PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012
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July guest writer session features Ozako, Omotayo
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wo multi-talented writers with a Lagos connection, Maero Ozako and Bobo Omotayo will be the featured writers at the July 28 edition of the Guest Writer Session, an initiative of the Abuja Writers’ Forum(AWF), which holds at Hamdala Plaza, Plot 23, Jimmy Carter Street, off Protea Hotel, Asokoro, Abuja. Maero Ozako, a spoken-word poet, motivational speaker, children’s author and artist, was born in Delta State to two educationists; Reverend Canon and Mrs Paul Ozako. She grew up in a ‘book castle’ and always dreamt of writing books. She attended the Federal government Girls’College, Benin City before getting a Bachelor of Science degree in geography and regional planning from the University of Benin. Having worked for many years as a copywriter at various advertising firms like Insight Communications, Rosabel Leo Burnett and Prima Garnet Ogilvy before setting off on her own, Maero is a Goldman Sach’s Scholar and received a Certificate in Entrepreneurial Management in 2009. She has a unique range of experiences in project ideas
generation and management, corporate communications in the Private Sector, public relations and development enabling her create projects especially in philanthropy and human and community development with effective communications strategies. She has also made her mark in her work with the less-privileged especially with the refugees through the her work with the SOS and other orphanage homes, an coordinated the World Refugee day for the UNHCR through AREF in year 2000. She also won a Rotary Youth Literary Award during the RYLA week on the Sea School Island in 1990 and is a role model awardee of the Halifield School, Maryland. Maeroeis driven by a vision to motivate and add value to the lives of women and children and was invited by the office of the First Lady Of Lagos state to speak to women at the annual Commitee of Wives Of Lagos State event at Eko Hotel. Author of five books for children and one for women titled ’WORDS OF WISDOM” which is the first in the W.O.W. (Words Of Wisdo) series designed as a compilation of poems and one-liners written straight from her heart. Her other books are ‘’Fables For Children”, both
written and illustrated by her. The foreword for the two books was written by the late Lady Kofo Ademola. Her third book is ‘’Money Grows On Trees”with a foreword by Dr Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. Her other books are ‘’What If Everyday Was Christmas? and ‘’Words Of Wisdom For Children” Maero created the CHUMMIES CLUB, in the year 2001 as her contriubution to stop mental poverty amongst children. The Chummies Creative Academy, the Chummies Green Team and the Chummies book Club are all part of this vision. The children of this club are taught basic skills in performance, photography and creative writing. Every Saturday, children read her pages in the This Day newspapers. She has conducted educational tours for children to countries like Ghana, Kenya and Dubai. She has has been engaged by the GTBank and First Bank to speak to children and is inspired by her daughter, Zulu. Bobo Omotayo is a Director at R&B Public Relations Limited which specializes in corporate communications – reputation management, communication with non-consumer publics, persuasion, and spin for corporate concerns and brands.
Bobo is also known under the nom de plume ‘The Renaissance Man’. He has contributed as a columnist and freelance writer to several print, online newspapers and magazines including The Guardian, NEXT, BusinessDay, and BellaNaija.com. In 2011, he was one of two young people selected by MTV Networks Africa to be a panelist at the launch press conference for the MTV Base Meets...with MTN, a groundbreaking pan-African multimedia campaign designed to inspire African youth by connecting them with some of the world’s most influential personalities. Later in the same year, he published his first book; “London Life, Lagos Living”. In his words: “Initially apprehensive as to the likely public response, I am daily humbled by the public embrace of this labour of love by the reading public. A couple of thousand copies later, I am astounded by the depth of feedback from readers, who effuse about how the book has in some way or the other made them laugh, reflect, reason and more.” The book has already led to the making of a 6-minute documentary, directed by LAbased filmmaker, Francesca
Tilley-Gyado, is not so much a story of ‘the journey so far’ but more a snapshot into what a typical week is like for the author and contributors to the book. The documentary can be viewed at http://www.bellanaija.com/ 2012/07/07/watch-boboomotayos-london-life-lagos-livingthe-documentary-by-francescatilley-gyado/ The Guest Writer Session which started in June 2008 is generally regarded as the most consistent literary event in the country and has become the template for similar interventions. So far this year it has featured an interesting mix of writers namely Uche Ezechukwu, Steve Okecha, Oyibo Ameh, K K Iloduba, Betty Abah, Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, Chido Onumah and Richard Ali. The July 28, 2012 edition of the Guest Writer Session starts at 4pm and will include the usual side attractions of poetry performance, mini art exhibition, and a raffledraw as well as live music. The Abuja Writer’s Forum meets three Sundays each month and hosts a reading on every last Saturday at the International Institute of Journalism, Hamdala Plaza, Jimmy Carter Street, Asokoro, Abuja.
