Aregbesola Charges Media Practitioners on Objectivity, Fairness

By AbdulRofiu Agboola, Osogbo

The Governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has charged media practitioners in the state to uphold the principle of objectivity and fairness in their reportage.

Aregbesola gave the charge while hosting media practitioners across the state for a programme tagged “Iftar with Ogbeni”- fast-breaking at Government House, Osogbo, on Tuesday.

Aregbesola, who bemoaned what he described as unprofessionalism, incompetence and malevolence in the media industries, said lack of objectivity in reportage has drastically affected the rate of mass media patronage.

He said: “The tremendous and remarkable rate of newspaper circulation and distribution strengths in the early 70s is totally different from what we are currently experiencing in the print media industries today, as a result of lack of balance and accuracy.”

Aregbesola who described journalism as a noble profession, lamented the way and manner at which some of the media practitioners go to press without proper verification, authentication and confirmation of facts and details.

The Governor, however, charged media practitioners to find relevant solutions to the needs of the society by prioritizing facts; balance, equity and justice in all their publications, instead of living on falsehood and propaganda.

He pointed out that the diminishing rate of readers’ attitude towards newspapers publication was as a result of avoidable falsehood which has over the years characterized with some of the media organizational philosophy.

The Governor acknowledged the roles of the media towards the realization of sustainable democracy and political will, saying that his government could not compromise the importance of media practitioners to good governance.

Aregbesola said he has suffered sponsored media attacks; abuses and vilification calculated to pull down his government and discredit his soaring popularity and fame.

“My joy tonight is that our state continues to survive in spite the mischievous, desperate and malicious contents in some sections of the media against our government.  Unfortunately, media in recent times have portrayed our government as one of the worst in the country whereas reverse was the case.

“The media has erroneously portrayed us as a famished seeking state, even sometimes regarded our state as a state that owes mountain of salaries, while all these claims are purely lies and fabrication.”

Commenting on his achievement since he became the governor, Aregbesola reiterated his administration’s commitment to ensure total completion of all the initiated projects embarked upon by the current government.