The general manager of Wave 91.7Fm, Mr. Rex Igiri has called on the Federal Government to create policy that would address the challenges of the media operations in the country to help their operational efficiency.
Mr. Igiri made the call last Friday, during an interactive section with journalists in Port Harcourt, saying if such policy is made, it would go a long way in addressing the weaknesses and strengthen the activities of the media and ensure that the media would be able to carry out its responsibilities in the country the way it should be.
According to him, the media is playing a crucial role in uniting the nation, building the society and ensuring that the economy of the country is stable, adding that the media cannot be playing such a role for which little or no attention is being given to it.
He maintained that, as much as government continues to look towards coming up with policies that could help strengthen the economy, the media should be considered too, adding“ agriculture has been taken so very seriously in this country and we appreciate that, even the small and medium enterprises (SMEs)are also being given a boost”.
He reiterated that government has to take into cognizance the role being played by the media, noting that the economy is crushing various operation in different sector due to the COVID-19 Pandemic in recent time, of which the media sector is not left out, he argued that whatever is being done to strengthen other sectors should also be considered for the media industry.
His words: “Since the government at all levels had devoted time and resources to ease the pains of other sectors of the society, it appears the media has been left to fend for itself. To this end, I believe it will not be out of place for the government to give the media a package to soften the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic.
“As a form of reciprocity, media houses can repay this package through airing or publication of government jingle on COVID-19 advisory, like some of them have been doing on pro Bono basis”.
He therefore called on all and sundry in the media sector to support this course to enable them forge ahead and to meet up with the global challenges.
