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Modupe A.'s avatar

@David, can we start petitions for these cases? Get justice for Friday Emeh and get that NoreBase company to pay compensation to Sidebar for intellectual theft...

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Aniekan Ezekiel's avatar

Hello David. Thanks for another great effort. I enjoy reading your investigative stories and I'm thrilled by the incredible way you apply yourself to get to the bottom of any matter you cover. But not everyone is thrilled. And I'm not talking about the government and people who are the villains in your stories. No, I'm talking about non-involved people like me who read you.

Your journalistic style was the subject of debate in a WhatsApp group of professionals in the communications industry. People were unhappy about the fact that you don't give the villains in your story a chance to state their own side before you publish, you don't make any effort to interview them and hear from them. People expressed the view that you seem to have a made-up mind based on what those you consider victims in your story have said and you arrange the facts and circumstances in such a way that they give credence to the victim's position.

I know you have written before that you're not a conventional journalist. That's fine. Your readers and admirers don't want you to become one in our brown-envelope-infested system. But there are time-honoured traditions of journalism that readers would expect writers - whether they consider themselves conventional journalist or not - who conduct investigations into real issues to respect. For example, hearing from all sides and ensuring that all parties enjoy the right to fair hearing. There is also the tradition of laying the facts bare without your own biases or sensational twist getting into the story, and leaving the audience to come to their own conclusions based on the facts you've presented without embellishments.

I think you need to pay attention to these concerns, so as to keep on your side a lot of the serious minds who still read you. It will be sad to have this class of readers go because they feel your platform is no different from gossip blogs like....

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