By Khalid Ajibade
Nigeria press is believed to have started with the activities of Henry Townsend, who in 1859 founded the first newspaper christened Iwe Iroyin. According to Alabi(2003) the newspaper covered various issues besides spreading christian gospel. Most of the writers then were converted christians. Closer to establishment of Iwe Iroyin, many other newspapers emerged and thus newspapers began to be used as an opposition tool for the colonial oppression and a foundation for nationalist movements.
News is one of the most complex issues to define in mass communication. This fact brought about many definitions as there are journalists. Williams S Maulsbyl defined news as “AN ACCURATE, UNBIASED ACCOUNT OF THE SIGNIFICANT FACTS OF A TIMELY HAPPENING THAT IS OF INTEREST TO THE NEWSPAPER THAT PRINTS THE ACCOUNT”. Even if we reduce our knowledge of news to the definition above, the key words: ACCURATE, UNBIASED ACCOUNT, SIGNIFICANT FACTS, TIMELY HAPPENING………..
Let us take our time to peruse the following headlines of some media houses, both foreign and local as assembled by Kehinde Yusuf (2025), so we can see which of them fulfils the intentions of what News is.
BBC- “BOMB BLAST IN PACKED NIGERIA MOSQUE KILLS FIVE”
AL-JAZEERAH: “EXPLOSION ROCKS CROWDED MOSQUE IN NIGERIA, KILLING AT LEAST FIVE”
DENTSCHE WELLE(DW)’s: NIGERIA: EXPLOSION ROCKS BORNO MOSQUE DURING EVENING PRAYERS”
THE CABLE – “FIVE WORSHIPPERS KILLED, 35 INJURED AS SUICIDE BOMBER ATTACKS MOSQUE IN MAIDUGURI”
THE GUARDIAN (NIGERIA)- ” DEADLY EXPLOSION RIPS THROUGH MAIDUGURI MOSQUE, AT LEAST 7 KILLED”
DAILY TRUST – MANY FEARED KILLED AS SUICIDE BOMBER ATTACKS BORNO MOSQUE”
WHEREAS CHANNELS TELEVISION WHILE REPORTING ON THE SAME EVENT HEADLINES:
“MANY FEARED DEAD AS BOMB BLAST ROCKS MAIDUGURI ON CHRISTMAS EVE”
From the above many headlines we can see how a medium has “terrorized” a faith! Unfortunately this is medium that has been awarded best television station since many years back! It is now crystal clear that Channels Television is winning due to its religious bigotry. We are disappointed in the medium. Let us all analyze the work of Channels Television on the story :
Where is the accuracy in its headline? Was the medium not obviously biased? Is the headline not calling for provocation from citizens especially unsuspected christians who might have assumed that the bomb/explosion was aimed at crushing the christians who were joyfully preparing for Christmas the following day?
Orientation in news writing and reporting refers to the perspective, approach or method employed by a reporter when he is covering an event. This approach can include (1) Tone (2) Perspective (3) Bias and (4) Agenda
However, the essence of orientation and policies is to help achieve consistency in both writing and reporting news, help to build credibility with readers/viewers and to make stories meet certain standards quality and accuracy with a view to both providing the readers/viewers with better understanding of the news content.
Again, slanting in news reporting refers to the manner of presenting news in a way that is biased or skewed towards a particular goal, ideology or agenda. This (slanting) can be done intentionally or otherwise, and can be demonstrated in so many ways – through selective reporting (choosing to report only certain fact of a story while ignoring others (2) through loaded or pregnated words/language -using emotional and sensational language chiefly to influence or induce readers/viewers actions or opinions.(3) It can also be achieved by the Tone and Framing.(4) Source selection – where a medium or journalist chooses only sources that support a particular goal while disregarding others and (5) Omission – this is intentionally or otherwise omitting essential information about an event .
Has Channels Television not intentionally and maliciously omitted the most essential information(mosque) and intentionally emphasizing Christmas Eve?
Let the Channels Television give us its definition of News. The medium should be able to convince the whole world that the headline is professionally cast and not to demean a known faith. The many awards winner Tv station should tell the global world that the headline was written without bias, and most importantly it should demonstrate its accuracy in the said headline.
There is no news when a dog bites a man. However, when a man bites a dog, whether in vengeance or anyhow, it becomes a novelty.
Channels Television had been regarded as truthful, fair, objective and responsible. We so much cherished the medium’s frankness and audacity not knowing that it is a scam, mere camouflage. It is a mere medium packed with ulterior motives of setting adherents of a faith against the other. Channels Television is subjective, biased, unfair and inaccurate in the said story.
Khalid Ajibade writes from Saki, Oke-Ogun, Oyo State
