Unfair restriction of media coverage at Presidential Villa

TRACKING_____The Senior Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, yesterday announced the restriction of over 80 media organisations from direct coverage of the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

He disclosed this in a circular, titled “COVID-19: Downward review of Correspondents presence in the Presidential Villa”, which was signed on his behalf by Attah Esa, a Deputy Director of Information at the Presidential Villa.

In announcing the restriction, the Presidential spokesman predicated his action on the doctrine of social distancing and the requirement to not have more than 50 persons at a meeting venue.

He had argued: “In view of the current restriction in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) against gathering of not more than 50 persons at the same time at any venue, as well as to be able to maintain social distancing following the spread of Covid-19 pandemic,

it has become imperative to drastically review down the presence of the over 100 State House Correspondents who usually rendezvous in the Press Briefing Room in the Presidential Villa during this period since all other departments have scaled down the presence of their staff.

“Accordingly, only the under listed correspondents are to enter the Villa for media coverage of any event beginning from Wednesday, March 25, 2020 until further notice as the Covid-19 incidence will dictate”.

He then went further to list the four government owned media organisations, namely, the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, FRCN; the Voice of Nigeria, VON; the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN; and the Nigerian Television Authority, NTA, with the first three to be represented by one reporter each while the NTA by a crew (reporter and videographer). Both the Channels TV and TVC also had their reportorial crews cleared.

The list also included the chairman of the State House Press Corp (for coordination) and only photographers of five private media companies: Thisday Photographer, Leadership Photographer, Daily Trust Photographer, The Guardian Photographer, and Vanguard Photographer.

Curiously, the only press reporter included on the list is from The Sun, a privately owned newspaper where Mr. Adesina was Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief until his appointment as a presidential spokesman.

This alone exposes the SSA to allegation of partiality, nepotism and unfairness in dealing with the media, especially in the present circumstance.

While it is a fact that the coronavirus, COVID-19, is a global pandemic that is fast spreading across our nation and which requires sometimes spontaneous decision,

we believe a decision as sensitive as the denial of direct coverage access to over 80 media organisations could have been implemented differently without betraying such a bias in the selection of the media.

As a reputable journalist and former president of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, Mr. Adesina was wrong to relegate the role of journalists to “press release boys” as his alternative suggestion for their news sourcing implied.

He had advised: “During this interim arrangement, we advise those who are not represented in the above list to liaise with those listed for necessary information/news as well as the Information Officers in the President’s Media Office”.

For, why would any former editor ask reporters covering a sensitive beat as the Presidential Villa to go wait for news. We make bold to say that news is not only what the government or its information/media officers want the reporters to report.

Instead, news is that which they are not willing to disclose but which reporters have a constitutional obligation to expose so as to hold those in authority accountable to the people.

Already, there have been wild speculations that the sudden decision to “ban” over 80 journalists from the State House was a panicky reaction aimed at preventing the independent media from reporting the embarrassing incidence of Coronavirus cases at the Presidential Villa.

Even if we do not hold this view, the unfair manner of selection of the retained journalists makes a defence of the action untenable.

The proper thing to do in this case was to adopt a system whereby all current accredited journalists covering the Villa will have an equal opportunity of being retained based on rotation while the COVID-19 epidemic lasted. It is not late to correct the unacceptable decision if there is the will to do it.