By Uzair Adam Imam
Dr Bala Muhammad, a university lecturer and veteran journalist, has urged media house owners to pay journalists a good salary to prevent them from accepting bribes.
He made this call during a one-day workshop on ethics in journalism organized by the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) in collaboration with the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ).
Dr Muhammad, who teaches at Bayero University, Kano (BUK), emphasized that fair compensation is essential to curb the menace of bribe-taking in journalism.
He cited his personal experience of receiving a significant salary increase when he joined the BBC in 1996, which made him less susceptible to external influences.
He encouraged media house owners to emulate international media organizations like BBC, CNN, DW and VOA, which prioritize fair compensation for their journalists.
Dr. Muhammad noted that accepting money from external sources can compromise a journalist’s integrity and lead to unethical reporting.
He shared an anecdote about 15 journalists who Voice of America sacked for accepting an honorarium after an interview.
Despite receiving a monthly salary of $5,000 each, they were dismissed for compromising their ethical standards.
The Daily Reality reports that salary issues are a significant problem in the journalism industry, with some media organizations failing to provide adequate compensation, leading journalists to seek alternative sources of income, including “brown envelopes”.