The thorny issue of ‘Soli’

I could not help but laugh out loud and yet feel worried after reading the news concerning the ban on ‘soli’. The Ghana Journalist Association (GJA) President, Mr. Ransford Tetteh and his fellow top guns at the association might not have thought it through very well before they released the boldly written statement ‘Soli is banned’ to the media.

As I went through the story, I wondered if Mr. Ransford Tetteh and the others never took soli during their early years as journalists. Or is it because they sit in higher positions, they feel they could issue any statement for the sake of it?

I learnt from my some good friends in the media who are well vexed in soli issues that; soli is derived from the word Solidarity, also known as Handshake and if the name is anything to go by then Solidarity is not a bad thing at all.

Soli is something small, in fact very small when you compare it to what other professionals in the media take. It is something event organizers, musicians, promoters and producers give to journalists for attending their events and also to urge them to put the stories in their respective newspapers.

People try to compare Soli to payola and in many situations the two are quite similar.

Like producers, musicians and presenters say that payola is only an appreciation for a good work done; soli is also given and accepted as an appreciation for attending an event and writing about it. Some pay payola to get the necessary airplay for their songs even if the songs are sub-standard and the same way some others also give soli to make sure they get the necessary media exposure even when they are not worth the attention.

Unlike payola, where you get some radio presenters deny vehemently that they don’t take, every journalist or reporter has one way or the other tasted soli, including the GJA president( I stand to be corrected anyway).

The act of giving and receiving soli are witnessed at events like press conferences, press launches, album releases, and others. Soli is characteristically placed in an envelope and it is rare to see physical cash passing hands – and the first time I came into contact with Soli was on my first assignment for P&P a year ago, covering an event organized by one of the big event organizing companies in Ghana, although I have had a few tutorials on the nitty-gritty of soli by some of my peers.

The moment I was handed the envelope, I did not know what it was until my accompanying cameraman prompted me to open it up and give him his share and that was my initiation and introduction to soli.

Some event organizers are civil, understanding and well organized because even before the programme ends, they go round and dish out the soli-contained envelopes to reporters. Others also package the envelopes nicely and give them out to reporters’ right after the events. But then, some event organizers are not well organized at all, the PR or whoever do ‘hide and seek’ with reporters after such shows and there’s always ‘Tom and Jerry’ kind of chase and run between reporters and such event hosts.

On my first assignment and subsequent ones, I wondered why a form of register was fixed at the door which requires reporters to write their names and corresponding contact numbers but I came to the realization that – the register was to make sure that reporters that collect soli do put their stories in their respective papers or would otherwise get the ‘pressure’ calls to do the stories.

It is not funny when your editor refuses to publish a ‘soli story’ for fear of the soli giver putting excessive pressure on you to produce the story in the paper especially at a time when you’ve squandered the money.

It is also amusing that after a show, reporters open their envelopes with a big smile on their faces on seeing the amount in the envelope and other times, faces are etched with disappointment when the envelope contains such a meager soli.

In as much I say that soli is not such a bad thing, some reporters take it too far and are virtually intoxicated by it. They simply won’t leave you and give you any breathing space until you give them soli. The issue of reporters holding event hosts to ransom ought to be checked.

I remember a pretty lady journalist from a prominent newspaper that spearheaded the ‘soli attack’on event hosts. She was like a leech, wont leave you alone until you provide her something for coming to your event and she got a legion of other reporters to tag along always. Covering events and reporting events are part of the journalists/reporters job for which his/her employers pay him/her monthly and so the transportation fee for the reporter to and from the event venue should not be the burden of the host. It is the responsibility of the reporter to go out and get quality, good-to-sell stories and put them in the paper. That way, the onus lies on the reporter and paper to publish any story they deem fit and not publish any story they’ve collected money for and are also devoid of pressure from any quarter.

It is worrying to see reporters queue for soli and grumble with event hosts for paltry money called soli. Reporters/journalists are influenced by soli and you can’t blame them always. Most reporters/journalists are not being paid well by their employers and as such they would want to rely on the event host to cater for their transport for coming to cover the shows. Most media houses don’t have official cars to transport their reporters to various event venues and especially when most shows are held in the evenings and close at midnights, the reporter is always left stranded.

If employers can motivate their reporters not only with money but other logistics that would make their work easier, reporters would not dwell so much on soli and they would be in a better position to fish for and write good stories.