Gov’ts must see media as development partners

Isaac Yeboah Africa May - 03 - 2013 , 09:37 2 minutes read

“Today, the media is still in the vanguard of upholding all that is noble, just, fair and would rebound to the progress of the nation,” it stated.

It regretted that recent developments had reinforced the uneasy relationship that often existed between the Federal Government and the media.

“We urge the government to resist anything that might bear the slightest semblance to a curtailment of the freedom of the press. The media parades professionals, who are passionate and committed to the growth and development of the country on all fronts, and they do not deserve to be hounded, repressed or harassed.

“If there are inadvertent infractions of the rules, we expect nothing but the strictest form of conformity to due process and the rule of law in addressing such,” it said.

The guild also said that the Nigerian media was groaning under high cost of production inputs, and appealed to the government to use the opportunity of the Day to appraise how it could make life easier for the media.

It pledged that Nigerian editors would continue to give their best to engender cohesion and harmony in the polity.

“We will always uphold socially responsible acts and practices, and play to the hilt, our roles as partners in progress toward building a country where no man is oppressed, intimidated or harassed. Free press means free expression, and our country needs such to develop and hold its own in the comity of nations.

“The line between press freedom and repression is quite thin, and eternal vigilance is needed at all times,” it added.

Source: Vanguard