By Abdulkabir Olatunji

President Muhammadu Buhari complained recently about the way he believes the Nigerian media has refused to publicise his achievements and by extension that of his government. Speaking to young political appointees in his government at a meeting with them on Wednesday in Abuja, the president expressed his dissatisfaction: ” “I’m very disappointed in the Nigerian press. They didn’t give this government the credit of the ‘Go back to the land’ programme. We have cut down the importation of rice by at least 90 per cent,” he said.

There has been a mixed reaction to this with some people saying his media aides have not done enough in the area of publicizing government programmes while others believe it is just the case of a failing president giving excuses for his failure.

However, I have another perspective on this issue which is that while the majority of the media might not be deliberately going out of its way to hide the Buhari government’s achievements, there are some underlying reasons why progress being made might be under-reported.

First, the prevalence of social media means that journalists are not immune from messages that become viral or popular. Going by patterns in the last 3 years of the Buhari administration, it is obvious that the opposition has a louder voice than the government or its supporters on social media. Hence, at least, until very recently, the messages on social media were largely anti-Buhari with the opposition, its supoorters and sympathizers making every effort to downplay the government’s achievements. Such people would argue for example that N-power is not a viable programme even when evidence suggests the opposite, the same with the government’s school feeding programme that is beginning to gain international attention. In terms of project delivery and initiation of new ones that can really drive economic growth and development like the railways and investments in electricity, there is the same tendency for the opposition inspired social media chorus to insist progress is not being made. Now, if a journalist gets immersed in all of this negativity, they may begin to subconsciously suppress the positives of this government and amplify what the opposition considers the negatives. For example, a lot of the reportage on the killings in Benue state and other states in the middle-belt has been rather unprofessional and problematic if one wants to be brutally honest. Killings in Zamfara state and the state of insecurity which was probably worse around the same time went largely underreported. A case of similar situations, different reactions by the media. Perhaps, because the Benue state situation falls into a prevailing narrative and the Zamfara situation does not.

A second reason that President Muhammadu Buhari’s government might be finding it difficult to get proper reportage on its efforts and achievements in moving Nigeria forward is the fact that a certain part of the media that has become influential especially on the Internet has defined itself by focusing on what is wrong rather than what is going right for Nigeria. Therefore, a check on the headlines promoted by some of the most popular online media in Nigeria will show that stories of scandals and misdemeanour by government officials are actively promoted rather than developmental news. The public that has been nourished on drama over the years demands no less.

Members of the media respond to this criticism by claiming they are only reporting what happens — a fair submission on the surface. However, closer scrutiny shows that the media rarely publishes negative news about itself. So, we do not read stories about how journalists collect and sometimes demand gratification when they are sent to cover events in the corporate world and government itself. One might be tempted to think that journalists have a higher moral consciousness than the rest of society, we rarely read about journalists committing crimes or being involved in scandals. Does this mean they are more disciplined than the rest of society? I opine that this is not quite so, a young journalist told me with a sentiment akin to despair recently that leading media personalities insist on molesting and abusing young women seeking to be trained or start work in the industry. How many media houses have reported this in Nigeria? Almost none.

Then there is the corruption by journalists who are available for a fee to either promote certain causes or kill certain stories. Information and misinformation has become a tradable commodity for this set of journalists and they are plenty in Nigeria.

This article is not meant to suggest that the government of President Muhammadu Buhari is without its problems and blemishes — far from it. It has not always provided factual information in a suitable and timely manner. It has not done enough to engage the social consciousness of Nigerians towards responsible use and sharing of information and of course, people have a right to criticize many of its policies either because they might be bad or could be better.

Ultimately, the government and the media can do better to ensure that the news we get as Nigerians is factual and not contrived to achieve certain objectives that might not be in our collective interest as a people. The media needs to also play its part in nation building and this is not synonymous with negative news by default. There is room for criticism but there should also be equal room for reporting progress and positive ideals.

Source: Is President Buhari Right About the Nigerian Media?

He is very right . 100% right
www.nairaland.com/attachments/8027555_img20181026wa0020_jpegdef2060c564df5e3e51e593267aa58ed

How can they publish projects that are so huge to be seen with the naked eyes.

These are reasons
1. Bad news sell fast than good ones, your party contributed to this when they were opposition party
2. Your media team concentrated more on NTA forgetting that many Nigerians don't watch that TV. Your media team are just feeding fat on the amount budgeted for publicity while they deceive you by saying all is well.

BMC are not justifying their 30k monthly pay

D

Social media has its own contribution. I'm aware of it negativity but there is good side too. It expose the powerful. Look at fayose audio then and also ganduje video for example. You won't see such on NTA

If your hands are clean... Prove it

S

Nothing Buhari says is ever right.
The media is controlled by his zombies and APC minions who keep bugging us with his imaginary projects.