concept as “global journalism.” They go on to note that while there are similarities in journalistic exertions across the globe, “at the same time i m p o r t a n t differences persist.” But back to the issue of the journalist’s professional role, the reader gets to encounter such roles as the interpretative/ investigative, disseminator, adversarial and p o p u l i s t mobiliser. The authors expound on these concepts thus: “In t h e interpretative function to which
conclusions distilled from a study of journalists in the United States. The chapter then goes on to provide insights into the mindset of journalists in non-western countries with regard to their role perception. In Chapter Four, the authors take a detailed look at journalism education around the world, with the explanation that recent trends show a movement towards university education as the foundational basis for journalists in many countries in the west. But a point was made about variations in the mode of journalism education, depending on the countries in question. In the case of Africa, the authors pointed out that “education specific to journalism arrived only after the Second World War and the resultant processes of decolonization.” The passage continued on the history of journalism education in Africa: “… it was the US model of journalism education that a majority of countries adopted. The American University of Cairo had imported it in 1935, and the first journalism programme was established in Ghana in 1958, with Nigeria following suit in the early 1960s. Both programmes were established with considerable aid from the United States.” It is reported that Nigeria’s first, albeit ceremonial President, Nnamdi Azikiwe, who was earlier editor of The West African Pilot felt that the British model of university was too academic and the American vocational orientation suited Africa’s needs better. “The model, supported with the help of UNESCO, quickly spread around the region, so that
by 1970, Algeria, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal and Zaire (now Congo) had established journalism programmes in universities…” While the fifth chapter of the book addresses the question of gender in journalism, the ninth and final chapter focus on the impact of new technologies on journalism, with an exploration of how technological convergence has affected the pen profession. Of particular interest is the place and role of the citizen journalist in the news gathering and dissemination processes. The authors conclude that “new technologies have transformed journalistic practices in many ways. However, the new technologies do not have homogenous impact on newsrooms across cultures. This is because in different cultures, ordinary citizens and professional journalists use new technologies to produce media content in different ways.” On the whole, Journalism Across Cultures: An Introduction is a meticulously researched academic material that attempts to find a balance in the debate about the concept of global journalism. What were hitherto missing in the vast array of literature on journalism were the perspectives, patterns, and peculiarities of journalism practice in places outside the west. That gap seems to have been filled by this attempt to look beyond the similarities in cultural orientations about the art of journalism, to the striking differences, which persist. Concluded Source: NigerianVillageSquare
Reading Journalism Across Cultures (II) BOOK REVIEW By Armsfree Ajanaku Onomo
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ournalism Across Cultures: An Introduction benefits immensely from a rigorous distillation of the foundational theories upon which the study of journalism has stood over the years. Although these theories mainly emanate from western sources, the writers did not run away from analysing them, especially as these theories provide a universally acceptable logic in explaining the nature and character of journalism, even though non-western cultures were not borne in mind when the theoretical explanations were made. Some of these theories that are given close scrutiny in the work are the Four Theories of the Press, which is designated as an “old map for a changing world.” Here, the authors correctly pinpoint the cold war firmament that served as the background for the formulation of the theories of the press. The authors say: “Essentially the book reflected the ideological differences that separated capitalism from the Soviet communist system (Soviet communism).” The theories are the authoritarian, libertarian, social responsibility and Soviet communist press theories. Chapter Three of the book, which dwells on journalistic practices and role perception details significance of research on journalism practices with specific focus on the journalists’ “role perception,”, which implies the pen man’s self-knowledge about
The book front cover his place and mission in society. Here, too, the authors beam the searchlight on the question of journalistic decision-making. After a thorough synthesis of the literature on the roles and factors that influence gatekeepers in a media organisation, one very crucial conclusion that was reached in the book is that the roles of gatekeepers are “changing rapidly because of the impact of new technologies and the impact of participatory journalism around the world (p. 43). The writers then go on to interrogate the realities of the existence of such a term or
most journalists subscribe, three roles are important: the investigation of government claims, analysis and interpretation of complex problems and the discussion of public policies in a timely way… In the adversarial function, journalists are constantly skeptical of public officials as well as business interests, while populist mobilisers considered it important to develop interests in the public, provide entertainment, set the political agenda and let the ordinary people express their views.” The above, according to the authors, were some of the