@SaharaReporters: What manner of journalism?

By Adewale Adeoye            
There are different types of journalists. We have conservative – they report press releases of government officials and corporate organisations. They attend press conferences and even assist the authorities to shape their often-wobbling logic on state affairs.

They don’t ask questions. They are follow-follow journalists, but often they are very rich and influential.  Progressive? They probe circumstances, question the authorities, doubt content and form of releases from authorities and see the relationship between free speech and freedom of the people.
They are not necessarily rich but are necessary in any troubled society like ours. There are radical journalists, they write to spite the face of tormentors, challenge government policies, they even go the extra mile by taking active part in public actions for the transformation of their society.
They distrust government and suspect every action of the authorities. A country without this set of journalists is doomed. Then we have reactionary journalists. This set supports every government policy, good or bad. They were those who promoted military rule in Nigeria, hobnobbed with reactionary politicians, blackmail people, extort people, see nothing wrong in human rights violations and in fact, they justify every repressive action of the government.
In a corruption-infested country where lies and deceit are Knights, and truth a constant casualty, this brand of reactionary journalists thrive. Unfortunately, with the advent of social media, traditional barriers have been broken, conservative rules of journalism some of which tend to protect the system and insulate spineless leaders from the prying eyes of the public, have been brought down.
Then we have revolutionary journalists. They are the redeemer, the bone down the throat of bad leaders, the liberators of the oppressed. This group sometimes breaks the traditional rules of the media, crash ancient hurdles without a blink. A backward society where liberty is seen as the property of the government, and leaders have almost succeeded in turning the citizenry into zombies, perverting their sense of judgment, will always produce its own non-conformist journalists.
Today, like a whirlwind, free speech is crashing the most fortified fiefdom of tyrannical regimes all over the world. This is the reason why, I believe, many Nigerians appreciate the radical and revolutionary intervention of Sahara Reporters in the history of media practice in Nigeria. Like every medium, Sahara has its flaws, but that comes to a single dot when compared with the free flow of information and the ability of the managers to sneak into sacred and fortified fortresses for the most difficult task of informing a toil worn nation. 
Unfortunately for the enemies of Sowore Omoyele, he stands for an idea, like a spiraling gas, that no blanket can stop. People have forgotten the historical circumstances that led to the formation of Sahara Reporters. Sowore rose against a vicious system as a student union leader at University of Lagos (UNILAG).
He stood against one of the most beastly military machines in the world under Ibrahim Babangida who had employed armed cults to step the tempo of student unionism. He was kidnapped and injected with lead. Miraculously, he survived. He did not give up but took the battle to the global stage where local tyrants and diminutive imps have no option but to bow before his pen.

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