It is not fair that he doesn't give his BMC staff the credit they deserve despite their 30k monthly salary being owed.

Afterall, Lauretta Onochie stole images off google to lie as Buhari's projects.
Bashir Ahmad did the same.

Lai Mohammed said the 2nd Niger bridge was almost completed.
Yarimo, Usba, Madridguy, Sarrki and Buhariguy have justified themselves here on Nairaland so is their newest recruit Alepa also doing.

The least Buhari can do is to appreciate these ones who call white black out of blind loyalty.

Blamocracy as usual.

Even if he's right they'll say that he's wrong. No one says the truth about President Buhari.

Right my arse....Which achievement exactly ??... Abi na d wan wey una go steal from India u want make dem use?? Abii wetin lie mohammed talk na true??

You tell us...is he right?

Without reading 2ru, I said NO. because your administration, "na lie lie one".
like if u agree with me n share if u disagreed.

How exactly can they publish projects of such gargantuan heights
They gotta see it to talk about it aye?
Balderdash

You hired online miscreants like BMC who can't even point out your achievements but insult the opposition on social media.

You stopped AIT from entering Aso rock or covering you anywhere, thereby sending a message to others that you're not social media friendly

You forgot that most online users are from the southern part of the country but you still call them the 5%

You also arrested journalists that refuse to play by your rules.

You didn't know everyone was watching, you can only fool your gay cows and your BMC folks, you've literally not achieved anything tangible the media would talk about

Rubbish which yeye achievements

I was here

Buhari?

who is Buhari?

Here in calabar, we don't know who is buhari.....


Atiku we know



Buhari we don't know

My space is booked and I'll come back later.


[UPDATE]
If a journalist is swayed by reports on social media then he better start calling himself a copy and paste blogger.
I once thought journalists were quick to deride bloggers as quacks. Why follow their ways if not because of laziness and ineptitude? Why go for training if all they'll do is pool opinions from social media? Where is the objectivity they brag so much about?
Nigeria. We still have a long way to get things right.

Good thing speaks for itself

The reason is not far-fetched.

1. The amount of decay under Buhari is times 7 more than his infrastructural achievements.

2. The amount of sufferings and hunger plus inflation under Buhari is times 10 more than his poverty/economic achievements.

3. The amount of fraud under Buhari is times 5 more than the amount his government claimed to have recovered.

4. The last but not least, the amount of lies peddled by his information minister will not allow majority of citizens believe his government even when he is telling the truth.

yes...they are too unprofessional and rational...too many fake news

He controls NTA and all APC states TV stations, but what do you broadcast when you've got nothing to show. Even with the BMC crew.

Check out Fashion for example, he has nothing to campaign with, now he dangles 2023 presidency as if it's his birthright.

The power of the storyteller...

Like I've opined many times , Our press is one of the major proponents of disunity & disaffection....

They are always click baiting, headline will scream something but on reading, the main body of the write up won't have any correlation & if there were,it's almost negligible..


Mohammed Indimi's children are married to the children of Abacha, Babangida, Abdusalami & Buhari (most recent of all the corridor of power marriages) but in the reportage of his Money Laundering issue in the UK, it was reported as Buhari's in law solely....


& one other salient fact (even though it's horrible for the press to be so compromised) Buhari doesn't give the press what they are used to (brown envelope) & he expects them to showcase his works? Nah .. Nothing goes for nothing is their motto...

Either ways, Buhari needs to up his Branding & PR, it's one of his major Achilles heels after the bigotry tag.

He is absolutely wrong

Firstly, we're talking about a president who dodged his presidential debate and has never had a live presidential chat with the local media- something which should be done monthly. He set out by gallivanting around the world and only granting exclusive reviews to foreign media when outside the country forgetting about the local media. Maybe he thought that way he could sustain the propaganda by foreign news outlets who brought him to power. He perhaps thought foreigners would be involved in voting. However of recent they've seen him for who he truly is and have been dragging him and his so called integrity on the floor. He now remembers the local media when he's already sinking. Shows a man with slow thought process.

He should start by organising a live presidential media chat. But I'm sure he's handlers wouldn't allow him or they'd insist he should answer questions from a book because he's sure to make more bigoted and explosive statements whenever he speaks without being told what to say

Secondly, he has to perform at least to an extent so that the media outfits have something to constantly report. But here we're talking about a disaster of a man who twice pushed Nigeria into the greatest recession she has ever seen. Even his paid BMC crew are finding it hard to Photoshop his already battered image. Hence, most times they resort to insults.

Just look at how they're throwing personal attacks at Atiku instead on focusing on telling the electorates what their master has achieved.

Fact is that now that he's desperate, he'd start throwing tax payers money around in a bid to salvage his drowning image.

Media should please help to spread these achivements

The media is an evil organisation. They control minds . They do not report attacks and killings of fulani or muslims. Bt always quick to report if its other way around.