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RSNC GM Charges Students On Passion For Journalism ….Says 75% Of New Media Content False
The General Manager of Rivers State Newspaper Corporation (RSNC), Chief Ernest Chinwo, has charged upcoming journalists to be passionate about the journalism profession in order to register their pens in the information society.
Chinwo, who gave the charge during an excursion of the Post-Graduate Students of Mass Communication, Rivers State University, to the corporation, noted that journalism was such that reckons practitioners with the bigwigs of the society, saying that such heights could only be attained through passion for the profession.
Describing journalism as a noble profession, he said “Journalism at any level is about passion. It is the power of journalism as it gives you access to persons that matter in the society “.
Fielding questions from the students, the General Manager said newspapering was faced with modern day challenges, including the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) trend and the ‘New Media’, stating, however, that the corporation was on course with its ultra-modern Speed Master Rotary Machine.
“There are prevailing challenges. We are in the ICT period where things are changing almost on a daily basis. Because equipment are changing, you also need to keep the pace. You need to upgrade not just the equipment but the materials.
“The advent of the new media also poses a lot of challenges to us. Times were when you have to wait till the next morning for your information but it is not so now. While the event is happening, people are already aware. So that people do not bother about buying the hard copies because the information is already obsolete by the next morning.
“But then, these media influencers are not professionals and I can say that more than 75 per cent of what you read in their reports are false”, he stated.
The RSNC boss stated that the falsehood was due largely to the absence of the traditional processes of news confirmation, adding that the challenge affects not just the media houses but the public in their news consumption.
Chinwo further urged the students to, “come into the profession, embrace it and follow it up. It can take you to places”.
He said further that because of the new trend, the cost of producing a newspaper today is higher than the cost of sales
Earlier, the Deputy Group News Editor, The Tide Newspaper, Sogbeba Dokubo, who conducted the students round the different departments of the corporation noted that TheTide, established since 1971, was the best sustained in the comity of states’ newspapers.