BY ANDREW IKEHI
Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon Emomotimi Guwor has charged journalists to continue to uphold the ethics of the profession in their daily reportage.
Guwor, who gave the charge, yesterday, when he played host to a team of Assembly correspondents, who were in his office on a ‘thank-you’ visit over his support in discharging their assignments, urged the media professionals to shun pecuniary interests in their reportage.
While saying that the profession had in recent times, been invaded by quacks, who for some ulterior motives engage in malicious reports, Guwor, who is the National treasurer, Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures in Nigeria, urged the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) to seek a way of weeding the profession of quackery.
He lauded the Assembly correspondents for diligence and balanced reportage while covering the Assembly’s activities, just as he enjoined them to sustain the tempo.
“The reason we are here is to better ourselves. That is the truth. All you need as reporters is to do the best and be the best.
“You should be ready to give the best to our people. So, I want to encourage. you to continue to do what you are doing. You should do it without any form of bitterness or for pecuniary gains.
“Experience has shown that within the journalism profession, there are some people whose interest is based on immediate reward, so, they resort to unnecessary blackmail. These are majorly quacks within the profession. They blackmail people in order to make it quick.
“But for you who are professionals, you may not get immediate reward as it were, but you should continue to uphold the ethics of the profession, because, there is always a pay time for every good work” Guwor Said.
He said that the 8th Assembly under his watch would not in any way gag the press, just as he urged the media to always approach his office or that of any lawmaker in the State to seek clarifications on any issue before going to press.
Earlier, Mr. Andrew Ikehi, Leader of the Assembly Correspondents, told the Speaker that they were in his office on a thank-you visit for the robust and symbiotic relationship that existed between the lawmakers and the media in the outgone year, 2024
While suing for a sustained collaboration, Ikehi pledged the correspondents’ unalloyed support towards a vibrant legislature in the state.
