William Clowes – The Mercenary Journalist for Highest Bidders

<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A seasoned journalist of international repute need not be educated on the first obligation of journalism&comma; which is to the truth&period; He should know that truth is sacrosanct&comma; and the absence of it impacts negative on his vocation&comma; the society and his own integrity&period; But evidence abound of supposed experienced journalist jettisoning the truth for pecuniary gains&semi; this is why there is need to refresh such journalists’ memory with the &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;journalistic truth”&comma; which according to Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel in the book &OpenCurlyQuote;The Elements of Journalism&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;is a process that begins with the professional discipline of assembling and verifying facts&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>While the journalism profession has been critiqued as having been debased as a result of the &OpenCurlyQuote;brown envelope syndrome&comma; those who had believed that the influx of foreign journalists into the country would usher in a new dawn have come to a conclusion that they were disillusioned&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The so-called foreign journalists are no better than mercenaries who have only their ways to Nigeria only to take what could benefit them&comma; even at the expense of the country&period; One of those who has been conducting himself in such an opprobrious manner is a certain journalist with Bloomberg&comma; named William Clowes&period; Clowes is one Nigeria-based foreign journalist who is fast piling up media contents that are setting him apart for ignominy&comma; and he does appear like someone ready to make a detour&period; He has turned himself to a willing tool in the hands of unscrupulous powerful men ready to dole out the dough as long as he does their bidding&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Clowes who reportedly schemed his way to be stationed in Nigeria for covetous reasons has been living up to his ulterior motive&period; He must have really discovered the Nigerian oil and gas industry must be truly be golden for him to be wasting away in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo&comma; where he was for a number of years&comma; churning out slanted media contents either for the powers that be or the opposition depending on which side offered fatter bribes&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Nigeria definitely offers better opportunism for Clowes&period; He is said to be living large in Abuja&comma; the seat of power&comma; where he has been cornering mouth-watering deals with IOCs and other vested interests&period; In fact&comma; those privy to how he operates narrated how he has almost become a lobbyist&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>What is most unfortunate about Crowes’ stock in trade is that he has turned Bloomberg&comma; a veritable platform&comma; to a ready space to be used for his dirty tricks&period; Crowes has further confirmed that his pen flows with blood in the name of money making&period; He has shown that his is a journalism of personal pecuniary benefits&period; The worst thing that can happen to a journalist is to have his soul bought&period; It is unfortunate that William Clowes has lost his conscience for whom he was once known to money bags whose bid he does without batting an eyelid&comma; even if his writing would set a whole nation on fire&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;