Lere Olayinka, the Senior Special Assistant on Public Relations and New Media to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, during a recent interview on Arise Television, questioned the professional credibility of prominent media figures who did not study journalism. Olayinka dismissed the journalistic status of media personality Rufai Oseni and Ovation Magazine publisher Dele Momodu, arguing that academic training in journalism is a prerequisite for the title.
At some point during the interview, Olayinka stated that “you missed out the fact that Momodu went to university to study Yoruba. On a normal day, when you study Yoruba, what are you supposed to become? are you not supposed to be a teacher? how will you come out and say somebody who did not study journalism is a journalist?”
Speaking further, he stated that “for you to be called a journalist, you must have studied journalism somewhere. Rufai, you studied animal anatomy, and you are in Arise as an on-air personality. Rufai, You cannot face me and call yourself a journalist; I won’t agree with you because you did not study journalism; I did. Momodu did not study journalism, so he cannot face me and tell me he is a journalist. I am a journalist; Momodu is not because he didn’t study journalism, simple.”
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