Posted by By Bolade Omonijo on
FRIENDS and relations of the late Mr Tunji Oseni yesterday gathered in Lagos to honour his memory with the launching of a book he wrote just before death came calling.
LAGOS - FRIENDS and relations of the late Mr Tunji Oseni yesterday gathered in Lagos to honour his memory with the launching of a book he wrote just before death came calling.
Media All the Way, a compilation of articles written by the late journalist and published in various between 1967 and 2004 provided a platform for a review of the life and times of the man whose last outing was as the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media Affairs.
Reviewing the book, the dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Ibadan, Professor Adigun Agbaje described it as an engaging compilation of about 185 essays published over a 36-year period.
Professor Agbaje, who left journalism for the academia in 1985, used the occasion to bemoan the state of the media in the country. His words: "...The phrase gentlemen of the press has turned largely into an exercise in self-delusion in a country that has long travelled down the precipices of appearances and away from the reflection of reality. Is it not a painful development that in a country with such a wonderful history of the noble role of the mass media and media professionals in public and not-so-public affairs, it can no longer be taken for granted that a journalist must by definition be a gentleman or a polished and accomplished lady?"
Mr Lanre Idowu, Chief Executive Officer of Diamond Publications, publishers of the book, remarked that the late Tunji Oseni lived for humanity and the media.
Eulogising the late journalist, Mr Idowu said: "He will occupy a treasured place in the history of the determined effort to nurture respect for the media and promote responsibility."