Akwa Ibom State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Comrade Ini Ememobong, has urged the next national Assembly to regulate media ownership in Nigeria.
He added that operating media outfits that lack viability predisposes journalists who work in such places to sharp practices.
Speaking with journalists in Uyo at his office on Thursday, the commissioner said the regulation would ensure a favourable welfare condition for journalists and other media workers, whom he regretted have been subjected to untold hardship due to poor welfare system.
Ememobong, who noted that the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) has a role to play asked the body to make deliberate efforts to minimize the level of exploitation by insisting on improved welfare system for its members.
According to the commissioner, “If a media house cannot run, there is absolutely no need for that media house to employ people and put them on the street because you are helping to spoil the profession.
“How many media houses can pay regular salaries in Nigeria,? How many can fund journalists to fly to cover events, so that if they see something negative about the event, they could freely and objectively report?. How many journalists have gone back for post-school certification, courtesy of their employers?
“How much do these people earn, it’s a profession, these people buy from the same market. We must find a way to ensure that newspaper houses are viable, if you are not viable, you have no business being in business, else you are going to licence people to go and beg, you are going to licence people to begin to murder the integrity of others.
“The next National Assembly should look into regulating the media sector but in consultation with stakeholders.”
While urging the NUJ to rid the union of quacks challenged journalists to live up to their duties in being the watchdogs of the society and not to be pliant press.