The link below isn’t one I’m proud to share because it represents an indictment of Nigerian journalists and their trade. How so? There is a portion of the story stating, in no uncomplicated terms, that television journalists accredited to cover the inaugural edition of Naija Super 8 football competition are prohibited from coming with devices to record live action during the competition.
Naija Super 8 Organisers begins media accreditation
What is offered to palliate this is an opportunity for TV journalists to be at the media centre for post-match interviews to augment their reports. The prohibition was widely communicated, with the link providing a clasping evidence of it.
But seized by an inability to process basic information and bovinity, one Ufoma Ufuoma Osusu came to the match venue with a cameraman, who was doing what is clearly prohibited.
I approached him and told him he was not allowed to do that. He responded with his name and, perhaps, thinking I should quake, he announced himself as a “senior journalist”. I told him I’m one too and that he should shove it and take a walk.
Admirably, he complied. Obviously stung, he scooted to Facebook to write muck and even mentioned my name. A young friend drew my attention to the calumny he was trying to pull off. For a man of his age, which is obvious by the creased face, and alleged experience, his inability to understand a very basic instruction was heartbreaking.
Nigerian journalists are regularly under fire for a sharp dip in comprehension capabilities. Osusu is the model of the genre. The instruction passed in the communication is one that would be understood by a pre-teen. But it was beyond the capability of a man who self-identified as a senior journalist. The instruction was not written in cuneiform or Cyrillic alphabets. If a senior journalist couldn’t understand something as basic as that, we have to worry
