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• Ukah wants govt’s side given attention in stories

Delta Online Publishers’ Forum (DOPF) met Wednesday, April 19^th, 2017 with the Delta state Commissioner for Information, Mr. Patrick Ukah during which he was briefed about the body’s existence in the State and its raison d’etre.

At the meeting that included the Acting Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, who also doubles as the State’s Director of information, Mr. Paul Osahor, Mr. Emmanuel Enebeli, Chairman of the Online publishers told the commissioner that the Forum is a group of business men and women, who are either practicing professional journalists, or those who studied other professions, but decided to foray into the media world and embrace Online News business, where they have engaged professional expertise to complement business acumen to source for news and disseminate same to not only the local but the international audience.

Enebeli said: “They are not only news providers, but also employers of labour, as many people are directly and indirectly engaged by members of this body, thus helping the state economy in its growth.

“The members of DOPF are professional business men and women, who own websites, which even the main news media often depend on for further news. They take the news from all sources and angles, including the rural communities to the world, as their websites are world ranked by he Google signature and other world search engines.

“This makes it different from just social media platforms like a page in Facebook, Twitter handle, Google plus, Instagram and many of such, as the individual social media account has no world ranking, and no such Google signature.”

Enebeli pointed out that the explanation was important and needed to be made to underscore the difference between the everyday social media posting, and Online News Publishing. He declared: “The news here is REAL; the operators double check before they allow information on their sites. Even if they have Reporters in the field and Editors proof reading the stories as obtains in the mainstream hard copy publications, they in the long run always ensure that the real information gets out to the public, and that is what you can find among our members. We are business men who know the essence of what bad information can do the public and indeed, our publications.”

He stressed that the Online news is not only fast and real, but that it can be authenticated and organizational based, factors that make it imperative for a synergy to exist between the practitioners, governments and their agencies. “There must be room for co-operation rather than intimidation,” Enebeli said, pointing out that government as a matter of urgency should see that in their public private policies they should ensure that the operators of these platforms, and who have formed themselves into a group to check the effect of other social media operators in the society are not only recognized, but that the enabling environment is provided for business to thrive for them in the state.

Besides, he said that the Online Media establishment, which DOPF represents today, is managed not only by people are news writers and Reporters, but also they have turned corporate Chief Executive Officers, who unknown to many, are running international based organizations.

Enebeli urged government and other organizations to see online news platforms, which DOPR stands for as real business operators, and accord due recognition to them. “We should be partners to grow the state, and the Government of Delta State should see DOPF as one of those partners,” he declared.

Mr. Ukah who received the DOPF members warmly and with enthusiasm said he was always happy with a structured entity. “My quarrel is against people who want to attract attention by publishing bad news. I read most things online; I read them regularly. So it’s good that we have DOPF. We cannot use bad news to attract attention,” the Information Commissioner said.

He announced that his office will have dealings with those who report news, and who report it professionally. “You must be pinned to a point. We will take quality and deal with them. We want to discourage mediocrity,” Ukah said.

He explained that in the Ministry of Information, “Our product is news; we will deal more with the medium.” While asking that the government should always be given opportunity to state its own side of the story, he said: “ We ask you to report us the way we are.”