• This Is Junk Journalism
Special Adviser to Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State on Public Health, Dr Adekunle Akindele has discredited a report by TVC News, saying that Osun Health Centres are up and running.
In a statement made available to newsmen on Sunday in Osogbo, the Osun state capital, Akindele noted that it is quite disheartening that a journalist would sacrifice the ethics of his work, which emphasises truthful reportage, to pursue a political agenda by exploiting the TVC platform to deliberately push out false narrative to the public.
He maintained that Osun health centres are open and continues to serve the health needs of the public at the grassroot adding that the Osun State Government is currently implementing the rehabilitation of the remaining PHCs in the state to add to the 200 PHCs fully rehabilitated and equipped in 2024.
The statement reads, “My attention has been drawn to an outright false reportage on the operational status of health centres in Osun state which was aired on TVC last night. The report is not only a figment of the imagination of the reporter but conveyed the political sentiment of the TVC’s reporter in Osun state, Mr Rafiu Hammed, which is against every known ethics of journalism.
“It is quite disheartening that a journalist would sacrifice the ethics of his work, which emphasises truthful reportage, to pursue a political agenda by exploiting the TVC platform to deliberately push out false narrative to the public. It bears stressing that at no time was any health centre in Osun state shutdown as falsely portrayed by Mr Hameed in his report. This maybe why Mr Hammed could not provide a single video of a single health centre not operational during working hours in his false reportage.
“Videos of the court-sacked YES or NO officials who are illegally occupying councils in Osun state visiting PHCs as they have no job to do, abounds on the internet, and we wonder how Mr Hameed missed any of these or could it be he pretended not to be aware to sell his false narrative? Only recently, Governor Ademola Adeleke toured some health centres in Osun state, which was widely covered by the media in the state, further puncturing the lies peddled by Mr Hameed in his report.
“It is worth stating that health is a very sensitive sector, which should not be politicised as Mr Hammed intends to do with his false reportage. It is our considered view that the Management of the TVC to rein him in so as not to project the media outlet wrongly to the public because the essence of journalism is to truthfully inform people not misinform them.
“Even in times of war, health centres are not closed, and so, Mr Hammed’s allusion that health centres in Osun state are closed can only be the echo of the opposition campaign of falsehood in the state in a bid to misrepresent the true situation to the public, especially those who are not in the state at the moment. That is dangerous and clearly against the ethics of journalism.
“We are afraid that Mr Hammed’s attempt to politicise health may endanger the lives of the people, especially pregnant women who access the healthcare system free-of-charge in those centres, due to his false reportage. This is very unprofessional and capable of causing unnecessary apprehension for the public, which negates the essence of journalism.
“While we don’t have any issue with Mr Hammed political choice, we expected him to abide by the ethics of his work by reporting true events and not manufacture lies just to portray the PDP-led government wrongly to the public. It is for this reason that we ask the public to discountenance the report of Mr Hammed on TVC as it is false and doesn’t represent the true situation of things on ground in Osun state.
“Osun health centres are open and continues to serve the health needs of the public at the grassroot. In fact, the Osun State Government is currently implementing the rehabilitation of the remaining PHCs in the state to add to the 200 PHCs fully rehabilitated and equipped last year. So, there is no truth whatsoever in the claim that health centres in Osun state are closed. This lie is the invention of enemies of the state but the public are rest assured that they will not succeed.
“It is however not too late for Mr Hammed to do the right thing by take a step back from his deliberate act of misinformation, retracting the false information on the operational status of health centres in Osun state. Doing that will not only restore public trust in him but also save lives that his false reportage may stray away from accessing healthcare at the opened and working Osun health centres across the state.”
