We have, at different times and places, came across people from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), its sympathizers and even Journalists who accused us in Greenbarge Reporters of being one-sided in the coverage of the two major political parties in the country – All Progressives Congress (APC) and PDP itself.
They said that Greenbarge Reporters has been reporting and analyzing the positive side of APC while hitting PDP negatively. And that we hardly feature the PDP news.
We become more concerned and feel that we have some explanations to make when a top leader of the PDP diplomatically made the same complain to us.
In looking at this matter, we concede that everyone has the right and freedom to form any opinion and air such opinion the way he or she deems fit, even though, there are so many opinions formed out of ignorance of the real situation on the ground and are aired in wrong ways.
To start with, it is the PDP that has decided to discriminate against certain media outfits, including Greenbarge Reporters, by selecting which ones to invite to its functions, which ones to send relevant press statements to and which ones it would generally patronize and which ones to ignore.
In fact, our Editor-In-Chief had made several requests and even pleading to spokesmen of the PDP: the main party’s spokesman, Olisa Metuh; the spokesman of the defunct PDP Presidential Campaign Council, Femi Fani Kayode: spokesman of the Presidency, Dr. Doyin Okupe and other top members of the party as well as Goodluck Jonathan’s government to enlist the medium in the party’s mailing list, for it (Greebarge Reporters) to be getting at least, press statements and may be, invitation to its functions, but all such efforts were roundly rebuffed.
And in spite of such treatment, Greenbarge Reporters has always scrapped news items of the PDP through other means just so that it would escape the accusation of being one-sided. It is a fact that there is no way a news medium worth its salt would manufacture story from just anywhere: if the PDP operatives deliberately refuse or fail to involve Greenbarge Reports in its activities, there is practically no way the medium can begin to conjure up story, just so that it would be seen to be balanced.
Of course, it is not as if we don’t have a few friends in PDP, whose grace the party has been enjoying our news coverage for the party. Such friends, including the former Delta state governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan: former information minister, Labaran Maku; former governor of Akwa Ibom state, Godswill Akpabio; former foreign affairs minister, Ambassador Aminu Bashir Wali, former minister of the FCT, Bala Mohammed; former minister of Justice, Bello Adoke; former special adviser to Vice President Namadi Sambo on political matters, Alhaji Abba Dabo and a few others. Individually, these PDP chieftains related with us based on the worth they attached to Greenbarge Reporters. The relation might not be purely on the basis of monetary gratification, but also inclusive of mere encouragement and acknowledgement of our importance in the miliu of information dissemination.
The same thing about the few ‘good’ people in PDP can also be said of APC, whose operatives in all departments not only patronize Greenbarge Reporters, especially with their bombardment of us with news items daily, but in terms of small advertisement slots, realizing that we are also in business and need to pay staff salaries.
Of course, APC would always say things that are negative about PDP, the same way PDP would never see anything positive about PDP. If therefore APC bombards us with negative stories about PDP and we publish them as they are, we are only mirroring the views of APC. And PDP has all the opportunities to counter APC the way it feels. But if the information handlers of the PDP feel that Greenbarge Reporters is not qualify to be given their stories, the anger and frustration of its members and chieftains who have been our friends should not be directed at us.
The point here is very important because, for one thing, the issue of discrimination or one-sidedness and negative presentation of one side against the other side is the function of the source from where the news items are supposed to emanate. If therefore, PDP would be kind just to oblige us their press statements and invitations to its functions where we would get stories to write, we would be most glad to oblige it, and do it with passion.
We therefore assure our readers, including the supporters of PDP all over the world that, our stand would always remain the same: open, factual, balance, fair and friendly to all, irrespective of creed, class, political, religious, regional, tribal and other differences.
Truth, we dare say, will always remain our source of integrity. [myad]
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