RAYMOND OZOJI reports
The closure of Anambra Newspapers and Printing Corporation, publishers of the state-owned National Light Newspaper and the corresponding statements made by Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo on the 2025 Workers' Day Celebration at Alex Ekwueme Square Awka, clearly explained his administration's perception of core journalists practicing in the state.
The governor categorically stated that he has not bought any hard copy newspaper in the last 15 years because he reads everything online and that the social media cum citizens' media have taken over the conventional mass media.
The governor even further asserted his position that if anyone claimed to be a journalist, he would like to know his number of followers on his social media platforms, if any. All these are clear indications that the governor is social media savvy and believes very strongly in social media contents rather than the painstaking reports of journalists who are neglected and not recognized especially at government functions.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's state visit, the 2025 Children's Day Celebration at the Solution Fun City Awka are just two out of the many occasions journalists were treated shabbily while social media influencers take the front seat in the coverage of government programmes.
Since Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo came into office, his government hasn't deemed it worthwhile to at least have an interface or media parley with the unsung heroes of his administration, where they would speak to him eyeball to eyeball instead they are relegated to the background and replaced with social media content creators who are the governor's new sensation.
It is interesting to know that Social Media Content Creators and Nollywood Actors have toured the new mini city in Awka housing 58 buildings comprising the new Government House, Governor's Lodge, Presidential Lodge, Amphitheatre, the Solution Fun City and so on for the purposes of correcting negative impressions in their contents but journalists who are moral compass of the society play second fiddle in Soludo's administration. It is indeed a sad reality !
Little wonder then if the governor is deliberately avoiding one on one interactions with core journalists or that his aides are the cogs in the wheel of progress. The governor should be concerned that three years of his administration have gone without a time-out with members of the fourth estate.
If social media influencers, Nollywood filmmakers and others could have the governor's attention, then journalists shouldn't be denied such access because no government survives without robust collaborative media relations with the agenda-setters of the society.
RAYMOND OZOJI is a practicing journalist in Anambra State.
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