PRNigeria, a news agency, has debunked a recent media report describing it as a military apologist for propaganda.
Some sources speaking with Premium Times in reactions to PRNigeria’s report on the killing of notorious banditry kingpin, Dogo Gide, had questioned the credibility of the news agency.
But in a statement on Monday, Yushau Shuaib, the Editor-in-Chief of the PRNigeria, distanced itself from the report, stressing that the news agency had sustained an excellent rapport with traditional and legacy media by engaging in a brand of journalism that covers public relations, crisis communication and intelligence analyses.
He added that its investigative and independent reports are not financed by the military.
Citing the allegations of the sources against PRNigeria, Mr Shuaib said: “For instance, after Premium Times clearly mentioned PRNigeria and Daily Nigerian as breaking the news on Dogo Gide’s death, it went ahead to quote one of its sources as claiming that, ‘No reputable media organisation has reported the killing of Dogo Gide so far and no one has quoted any security source, so we assume he is not dead.’
“In another breath, another source claimed that the report by PRNigeria ‘is military propaganda.’ Yet, another source, speaking as he was a spokesperson of the notorious bandits, claimed that: ‘Mr Gide joined the Jumu’at prayers in Babbar Doka, in Dan Sadau district.’”
Insisting on the independence and uncompromising stance of PRNigeria on investigative and exclusive reports, Mr Shuaib wrote thus “Apart from winning international laurels on crisis communication due to our uncompromised relationship with clients and stakeholders, we are making it very clear that our independent and objective reportages ARE NOT FINANCED OR BANKROLLED by the Military.
“We thereby urge Premium Times, as one of the most respected investigative media platforms on the African continent, to kindly undertake a fact-check on this with the military establishment; especially in the last six years.
“While our practice does not discourage other parties from seeking to verify our fact-based news releases, we usually appreciate when this is done with the utmost professionalism, and in a manner that’s sensitive to the integrity, we have attained in the work we do.
“Meanwhile, the publisher of Desert Herald, who had visited the enclaves of most of the bandits and their leaders and has numerous photo and video evidence from the past, also confirmed the killing of Gide after the PRNigeria
“It is therefore quite worrisome that egocentric information peddlers, who cannot back their statements up with concrete evidence – in a way that fundamentally contradicts the releases of PRNigeria – are often sought by respected media houses and taken as gospel truth.”
“As the Most Creative PR agency worldwide in 2020, we have never compromised our positions through unethical practices. We are so passionate about the national interest that our latest Book ‘101 Fake News on EndSARS,’ in the spirit of responsible reporting, in an age of irresponsible information dissemination, exposes the antics of enemies of our corporate existence – the rumour mongers, hate-speech merchants etc. – it also detects how several media houses goofed woefully by publishing fake reports on that situation, which they later withdrew from their platforms.
“While we appeal to fellow media houses to be wary of vested interests on security matters, who may have other motives that are not patriotic or altruistic, they should equally exercise caution and restraint on reports that could ‘de-market’ other platforms.”
