In today’s fast-evolving media environment, one question continues to echo across newsrooms, studios, and the public space: Are On-Air Personalities (OAPs) journalists? It’s a valid and timely inquiry, particularly in Nigeria and across Africa, where radio and television remain some of the most trusted sources of information. As the boundaries between news, commentary, and entertainment blur, many OAPs have taken …

I was as enthusiastic about my first ever paying job at Newslink magazine, Makurdi, as I was behind the microphones of Radio Benue. I had done one year of full-fledged broadcasting. Now it was time to do all the talking on paper. I found myself sufficiently equipped to handle the demands of both, as they presented themselves to me. I …

Seye, one of the best sharp shooters and snipers among the PBGs, saw me from their Central Monitoring Station (CMS) embedded inside one of the three bunkers in Dodan Barracks by Siemens. There were about 10 operatives in bunker C from where they saw me. The other 15 (they were 25 all together in Dodan Barracks) had ferried the President …

Ten years ago, this article appeared under a different title, ‘The debt I owe’. Prof. Olatunji Dare was 70 at the time. Ten years later, on Dare’s 80th birthday on 17 July, I’m republishing the article with minor changes. Without this man, I might have turned out to be a literary plumber or perhaps a motor park journalist, but nothing near the …

The Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of the Global Upfront online newspaper, Mr. Madu Onuorah was on Wednesday whisked away by men of the Nigerian Police Force at about 6pm. According to sources, about 10 fully-armed policemen stormed Onuorah’s residence in Lugbe, Abuja, in two Sienna buses. He was arrested in the presence of his wife and children who fruitlessly demanded from the police …

Last week, in the ancient city of Ibadan, Oyo State, two bedfellows – journalism and history – became objects of attraction. The duo have always existed in Siamese matrimony. As a way of emphasizing this liaison, some scholars have defined journalism as history in a hurry. So, this day, Thursday, 30th November to be exact, inside one of the halls …

Pope Francis on Saturday denounced “disinformation” and fake news spread in an effort to influence public opinion as journalism’s principal offence. “Disinformation is the first of the sins, the mistakes — let’s say — of journalism,” Francis told Italian journalists at a Vatican gathering to bestow a journalism prize. Widely considered a savvy communicator himself, the pontiff returned to the …

The advent of any significant changes in technology has often triggered concerns about the fate of journalism. Even at the infancy of social media, TIME covered one of its editions of 5 February 2009 with concern about the imminent death of journalism. To drive home the point, the graphic was illustrated with a copy of the New York Times wrapping …