UNILAG Professor Advocates Interdisciplinary Journalism Education to Combat ‘Casino Journalism’

By Peace Chenube

Professor Ismail Ibraheem, a lecturer in the Department of Mass Communication, has advocated for journalism education to adopt an interdisciplinary approach to combat misconduct among practitioners. He made this call at UNILAG’s J. F. Ade Ajayi Auditorium while giving his inaugural lecture titled “Casino Journalism and the End of History.”

Speaking, Professor Ibraheem explained that the current state of journalism and communication education provides insular knowledge and a limited range of expertise on subjects of reportage. He added that in the long run, this leads to sensationalism and uncritical thinking about news subjects among practising journalists, which results in a lack of depth in news reporting.

“The only solution lies in adopting an interdisciplinary approach that incorporates various fields to meet the diverse needs of society,” he said during the lecture. 

Fielding questions from UNILAG Sun after the lecture, he noted that journalism education should bridge the gap between aspiring journalists and those with subject-matter expertise in reporting beats by offering remedial courses on those subjects, and vice versa. 

“…Mass communication journalism is very versatile. So, what I’m suggesting is that journalism should embrace people from other disciplines — economics, political science and so on — who can now do some short courses in journalism to hone their skills in journalism. Those people who have the context, who have the background, who have the perfect understanding of some of the areas that they are covering.”

“Also, for journalists that are trained in journalism schools, who are not from those backgrounds, they should be able to interact more with different sectors of the society to be able to gain some better insight and understanding of where those sectors work so that they can report them adequately and appropriately.”

“Critique of media landscape”

Professor Ibraheem focused his inaugural lecture on the terms “casino journalism” and “end of history.” He said this stemmed from his “critique of the evolving media landscape where randomness, sensationalism and profit-driven motives dominate the journalistic enterprise.” 

According to him, casino journalism is a style of media reporting that is focused on sensationalism, entertainment and buzz, as opposed to in-depth investigation and factual accuracy. He said such profit-driven journalism fails to perform its function as a reliable record of history, resulting in history’s metaphorical end.

During his lecture, he also highlighted some instances of casino journalism in the media coverage of news events. He noted that these instances include the “NNPC’s non-remittance of funds” controversy in 2014, the poor media coverage of Abacha’s loot, the “Dasukigate” scandal in 2015, and the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) scandal in 2019, among others. 

Amidst the numerous adverse effects associated with casino journalism, Professor Ibraheem highlighted the issues of media reports trivialising complex societal issues, polarising the populace, and reducing public trust in the media.

He also suggested solutions to journalistic malfeasance among practitioners, such as practical examples of innovative media funding to ensure a media landscape which is less profit-driven. 

“One of those things I’m proposing is that the government should come up with a scheme that would tax big tech companies, such as Meta, such as Google. They are going to tax them on the adverts they are getting in Nigeria. And part of those monies should be funded towards supporting independent media organisations,” he told UNILAG Sun.

“Independent media organisations should also explore the possibility of establishing foundations. And from foundations, they can actually source for funding from public-spirited individuals who can support them. The other thing is for them to explore the option of subscription. Ask individuals to actually subscribe, you know, to support the media organisations.”

Giving the vote of thanks at the end of the lecture, Professor Folasade Ogunsola, the Vice Chancellor of the UNILAG, lauded Professor Ibraheem and emphasised the importance of reforming the journalism industry in Nigeria.