In the Beginning

In the beginning…

“But why journalism? Must you be a journalist?”

That was the painful question my mother asked me for the umpteenth time in 1998, as she lent me yet another round of money which I swore I would  refund just like the past 6 loans. I understood her pain. It is a question that is as old as the hills for many of us who chose to be journalists at a time when careers in Merchant banks and oil companies were the in thing. I  have unfortunately had to explain again and again to genuinely concerned friends and family.

I remember my sister asking me out of sheer concern. “What is it about this journalism? You barely make enough to eat.”

Strangely I have never had to search for an answer. My reply has always been ‘why not journalism?’ I remember asking a friend if he would rather have me become a carpenter or an Engineer.

I cant help it. I have always been a newsman .Always will be ,I think. Whether it was in primary school when I read newspapers to myself in front of a mirror or in boarding  school when I became the unofficial love –letter writer for my classmates. Or when my friends and I launched the University of Jos first and only newspaper to date in 1992. By the way, it was that same year that after much lobbying and harassment on my part, the Plateau Radio Television Corporation gave in to my demands to produce and present a program on its new FM Station.

What many people will never understand about this profession is that it is abstract. You cant feel, touch or see the benefits. But there is an adrenaline rush that is only gotten when a story you do kicks up a storm and gets policy makers who generally think in election cycles, to factor the interests of the wider society into their plans.

However, in a society that largely grants the validity of mostly boisterous values, when you tell people you are a journalist, the look on their faces changes from admiration to one of pity and concern. People think,’ how do you survive?’ I recall trying to convince a certain lady who spent the better part of an hour trying to advise me to consider other careers options, that I really loved what I did.

However, its 2014 and my friends and family are tired. It looks to them like I am in this thing for the long haul.

Besides times have changed. I now realize that when you contribute economically to your family’s affairs nobody really gives a hoot how you make the money.

Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!

Chima Nwankwo is a Freelance Broadcast Journalist and member of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations  based in Abuja ,Nigeria. He has reported for Reuters, China Central TV and A24 Media. While he believes that the constitutional role of the media is to hold government accountable, he believes that the journalist performs this task with more ease when his bills are paid.

He can be reached at chimanwankwo@ymail.com

M: +234 806 668 6769

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