NIGERIA UNION OF JOURNALISTS (LAGOS COUNCIL)

Politics and intrigues in the Newsroom- culled from The Light House News. A Quarterly Publication of Lagos NUJ –March 14^th, 2002.

When the search began for the News Editor in his media organisation, Dele Bakare was obvious choice of everybody, including his colleagues. He had not only proven himself as a crack and resourceful reporter, he was also what one could call a ‘reporters ‘reporter.

An editor‘s delight because of his reports which are not only well written but also full of necessary details .So it was no problem when he was recall from an assignment outside the country to come and head the News Desk, which was then in a bad shape , needing an experienced reporter of his calibre.

Is appointment was greeted with jubilation by reporters who felt that the management had a last recognised one of them as being good enough for the hot seat. He quickly settled down to business by mapping out strategies for achieving total coverage of all areas.

Though seen as a round peg in a round hole. Dele did not find things easy with some of his lieutenants, who felt they, and not him, should occupy the seat. Try as much as he did, his efforts were not able to improve the news content of the paper. “Instead of my two deputy news editors, to support me, they were busy backbiting and sabotaging my efforts.

Production was not only late, story miss was almost a daily affair”, said Dele. After series of warnings. Dele was suspended indefinitely and, one of his deputies, appointed to acts News Editor.

The person so appointed quickly swung into action by improving the copy flow, thus making sure that the paper goes to bed early. During this period, he made sure words got to the management that the suspended News Editor was not good and that he was better. This surprised his bosses who began to suspect that the previous production problem could have been deliberate on the part of Dele’s subordinates. Fed up with similar intrigues in the past, the management removed Dele along with his deputies for poor performance. Thus ended their tenure.

The new person who was brought from a sister publication, on resumption, had to change his seat fearing that the chair might have been splashed with native charm to harm him.

In a similar development, Segun Peters whose appointment to a top editorial position was initially applauded by colleagues lost it few days after due to protest by one of his colleagues, who believed he should have been appointed in his stead. Another, had his promotion delayed for more than a year because of a jealous colleagues, who felt he has too many promotions in recent times. He colluded with the Personnel Manager, who happens to be his friend, to delay action on his promotion. Ironically, he also could not use his so called connection to promote himself.

These kind of fears, favouritism, intrigues, blackmail, falsehood and outright sabotage, are the hallmark of most newsrooms in Nigeria today. But the story is not bad all through as some appointments do produce fantastic result.

Tunde George earned his promotion to the post of News Editor by dint of hard work, a fact even his rivals acknowledged. And when he rose from there to become Editor of one of the titles in the stable, nobody could fault his appointment.

These scenarios are some of the high tech politics played daily in various Newsrooms across the country so tense and chaotic is the Newsroom, the uninitiated will find it hand to believe that journalists have time for such high tech politics.

The dream of every reporter or writer is to become a Line Editor. For the report, it is a dream comes true if he becomes News Editor, being the only top editorial position he can realistically aspire and get to through promotion. Any position higher than this is by chance and political expediency.

Regrettably, politics is gradually creeping into the appointment of New Editors. In some media organisations today, the reporter must also be politically connected to be appointed News editor.

Though the cub reporter might not notice, but as he climbs the ladder, he realises that it is easier for the camel to pass through the needle’s eye than becoming News Editor.

From the cub reporter to senior reporter, correspondent, senior correspondent, the field reporter is immune to the politics of the newsroom. Being the person on the street, his duty is to gather the stories and write, leaving his bosses in the newsroom to do the rest.

Here, he has to prove himself as a good or bad reporter .If found to be good and reliable , he can progress to become an Assistant News Editor and join the re-write desk, where he, like others in same position are expected to work under the Deputy News Editor as re-write –men . Here he would work on reporters’ scripts to make senses out of them and make them publishable. He is also to ensure that such scripts conform to the organisation’s house style.

At this level, he is exposed to News room politics and administration. He is assigned some reporters who report to him on daily basis. He discusses story ideas with them and briefs them on what is expected of them from their beats or scripts. He assigns them, particularly the cub reporters, and ensures such assignments are duly carried out. He could also be assigned to monitor news from other sources such as the wire (News Agencies) report and radio television newscast.

A satisfactory performance at this level could earn him a promotion to either the Deputy News Editorship or a line Editor in other department such as Sports, Business, Politics, Features, Foreign, Sub (editing) desk etc, from where he could be recalled, if found worthy, to the News Editor. It should be noted that the News Editor is rated at least a step ahead of other Line Editors.

Though rated number three in the newspaper hierarchy behind the deputy Editor and main title Editor, he has more clout than and could functionally be more powerful than the Deputy Editor , being the engine room of the media organisation.

As a News Editor, the bulk of the job revolves round him. He is in charge of the news room and all the news that go into the paper, thus making the life wire of the paper. All reporters and correspondents across the federation or wherever else report to him.

He is assisted by retinue of aides like one or more deputy News Editors and several assistant News Editors.

“Administering the newsroom is a challenge that only the tough survives. Newsgathering, reporting and writing daily is a very tough assignment. While battling to ensure that all major stories of the day are reported in the paper, it is the duty of News Editor to source for exclusive stories for his paper to stay ahead of competitors”, stated a News Editor of a National paper.

He added that being a News Editor involves more than just editing copies. “It involves managing resources and human beings. He has to contend with reporters some of whom are most difficult set of human beings on earth. To manage a reporter is a difficult task. From experience most reporters are truants, but among them also could be found those with flashes of geniuses, whose materials can compete favourably for honours anywhere in the world,” he said.

That is why in most cases the News Editor has his favourites among the reporters. Some one he can rely on anytime to deliver. Expectedly, these are the reporters who will always get the ears of the News Editor and earn promotion as and when due. Ideally, the News Editor should not have an enemy among correspondents as it could be suicidal as a perceived bad reporter could turn out to be the saving grace on a bad day.

Like a football coach, a News Editor is adjudged on his last performance. If he gets all the day’s stories and beats his counterpart in other papers, he is good but woe betides him should he miss the major story for the day. So when the News Editor sometimes acts like a mad man his situation should be understood within this context.

Suffice is to say, of all the editors, The News Editor is the most feared by reporters. They like his job but nobody likes him as he is seen as a bully. Unfortunately, as important as this position is, very few have made it to the top as title Editors.

This is the irony of print journalism in Nigeria today. Most title Editors today are either features or opinion writers. Publishers tend to prefer these categories of journalists as Editors for reasons best known to them.

The life span of a News Editor could be as long as 24 hours or far less. Most editors are quick to sacrifice their News Editors once there is problem. Indeed the newsroom is a mad house of politics and intrigues.

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