Responsible journalism is nothing but a necessity

The one thing about responsible journalism that many newsmen do not seem to understand is that it does not only earn respect for a journalist or the media establishment but also helps the media fraternity to contribute positively to building a responsible and decent society.

It also helps the media fraternity to contribute to inculcating into the younger generation values or morales like honesty, integrity, humility and above all, a sense of responsibility.

It is no denying that the media has a great influence on every society; members of society, especially the younger ones cultivate certain lifestyles and/or behaviors from what they view on television, listen to on radio, and read in magazines and newspapers, and now over the internet.

Just as a responsible media can contribute greatly to a society's development, an irresponsible media can harm the societal value systems, pollute the minds of the younger generation and still think all is well.

That is why a campaign aimed at promoting responsible journalism in any country need not be seen as an attempt to gag the media but rather to make media men and women do their work in a manner that helps to engender the positive social values listed above.

A couple of days ago, I read a post on the Facebook page of the Executive Director of Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), Sulemana Briamah, in which he appeared to argue that the discussion should rather be about professionalism and not apparently not about 'responsibility.'

He sought to question to whom the media should be responsible?

Government may have initiated the debate for responsible media or journalism but government alone in reality, does not stand to benefit from responsible journalism.

The reality is that not only has government or government officials been 'victims' of irresponsible journalistic works.

Celebrities, bankers, teachers, and perhaps other professionals may have equally fallen victim to irresponsible journalism.

This therefore suggests that journalists and media organizations ought to be held accountable or responsible for the media contents they produce.

We cannot as a society on one hand hope that the younger generation should grow to become responsible adults and patriotic citizens when we continue to feed them with media contents produced irresponsibly.

We have to feed them with responsible contents; we have to be mindful of our conducts as pressmen and women.

We need to constantly ask ourselves whether the media contents that we produce that children we don't know are likely to be exposed to, are they contents that we would want our own children to be exposed to?

As a journalist, one cannot be responsible enough if one would go ahead to produce media contents that children from elsewhere would be exposed to but that which you do not want your kids to come across either on television or internet.

Responsible journalism should not always be something that a journalist has to practice because he or she has been reminded by state actors to be responsible; it is something that a journalist ought to always practice because for me it is a matter of morality and value.

For every content a journalist puts out, it shows either his or her level of moral degeneration or moral uprightness.

In my view, a journalist has no choice but to be responsible at all times because his or her work affects society.

Note: The writer Melvin Tarlue is a journalist working at Daily Guide