Perform your duty responsibly, Etteh urges Journalists

The Leader of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Okpolupm Etteh, has urged journalists in the state to perform their duty with the utmost sense of responsibility to God, humanity and the society.
He gave the advice in a statement released on the heels of the World Press Freedom Day celebration,  maintaining that the way and manner journalists handle press freedom could make or mar a society.

“Press freedom must be handled with great care. No journalist in the name of press freedom should publish things that are injurious to the development of society. Some of the things we read on terrorism are information we should avoid making public in order not to compromise security,” the statement stated.

He also asked journalists to exercise restraint in their reportage and warned against blackmail and other forms of yellow journalism, especially as elections are near.

“We should all guard against being used by politicians to blackmail people, especially as elections are close. Yellow journalism destroys the reputation of the press. Some people do not see anything good in the profession because of the practice of blackmail that has pervaded some of our publication,” the statement went further.

Saying journalism is a noble profession which has always been of great significance to human rights protection, independence and sustainable development, Etteh said journalists in the state should devote time and energy to undertake assignments that will develop the society.

“I will love to see our journalists go the extra mile in doing great jobs in the area of health, education, environment, commerce and industry and other developing areas. We have devoted too much time to reporting politics to the detriment of the main issue of sustainable development which is the backbone of humanity,” he said.

Etteh, who is billed to be Guest Speaker at this month’s congress of the State Council of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), congratulated the union on the commemoration of the day.