Channels TV: The Need for Caution

Comfort Obi

The news carried by Channels Television alleging the would-be resignation of President Umaru Yar’Adua was broken to me at lunch on Tuesday, September 16. Having traveled all day, I was famished and barely managed to get to the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, for lunch before the restaurant closed. As I sat down with my sister, making faces at the array of food which looked good, but tragically tasteless, a former security officer walked up to me. After we had exchanged greetings and phone numbers he stunned me by asking: "Have you heard that Yar’Adua will retire tomorrow after reshuffling his cabinet?"
For one moment, what he said didn’t click. So, I looke him straight in the eyes and asked: What was that?" He repeated: "A friend told me that according to Channel’s Television’s Breaking News story, the President would resign tomorrow." So, I asked him: Did you listen to Channels yourself? I thought it was important to ask that because Nigeria is a huge rumour mill industry. You hear a story from somebody, and it is never confirmed. He/she, who just "authoritatively” told you, would, once you start asking questions tell you “somebody told me.” At the end, you will find out there was absolutely nothing like that.
So, I asked this ex-spy if he listened to the news himself. The moment he quoted an unnamed friend, I lost interest. But as he persisted, I said: “I don’t believe Channels Television will run a story like that. The station does not indulge in sensationalism and/or half-truths." When I went into my room, I remembered the discussion, and burst out laughing. I said to myself: "These security agents are funny. Why was he telling me such a thing? Did he want me to talk about the President so he would go quote me or what?” I was like, he was not smart. Why would the President reshuffle his cabinet, and then resign? Will the “new man” inherit the new cabinet members? Why would a President who had just sacked his Service Chiefs, his Secretary to Government, and appointed their replacement resign like that? Why wouldn’t the President address the nation if he felt the heat had become too intense for comfort? But two hours later, I was singing a different song.
As I switched the television channel from the Cable News Network (CNN), to a local station, there it was and, to put it mildly, I was stunned. All I could say, to no one in particular, was: How could Channels allow Yahoo Yahoo boys hoodwink it into airing something this untrue and this sensitive?
I have since read the account by Channels Television. In carrying the story, Channels had said: “News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) is reporting that President Yar’Adua could resign on health grounds after his proposed cabinet reshuffle." The station reported a rebuttal 10 minutes later. But in its press statement where it explained how it got into the mess, Channels explained: "The news was sourced and attributed to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), a government-owned agency to which we subscribe, and it was also sent to us by the Agency France Presse (AFP), another international wire service, to which we also subscribe.” Good.
It does not matter how much Channels tries to explain. It was wrong. That news item was irresponsible, and that is putting it mildly. It was a mischievous story capable of planting distrust between politicians, and between the country's ethnic groups. Nigeria is going through turbulent times. It doesn’t matter what rosy picture our leaders paint.
Yar’Adua has just come back to the country after 17 days of being away without anybody, but a few, knowing exactly why he was away for that long. There were rumours, which mercifully turned out to be false, that he was dead. His wife, Turai, has been on the front burner, with stories going round that she is the de facto Mr. President. A wire service had distributed an unbelievably compromising photograph of Yar’Adua’s young son. In the past couple of weeks, the PDP has regaled us with stories of coups and how there are plans to distabilise Nigeria. There is the near-war situation in the Niger Delta. Now, on top of all that comes this irresponsible, unfounded story.
Channels Television had ways to confirm such a story. It has a State House correspondent. Did anybody call him? Since it didn’t get the story from NAN, and seeing that AFP quoted NAN, did it call NAN? Did it call either the Presidential Spokesman, or the Minister for Information?
Expectedly, the federal government is angry. It should. But what is all these gra-gra it is doing all about? Of course, Channels Television threw caution to the wind. And it has so accepted. And aplogised. So, why is the FG killing a fly with a sledge hammer? A terrible mistake has been made. An unrestrained apology has been offered. So, why seal Channels and then suspend its licence? Was it necessary to storm the station in bus loads of security agents, intimidating and harassing staff? In the case of NAN, it is obvious that the cursed story did not emanate from it. So, why arrest anybody in NAN? Hasn’t the SSS heard of this type of hacking of people's network for mischievous purposes before? It is an everyday story. We all experience it. You open your mail-box and you see all kinds of thrash. Nigerians learn the bad easily. That is why anybody would sit down and think of such a satanic news item about President Yar’Adua. That is why some people now use false text massages to destroy homes and relationships. I assume that by the time this column is read, the SSS would have vacated from Channels, and the government, as represented by the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission, NBC would have lifted the suspension of its license.
The FG needs not be told that two wrongs don’t make a right. They need not be told to beware of people like the PDP National Chairman, Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, who take joy in “pouring petrol into fire.” He is talking so carelessly as if there will be no tomorrow. Instead of preaching restraint, he is talking about “Treasonable felony.” He is promising to meet those behind the plot “with tooth for tooth action.” What type of language is that? Does Ogbulafor think we are in a military regime?
Having said those, it is important that the media should be more cautious in handling stories, especially stories capable of setting the country on fire. Perhaps, the time has come for a stakeholders meeting on the Media. In our competition to survive in a depressed industry, operating in a crushing economy, we must put the country's security first. The day it is set on fire, we'll all regret.