THERE WILL BE INK - Initiative for Policy Dialogue

higher than the $150 per month at most papers. If the journalist’s old paper paid well, he saidjournalists would not be inclined to leave 62 .The former business journalist said he did not actively seek private sector employment but wasinstead heavily recruited by banks. He decided to leave journalism partly because the financialobligations of adult life meant that he had to choose between sacrificing his ethics and accepting payfrom sources or poverty. Instead of compromising his journalistic integrity, he decided to leave theprofession. This former reporter had attended many local and international trainings in businessjournalism. He said his business training made him an attractive candidate for banks.The business sector’s pull means that the benefit of business journalism training is not long-lastingat newspapers – most trained journalists are recruited to work in corporate affairs. 63 Another reasonjournalists leave the profession is because they become frustrated with journalism. They feel they arenot making a difference and choose to leave. 64Still, interviewees said that journalists do not necessarily attend trainings with the idea of leaving theprofession. This is simply the outcome.This trend even affects the academic world. A professor we spoke with said the good journalismprofessors also leave to work in business. In desperate need of PhD professors to fill vacancies,many universities pull some former professors out of retirement to teach journalism. Although olderprofessors are cheaper, some interviewees said that they are not knowledgeable about current mediatrends or new media. 65Even as the lure of higher pay draws the majority of trained journalists to corporate jobs, a passionfor the pen does bring some back to media. The founder of a business paper we interviewed leftjournalism to work in corporate affairs before coming back. One former business journalist whonow works at a bank continues to write under a pen name and hope to one day start his ownpaper. 66 A former reporter for a major newspaper who is now working in media affairs for a banksaid he made the move to gain corporate experience. He said he is “certain” that he will return tojournalism in six months or a year. Journalism is a profession that gives you power, he said. Withoutjournalism, he would lose a piece of himself. 67 Kirk Robertson Leigh, the freelance businessjournalist, expressed a similar sentiment. After a six-month hiatus from journalism working incorporate relations for a bank, Leigh returned to reporting, largely out of love for the work, despitethe fact that it does not pay as well.Challenges to reporting on the extractive industriesIn general, journalism on the extractive industries suffers from all the same challenges as journalismin other sectors. The oil industry is so intertwined with other sectors in Nigeria that it is difficult toidentify business and economic journalism that is not in some way related to the extractives. But theimportance of oil to Nigeria’s economy, and the opacity of oil ventures in general, tend to amplify62 Nigerian Interviewee #5. 2009. Interview by Ben Colmery and Adriana Diaz. Lagos, Nigeria, January63 Nigerian Interviewee #2. 2009. Interview by Ben Colmery and Adriana Diaz. Lagos, Nigeria, January64 Nigerian Interviewee #12. 2009. Interview by Adriana Diaz. Lagos, Nigeria, January65 Nigerian Interviewee #2. 2009. Interview by Ben Colmery. Lagos, Nigeria, January66 Nigerian Interviewee #5. 2009. Interview by Ben Colmery and Adriana Diaz. Lagos, Nigeria, January67 Nigerian Interviewee #20. 2009. Interview by Eamon Kircher-Allen. Lagos, Nigeria, March– 22 –