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Ronaldo is offside as he scores Brazil’s first goal ?
CORRUPTION AND FLEECING OF THE SYSTEM SHOULD NOT BE PART OF THE JOURNALIST’S MANTRA
COCORIOKO FRONT PAGE COMMENT
Though the world has become completely corrupt and rotten to the point that there are not many left that one would call role models, journalists or those who stumble into the profession should be very careful that they do not become part of the society that are trying to regenerate, reform and renew.
Legendary Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe once wrote the following : “The Journalist cannot expecr to be excluded from the task of re-education and regeneration .Infact, he must walk right infront, for he is after all the focal point of his community “. The journalist , so to speak, tells people what is the right thing to do and what is not the proper thing to do. His profession entrusts upon him the duty to arbitrarily dictate to society the proper mores, conducts and patterns to follow to make the society better , safer and more productive .There is therefore no doubt that if anybody’s name should be mentioned in corruption and fleecing of the system, it must not be the journalist’s.
Journalists are agents of change .How can a journalist help to change his society if he is among the corrupt ones striving to enrich himself unlawfully at the expense of the very people whose interests he is supposed to be serving ? Is it not the very reason why Sierra Leoneans have no respect for their journalists ?
It is a fact that many of the country’s so-called journalists are a laughing stock in society. They are always at the butt end of jokes told even by drunkards squaffing at their bottles of beer. This should not be so. Journalism is one of the most noble and respectable professions .Journalists that are respected and honored by their societies for their moral scruples and principles must evoke profound regard when they appear in public , for they are the ears and the eyes of the society and they are relied upon to show the way in human behavior and public service.
Ofcourse, the lame arguments mounted by likewise corrupt and unprincipled apologists that magnates are exonerated from culpability if they accept contracts that are illegal, as long as they were not privy to the factors that made the contract unlawful, since every business man is seeking contracts have been effectively handled by some of the COCORIOKO Forumites. Legally, that argument is dumb and stupid. When a law officer discovers stolen property in the possession of an individual, he is not set free because he did not steal it. He is also arrested for being in possession of it. Both the thief and he who buys his stolen goods are guilty of committing a crime.
Any reasonable person who cares for his good name would ensure that any business contract he accepts was judiciously wrought. That is all it takes–Reasonable care for one’s own respect and credibility .It is worth more than a millon dollars . Riches and human fame are fleeting. They soon evaporate but a good name lasts forever .Indeed, a good name is far better than riches.
