Ambassador (Dr.) Yemi Farounbi has drawn a distinction between the educational qualifications of contemporary broadcasters and the intensive professional training that was available to practitioners of his generation.
Farounbi, who spoke with PrimeStar News Online, said broadcasters today were generally better educated than those of his generation but had not necessarily received the same level of specialised professional training.
“The broadcasters today are better educated than the broadcasters of our time,” he said.
According to him, early broadcasters often entered the profession with relatively modest academic qualifications, with emphasis placed on voice, appearance and presentation.
He said the intellectual dimension of broadcasting became more prominent from around 1968, when practitioners began to recognise the importance of being informed and educated enough to inform, educate and entertain audiences.
Farounbi said he had encountered broadcast newsrooms where large numbers of journalists possessed master’s degrees, while some newspaper organisations had journalists with doctoral degrees.
He therefore acknowledged the significant improvement in the academic qualifications of contemporary media professionals.
However, he said his generation benefited from a different model of professional preparation.
According to him, after obtaining university degrees, broadcasters were often sent for specialised training at institutions including the BBC Training School, Radio Netherlands, the Australian Broadcasting Commission and the Thomson Foundation.
He said, Such programmes could last six months or a year and immerse young broadcasters in the professional culture of broadcasting.
Farounbi argued that broadcasting was not simply a job but a profession with its own body of knowledge, culture and ethics.
He said practitioners needed to understand professional boundaries, appropriate language, programme presentation and the ethical responsibilities associated with broadcasting.
He also identified objectivity, impartiality, fairness, balance and timeliness as important measures of professionalism.
Farounbi criticised the practice of broadcast stations relying on old newspaper reports and presenting them as fresh news.
He also expressed concern about what he described as the tendency of some broadcasters to give news a comedic treatment, arguing that this diminishes the seriousness of journalism, emphasising, “News is supposed to be hard.”
For Farounbi, the challenge for contemporary broadcasting is therefore not simply to produce more highly educated practitioners, but to combine academic qualifications with continuous professional training and a strong understanding of broadcasting ethics.
