{"id":960,"date":"2020-01-08T10:04:55","date_gmt":"2020-01-08T10:04:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/i79media.com\/?p=960"},"modified":"2020-01-05T18:07:20","modified_gmt":"2020-01-05T18:07:20","slug":"what-journalism-practice-of-over-30-years-taught-me-%e2%80%95-otufodunrin-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/i79media.com\/what-journalism-practice-of-over-30-years-taught-me-%e2%80%95-otufodunrin-1\/","title":{"rendered":"What journalism practice of over 30 years taught me \u2015 Otufodunrin [1]"},"content":{"rendered":"
Lekan Otufodunrin<\/strong> resigned as Online Editor<\/strong> of The Nation newspaper<\/strong> on December 31, 2018, to oversee his non-governmental organisation, Media Career Development Network<\/strong> which focuses on media career development. <\/em>In this interview, the soft-spoken, unassuming but highly experienced Otufodunrin<\/strong> speaks about what it means to practise journalism for over 30 years among other things. Excerpts;<\/em><\/p>\n You left The Nation newspaper at the end of December 2018 to set up your organisation which is based on career development. How would you describe your experience of over thirty years in journalism and what is your view about the profession in Nigeria?<\/strong><\/p>\n It has been an interesting experience for me because this is what I set out to do; this is what I read in the university; this is what I practised before I graduated. I would say journalism over the years has progressed and there have been quite some disruptions in terms of the digital space; but by and large, the process of sourcing information and practising in various capacities including editing and managing have been very very fulfilling. Every day I look back with excitement, remembering some of the great things one has been opportune to do; the places I have been to, home and abroad; the people I have met. The impact one has made in some of those things that are just routine assignments have contributed in one way or the other to the overall good of the society. Journalism, I would say remains a noble profession. It is not just a noble profession, it is a necessary profession. Somebody said without journalists, imagine what the world would have been like. I think it is very interesting despite the challenges. And we have to keep doing it with the best of guidelines the profession gives.<\/p>\n Can you share some of your memorable moments with us?<\/strong><\/p>\n It can be hard, but I will try. For instance, the first four years of my career was in Abeokuta, Ogun State, whereas a young journalist, I was managing a whole state. That is the benefit of having good training while going through the University of Lagos. I\u2019d been an intern in a newspaper before. Also, when I did what I called the indirect interview by just reporting what happened in my neighbourhood when Awolowo died, it was just enough for them to say, you are good. It is memorable when I think about running an office of my own from Day 1, using the telephone at a time when it was a luxury for people to have telephones. It was very interesting. Beyond that, I remember being head of a Political Desk and travelling around the country when we had about 21 states; I travelled around and got to know virtually every major part of this country. That is also a very memorable experience for me. I also had the privilege of being a News Editor in a newspaper like The Punch where the operation was major. Like I always tell people, at The Punch then, there were no deputies. So, as a Group News Editor, I was only reporting to the Editor and every other person was reporting to me. It was quite an experience having to manage that kind of operation. I learnt a lot. It opened my eyes. It was at The Punch that I came to the realisation that if journalism can offer the opportunity to travel around the world, I should take advantage of it. Majorly, one striking moment in my career is having to go to the Thomson Foundation in the U.K. for three months. Even what I am doing today \u2013 media career development \u2013 that was where I caught the bug. It is about running a media centre where journalists can provide continuous training as we did in the Thomson Foundation. Even when we had worked for many years, we went there to review our career and it helped shape one. And of course, one of the things I had wanted to be was to be an overall Editor which I did not accomplish at The Punch. And when I ventured out to run Journalists for Christ and Media Centre and it didn\u2019t work, I had to go back to work at The Nation. Being asked to be the Sunday Editor was professionally fulfilling for me. Indeed, that had been my dream. Being an Editor really challenged me a lot. I was able to make decisions at that high level and that was interesting.<\/p>\n Do you have regrets?<\/strong><\/p>\n Well, just like any situation, there were chances where one was challenged. For example, I remember working in The Punch, I had a situation where I had to be redeployed as News Editor. It was one of those challenging moments in my career. But somehow, it provided me with the basis to review my career. It was at the time I went to the U.K. I came back and I can say since then, I have never been the same. Leaving The Punch at the time I did was based on the things that had happened. It was obvious that forging ahead in that organisation was not possible again. So, I decided to leave. But on reflection, I think maybe I was a bit hasty. I had a lot of offers when I left The Punch. I took some and experimented \u2013 I worked in National Interest for about two months; I worked in Financial Standard for about three months. Maybe because I had worked in The Punch for a long time, I couldn\u2019t fit into those organisations. Unfortunately too, they were not paying regularly. That was one of the challenges I had with one or two of them. So, I would say looking back at my career, probably I should have stayed a little longer instead of taking that break. I would say it was somehow a blessing. There were some things I did at the time that I never knew I had the capacity to do. I was running media career services. In those years, I organised the first Young Journalists Award, Young Journalists Conference. When I see some of the graduates of those experiments, I really thank God that I was able to do that.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t talk about regrets. I would say they are challenges. They are changing phases that one was able to adjust to. Of course, there were trying moments like when I was on my own; when I could barely meet my needs. But one lesson I learnt from that was that if you are doing something and it is not working, the skills that you have had will see you through. I was very reluctant to go and take a full-time job, but when the opportunity finally came, I took it and it has helped me to stabilise and I feel comfortable to do what I have set out to do now.<\/p>\n What does it feel leaving active journalism to run a career development organisation after spending over thirty years in the profession?<\/strong><\/p>\n Well, I have been trying to define what I have done. Some are saying I have retired or I have left active journalism. Well, maybe what I have done is to practise journalism in another format. Before, I was working in an organisation, but now I am running my own full-time organisation. The difference is that now I don\u2019t have to worry about whether a story is breaking or it is not breaking. Being in an Online Editor is one major task, but unfortunately most people don\u2019t appreciate that it is a major work. They think it is just a work in which you just take a story and put on the website. Rather, you are performing the job of a full-time Editor in a hurry. So, while I was Sunday Editor for example, I had to produce just a Sunday paper. If there was breaking news on Monday or so, I just have to take notes and do follow up and not work on it. But as an Online Editor, you have to monitor events as they unfold and put them on the website. More so, the competition is very high.<\/p>\n The difference is that now I have the time to think clearly about how to help people manage their career; to be able to see what is not working, based on my experience. Now, some of those things we did in a hurry, I can look at them clearly now and say, don\u2019t make the same mistake we made. You can do it better or take the opportunity of this or that.<\/p>\n