria are not paid for months or are given irregular crummy salaries, as long as they are not insured, as long as publishers pocket all the corrupt money they get in the forms of adverts or special reports from corrupt politicians, and as long as Nigerians refuse to spend their money on newspapers, which push publishers to solicit money from politicians who have pocketed everything, many journalists will continue to accept gifts, bribes or whatever you call it. I understand that foreign journalists at the event and a Nigerian journalist allegedly rejected the money. I am happy they allegedly did and that's where the profession should be. That's the ideal we all want. But that's not where we are. Most journalists in Nigeria have no insurance. Many newspapers in Nigeria have not paid their reporters for months, some even a year, including those newspapers that are even getting those corrupt advert money from government officials. A CNN, Reuters, Associated Press or BBC journalist will surely die if he was not paid for one year, had no insurance, no house to live in, and no friend to support him. And many former journalists who are now successful and even the society at large, are very wicked. They see a journalist who is striving to stand out, who wants to be objective and unbiased, they watch him as life challenges crush him to death. No car, no house, no savings, nothing to show for 20 years of work. And when such a journalist accepts a gift, the same society says, look at him, he's corrupt. He's biased. He's unethical. But the same society screaming does not buy newspapers, they prefer to spend all their money on drinks, cigarettes, clothes, bags and cars but demand and expect higher standards from the media. So I am sorry to say it won't happen. The society is hypocritical and the media industry is sick. But until there's a shift, nothing will change. I can say more, and go on and on, but for now, it's time to mourn the dead.