By Adetola Odusote
All these smart PR moves to fight back Rufai Oseni’s critics will best be appreciated if you guys (his friends) can advise him on best global practice.
Some have described his type of journalism as adversarial journalism.
That is wrong. Adversarial journalism is different from what you are tainting Rufai to be. He is not a journalist but an On-Air Personality or better still, a media pundit.
Journalists nose for news, Rufai relies on published good, bad, ugly and fake news.
Journalists investigate, Rufai does not investigate anything but reviews what he reads and postulates most often.
Trained journalists like Dr Reuben Abati are factual, Rufai often muddled facts and he is sometimes corrected by Dr Abati live on their program. Journalists are not judge mental, we don’t insult and persecute our guests by charging them guilty when a law court has not found them guilty, Rufai does that with reckless abandon.
Please all of you spinning for him should advise him rightly and stop misleading him.
I am writing here as an accomplished award winning journalist; a former Reporter; Sub Editor; Chief Production Editor: Assistant Editor, and Editor in such national publications as Today’s Choice Magazine, Thisday Newspaper, Leaders & Co Magazine, (on Thisday Stable), The Week Magazine, BRANDfaces Magazine etc.
I am a Masters degree holder of Mass Communications.
Rufai is brilliant, eloquent and fantastic but he needs to step up and mature. He is being youth oriented, bringing his frustration with the Nigerian nation on his guests (typical of some Gen Z class).
He holds the political class (except Labour Party members) responsible for the poor state of the Nigerian nation. We all berate the political class for failing and drowning the nation.
But as a media person you must not take that bias mindset to the studio or newsroom against your guests from the political class that appear on your program: you must keep an open mind and be objective in the course of duty.
Journalism is one of the oldest most respected professions in the world. It has its practice standards and ethical principles.
God bless Nigeria.
