Quacks threatening journalism practice, says Prof. Wilson.

Desmond Wilson, a professor of Mass Communication,  has decried the ‘increasing number of quacks’ in Nigeria’s media industry, describing the situation as a threat to the journalism profession and national unity.

The former Dean of Faculty of Arts, University of Uyo, spoke in an interview, saying that the profession should be entrusted to well-trained, unbiased and patriotic professionals.

He noted that untutored practitioners posing as journalists have been responsible for misinformation and dissemination of fake news, a two-fold trend that has brought the media industry to disrepute and mistrust.

His words: “You are not a journalist until you are trained. It’s the very reason we have all kinds of charlatans now in the profession; tailors who can put a few sentences together say they are journalists.

“The most important thing is that you must hold a certificate, through which you acquired some skills during training. You can’t because you write or because you can argue claim becoming a lawyer.

“There are writers who write columns in newspapers or magazines or run commentary in television or radio, that doesn’t make them journalists.

“We must be able to defend that aspect of the business that you must be first of all be certificated, you must be trained in the business of journalism or broadcasting to perform efficiently.”

The Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) particularly specifies that a journalist must have a certificate not below the diploma level.

“And, if you don’t have it, no matter how well you may write you aren’t qualified as a journalist.

“You may have some natural skills, which you can bring into it but you need to be trained. Those skills have to be shaped and sharpened in such a way that you make a difference. There are journalists and there are journalists,” he stated.

Wilson argued that it was not enough to use social media platforms to present stories, adding: “If you look at the qualities of those stories, do they reflect the kind of training a journalist should reflect in his writing?

“Besides, being a journalist transcends writing stories, there are many things that go into making one a true journalist because is trained about the culture and basic writing skills.

He said that “There is a code of conduct; someone who has not gone through the training cannot effectively write the kind of stories expected of a qualified journalist.”