Former governor of Ogun State, Aremo Olusegun Osoba, has charged media executives on the need to check the excesses of bloggers and others, practising journalism online, noting that the activities of many of them had become an embarrassment to the media profession.

Osoba made this remark in Lagos, on Monday,  at the media roundtable tagged ‘Deepening Media Professionalism  Through Co-Regulation’.

The Roundtable, which featured representatives from the  Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN), Nigerian Guild of Editors, (NGE), the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Broadcasting  Organisation of Nigeria ( BON) and  Guild of Corporate Online Practitioners (GOCOP), was designed to come up with a code of ethics aimed  at enhancing professionalism in the industry.

The former governor argued that  some online journalists, in the country,  through their activities,  had continued to bring media practice into disrepute; since they lack basic training  that would have put them in good stead to  be professional.

He, however, expressed delight that some major newspapers in Nigeria , had  begun to register their presence on the online space, noting that no newspaper or reporter would  survive the present threat posed by the advent of online journalism, without being internet-compliant.

“In today’s journalism, if you can’t compete online as a newspaper, or not internet-compliant as a reporter, there is no way you can survive in today’s media space. In fact, any newspaper that does not have a significant presence on the online space, or a reporter, who can not file their reports, without  having to go to the office, does not have a space in this profession,” he stated.

He also commended the decision to organize a workshop on co-regulation, noting that  would go a long way in putting practitioners in good stead to fight the protracted war between the media and government.

“We should all know that the war between the media and government will never end. Even the United States which we see as the ideal democracy  is never exempted. We all saw how former President Donald Trump banned the CNN from the State House, until the organization went to court and got a ruling against that.

“One thing we should know is that governments all over the world are cultists. They operate in secrecy, and that is why they will always be at  loggerhead with the press,” he added.

Presenting the draft copy of the report of the NPAN Committee on Media self-Regulation, the Chairman  of the committee, Mr. Gbenga Adefuye stated that the report was meant to enhance professionalism in the media.

According to him,  the committee had opted for co-regulation, which would involve the public, and not self-regulation since that would reduce mistrust and deepen public confidence.