It is unfortunate that on the internet, virtually all the headlines about Ebonyi State present our state in a very ugly light. This is a case we in the media will have to start tackling. A first-time visitor who googles about the state might be threatened by reports about it and its people. Most of these reporters are outsiders who think that they may have traffic when they report ill of the state and people. When we talk about image making or media practice, Ebonyi is still blank.
It is not as though what’s happening in Ebonyi State doesn’t happen elsewhere even in manifolds, but which you can’t find in news reports. We have a very bad media representation. Our media outfits and drivers aren’t living up to expectations. The state with the people is portrayed as one still trying to conquer medieval trends and vestiges of past living.
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The state-owned radio station, EBBC is the best radio station in Nigeria in terms of facility and technology. I am not trying to exaggerate, but it’s fact that Gov. Martin Elechi built the best radio station in Nigeria in Ebonyi State. The problems now facing the radio station are political meddlesomeness and poor manpower. The government in power uses the station as if it were a political party’s outfit. It’s politicized in a way such that no other political party runs publicity there not minding that the government is losing in terms of IGR. That’s a very wrong practice in public media. EBBC has 40 megahertz, but they’re transmitting only 1. What now happens to the remaining 39? The radio console desk Gov. Elechi bought in 2013 was sold for N137 million. Only EBBC uses this kind in Nigeria. Do we talk about the antenna, mast, transmitter, power generation, outside broadcast van, and the edifice itself? Everything in EBBC is sophisticated, but they don’t know how to use them and don’t even want to hire capable hands. Who’s even the GM of the station? Engr Timothy Nwachi? Let’s leave it at that lest he accuses me of impugning his character.
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The field and technical staff working at EBBC seem not to know the enormity of technology the radio carries. They run it like a campus radio facility, inviting just anybody who makes posts on Facebook as guests to a program. The radio also copies content from Facebook. They at some point air unfounded reports. Their programs are out of fashion.
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Revamping the image of Ebonyi State in the media is very germane at this point, and that can’t be done without having a government that’s interested in our image. Government has to cooperate with the private sector so we can have our image reworked. It’s on this premise that I want to call on bloggers and media influencers of Ebonyi descent to factor in our image as a state. They should come together and forge a positive direction that can see to the revamping of our image so investors and tourism enthusiasts come in without the fear of any social or environmental menace. We aren’t as bad as portrayed. Other states in the South East are worse off, but such is hardly captured in the media.
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