Nathan Tamarapreye, Yenagoa
The Federated Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union Journalists (NUJ), Bayelsa State Council at the weekend berated Mr Daniel Alabra, Chief Press Secretary to Gov Douye Diri for blocking journalists from covering events first hand.
The Correspondents who made this known at the end of their monthly Congress expressed great displeasure over the handling of media coverage of Senator Douye Diri by Mr. Alabrah who they accuse of shutting out reporters from covering government activities.
They condemned the Chief Press Secretary’s determination to continuously deny Correspondents access to state government programmes and Government House and instead issues press releases at his own time.
The Correspondents Chapel noted that the practice of reporting by proxy which hampered their constitutional responsibilities as Journalists would no longer be tolerated.
“Chapel observed that the Press Secretary has been treating the Chapel with utmost disrespect and disdain as shown by his attitude towards the Chapel hence the vote of no confidence in Mr. Daniel Alabrah as Chief Press Secretary to the Governor.
“For instance, during the visit of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on February 19th, 2022, the Press Secretary, in his usual manner, left out national correspondents in the arrangement to visit Angiama, Southern Ijaw Local Government for the coverage of the ground breaking ceremony of the bridge.
“Since the inauguration of the Senator Douye Diri’s government on February 14, 2020, correspondents have been treated to press releases with no possibility of attending government programmes to get first-hand information.
“Within the past two years, some correspondents have also been roundly reprimanded and reported to their head offices for writing mere press releases. The Press Secretary has shown lack of tolerance to media independence.
“We have also done our best to engage government on the need to ensure we cover government programmes to get first-hand information to no avail.
“It is against this backdrop that the Federated Correspondents’ Chapel notes the following reasons why we are, henceforth, saying no to government press releases until the government sees reason with us as professionals with a constitutional duty to report first hand, the activities of government.
“The congress condemned the attitude of the Press Secretary, who will not allow Correspondents access to government programmes but rather chose to send press releases after such programmes.
“We call on the governor to rejig, reposition and rejuvenate his media team,” the journalists added.