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Fond, sad memories of ‘old’ Daily Times

Ebere‭ ‬Wabara, [email protected]‭ ,‬08055001948

In the hey day of Daily Times when  Chief Tony Momoh held sway as the General Manager, Times Publications Division (TPD), in the good, old Agidingbi, Ikeja, Lagos complex, the quality of reportage was such that reporters and the entire editorial team were perpetually on their toes even after the newspaper had gone to bed until the next day! Any lexical infelicity attracted severe sanctions for all those who processed the script: the writer, the copy editor (re-writer), the sub-editor, the proof–reader, the production editor, the night editor and, of course, the editor.

The news-processing regime was such that no room was left for the ubiquitous “printer’s devil” of the Iwe Irohin ero when blatant errors arising from marginal literacy and some measure of production carelessness were attributed to the unseen hand of the much–maligned devil. There was no vicarious liability as any shortcomings were traced to a particular individual who was held solely responsible, while others would be thoroughly reprimanded. It was pleasurably demanding if you knew your onions!

I still remember it all as if it were yesterday. The competition to get published in our copious titles, especially Evening Times, pitted a colleague of mine and friend–for–life, Mr. Kenneth Chioma Ugbechie, now publisher and editor-in-chief of soar-away monthly publication, The Nigeria Political Economist, against me. These were indeed memorable years when journalistic passion was the driving force for the two of us, not pecuniary consideration. There was a lot of emotional attachment to professionalism. The commitment to the job had unparalleled panache. There were no ‘brown/white’ envelopes or land allocations in Lekki, Lagos, from Asiwaju and/or BRF! All we cherished were just bylines and occasional corporate gifts in appreciation of our dispassionate work. All that has changed amid ridiculing of the old school journalists for not being enterprising through PR stunts, blackmail and commercialization of news which are the vogue!

In the days of yore, Daily Times was virtually the newspaper which had all that was needed in any news publication. It was comprehensive, well packaged and, above all, authoritative. The commanding respect it cultivated any sustained was such that made it an all–time reference material. The scholastic characterization of various departments of Times’ publications saw some of the specialized titles on the stable as academic compendia, particularly Home Studies. The Daily Times declarative stance on national and global issues was taken with deserved seriousness. Nobody could ignore it, except at the person’s peril.

Alas, all that has eclipsed as today’s print and electronic media are replete with all manner of advertisements, public relational materials packaged and presented as news and grammatical indiscretions that smack of either illiteracy or slovenliness. At times, a reader is made to doubt his own knowledge of certain things due to the uncertainty created by such blunders.

When they say that educational standard has fallen (and is falling), the magnitude of the cerebral decay is not appreciated until you come in contact with some newspapers or later–day graduates of tertiary institutions. The quality of printed materials these days, public speech and depth of knowledge is so abysmally shallow that one begins to wonder at the level of scholarship that takes place in our mushrooming citadels.

Apart from a few engaging columnists and reporters, you read contributions that remind you of infanthood when Eze went to school in the days of popular Onitsha literature! Without blowing my trumpet, my early days in journalism as a rookie proof–reader laid the foundation of whatever profile I have today. I remember my class of 1983: Kenneth Ugbechie, Isaac Anumihe, Anthony Olumuyiwa (formerly Ikhuenitiju) and Olaosun Okalanwon. Our first boss and head reader was urbane Abubakar Olanrewaju (who recently converted to Christianity). We had fond memories of that green–horn stint. All of us collectively redefined proof– reading. Senior columnists jostled for our eagle–eyed attention before their pages went to bed. To God be the glory, titles from the Daily Times stable were almost error free, unlike what largely obtains these days of sub-literacy without journalistic fervour. Overtime, we established emotional mastery of our foundational job with just our O’ Level result shortly before three of us ended up in UNILAG, from where I proceeded to   Lagos State University and Lagos Business School for postgraduate scholarship, further academic and professional honing and anticipatory doctoral candidacy, possibly soonest!

Syntactical ignorance has become a flourishing bliss among most Nigerian journalists these days. And so, the professional ethic of leaving out any bit of information when in doubt does not even arise. If for any reason verification of factual aspects of a report cannot be carried out, what of lexis and structure (collocation), spelling and punctuation? These writing ingredients do not require extraneous engagements. The howlers in current Nigerian newspapers can only be attributed to slipshoddiness.

The growing intellectual laziness which nurtures sloppiness among some of today’s journalists is inexplicable. Some infantile infractions that ordinary spell-checking on the system could have averted leave a gory sight and sour taste during perusal.

The fact that the English language is not our mother-tongue is no justification for the increasing lexical abuse that dominates Nigerian newspapers. Some errors are just unpardonable. Such drawbacks annoyingly affect reading rhythm. The local media may not have the same language prowess as their British counterparts, but we should expect a minimal level of acceptability in the application of the English language as a working tool.

About a fortnight ago, precisely January 29, I did a tribute here in memories of some departed former colleagues of mine in the old Daily Times of my time (1983 to 2000). Between the publication of that elegiac article and yesterday, one of our production gurus, Mr. Toyin Makanju (fondly called TMak), also joined the sad list. Aged 65, TMak was just a jolly good fellow. Equally gone before him were Emmanuel Ekpenyong (buried on February 11, 2012), Adegboyega Agbesuwa (computer operator shot dead in his house a long time ago by bandits in Ketu area of Lagos just a few hours after leaving our office in Agidingbi), Tunde Sadiq (Sports Editor following the exit of Esbee), Deji Onajobi, Sam Ogwa (one-time Lagos Weekend editor who made me a one-man editorial board for the medium among other primary assignations) and Anene Ugoani (who was killed in Enugu by a hit-and-run driver). I commit the rest of us to God’s care and protection. Please, if you did not read the first part of this article, I strongly advise you do. Again, let us be our brother’s keeper through link-up and communication, especially in these perilous times!  Keeping in touch with one another does not mean money most times—it could just be informational, advisory or networking prospects!

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