Vice President Kashim Shettima has called on the media to serve as a conscience for institutions.
Shettima made the call yesterday in Abuja during a book launch for ” PERSONA, NON-GRATA”, authored by Ismail Omipidan, former chief press secretary to the governor of Osun State.
While delivering his speech, he said that the book “Persona, non-Grata” is an essential pillar of interactions and will help determine the direction of society.
He said, “We must not fail in performing our duty to fill this moral vacuum.
“I am immensely grateful to have witnessed the author’s transitions across the realm of journalism and been invited here to celebrate his recollections of events that shape and shake his convictions.
“We cannot build an ideal state if the intellectual class, especially the journalists, are not allowed to be our conscience.
“This is the thesis well explored in Plato’s unforgettable book.
“The republic, which refers to the ideal state as one where the philosopher governs in his categorisation of members of the ideal state into three groups, where the philosophers are charged with leading society.
“The Greek philosopher reminds us of the role of the other classes: the auxiliaries, the soldiers, that are there to defend the state, while the workers, the third class, produce what the state consumes.
“The theory offers us a link between the nation’s intellectual and governing elite, explaining why the line between them should be blurry.
“No political leader, however sincere their intentions, can excel beyond the scale of the knowledge at their disposal, which is particularly telling in our political space.
“While we need an army of courageous media professionals to speak the truth to power, we also need them to serve as the conscience of the political institutions and individuals who influence society’s evolution,” he stated.
Shetima stressed that there should be a distinction between antagonising a government and speaking truth to power.
He also said that the media should aspire to achieve with the information and ideas they laboured to acquire and process in their line of work and that real courage lies in resisting compromise in one’s pursuit of truth.
He added that Mr Omipidan has shown that, in reporting the ups and downs of his nation, true allegiance isn’t to oneself but to one’s society.
“The book, Persona Non-Grata, isn’t a record of the journey to being cancelled for telling uncomfortable truths; it is, rather, a declaration of the price of adhering to noble principles even in the face of corrupting temptation.
“This book is a cautionary tale for both practising and aspiring journalists and professionals who seek to find a balance between their allegiance to self and the truth,” he added.
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