Keeping Up with Power/Corruption in a Pandemic: A Study of an Investigative Journalist’s Twitter Handle

Yıl 2021, , 142 - 154, 31.12.2021

Omotayo Omitola

https://doi.org/10.17829/turcom.932506

Öz

Investigative journalists have the special role of conducting investigations and reporting on them. In
Nigeria, studies have confirmed that a lot of investigative reports are found in the traditional media,
both broadcast and print, and most of these reports, which are about financial scandals, originate from
government agencies saddled with the responsibility of battling corruption. This paper applies the social
responsibility theory of the press to investigate the transformation and change in investigative reporting
in Nigeria as occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic and disseminated on the social media. The study
focuses on the COVID-19 tweets of Fisayo Soyombo, an acclaimed Nigerian investigative journalist who
has over 101,000 followers on Twitter. Soyombo’s tweets from 1 April 2020 to 30 June 2020 harvested from
his eponymous Twitter handle formed the study sample. By identifying narratives of corruption, scandal
stories and follow-up stories in the tweets, the paper finds out that unlike what obtains in the traditional
media, Soyombo initiates investigation into the non-financial activities of people in positions of authority
and seizes the opportunity of asynchronous communication on Twitter to report his findings regularly.
However, the same asynchronicity as well as the unfolding events of the pandemic also cause him to end up
with many questions and not enough answers. Nonetheless, the paper concludes that such questions can
form the basis of further investigations beyond the pandemic.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Fisayo Soyombo, Twitter, COVID-19, Nigeria, Investigative Journalism

Pandemide İktidarı/Yolsuzluğu Takip Etmek: Bir Araştırmacı Gazetecinin Twitter Kullanımına Yönelik Bir Analiz

Öz

Araştırmacı gazeteciler çeşitli araştırmalar gerçekleştirmeleri ve bunları haberleştirmeleri bakımından
özel bir role sahiptirler. Nijerya’da yapılan çalışmalar, yolsuzluğa karşı mücadele etmekle sorumlu olan
hükümete yakın kurumların da dahil olduğu finansal skandallara dair çok sayıda araştırmacı gazetecilik haberinin geleneksel medyada mevcut olduğunu ortaya koymaktadır. Bu çalışma, basın dahilinde toplumsal
sorumluluk kuramından hareketle Nijerya’da COVID-19 pandemisiyle birlikte araştırmacı gazetecilikte
yaşanan değişim ve dönüşümleri sosyal medyadaki yayınlar bağlamında analiz etmektedir. Bu kapsamda
çalışma, Twitter’da 101.000’den fazla takipçisi olan Nijeryalı gazeteci Fisayo Soyombo’nun COVID-19
hakkında yayınlamış olduğu tweet’lere odaklanmaktadır. Soyombo’nun 1 Nisan 2020 ve 30 Haziran
2020 tarihleri arasında atmış olduğu tweet’ler çalışmanın örneklemini oluşturmaktadır. Tweet’leriyle
belirtilen dönemdeki yolsuzluk anlatılarını, skandal hikayelerini ve sonrasındaki gelişmeleri teşhis eden
Soyombo’nun araştırmacı gazeteciliği, iktidar konumundaki kişilerin finans dışı aktivitelerini gün ışığına
çıkarmakta ve Twitter’dan yürüttüğü asenkronize iletişim ile geleneksel medyanın aksine düzenli bir
biçimde araştırmalarını haberleştirmektedir. Diğer yandan Soyombo’nun gerçekleştirdiği asenkronize
iletişim pandemide meydana gelen olaylar ile birlikte düşünüldüğünde gazetecinin çok sayıda soruyla
karşılaşması sonucunu meydana getirirken, gazeteci tarafından verilebilen cevapların sayısı azalmaktadır.
Buna rağmen bu çalışma, öne çıkan soruların pandemi sonrasında yapılabilmesi muhtemel gelecekteki
gazetecilik araştırmalarının çıkış noktasını oluşturabileceği sonucunu ortaya koymaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Fisayo Soyombo, Twitter, COVID-19, Nijerya, Araştırmacı Gazetecilik

Kaynakça

• Abdenour, J. (2017). Digital gumshoes: investigative journalists’ use of social media in television news reporting. Digital Journalism, 5(4), 472-492. DOI: 10.1080/21670.811.2016.1175312
• Adebanwi, W. & Obadare, E. (2011). When corruption fights back: Democracy and elite interest in Nigeria’s anti-corruption war. The Journal of Modern African Studies, 49(2), 185 – 213. DOI: 10.1017/ S0022278X11000012
• Asemah, E. S. & Asogwa, C. (2012). Investigative journalism, corruption and sustainable development in Nigeria: a critical overview. Journal of Research in National Development, 10(2), 282-289.
• Avery, E., Lariscy, R. & Sweetser, K.D. (2010). Social media and shared-or divergent-uses? A coorientation analysis of public relations practitioners and journalists. International Journal of Strategic Communication, 4(3), 189–205. DOI: 10.1080/1553118X.2010.489501
• Berglez, P. (2013). Global journalism: Theory and practice. New York: Peter Lang.
• Choi, S. (2015). The two-step flow of communication in Twitter-based public forums. Social Science Computer Review, 33(6), 696-711. DOI: 10.1177/089.443.9314556599.
• Dare, S. (2011). The rise of citizen journalism in Nigeria: A case study of Sahara Reporters (Fellowship paper). Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, University of Oxford.
• Gearing, A. (2014). Investigative journalism in a socially networked world. Pacific Journalism Review, 20(1), 61- 75.
• Global Investigative Journalism Network. (2020). Investigative journalism on the COVID-19 crisis. Retrieved April 30, 202 from https://gijn.org/2020/03/25/investigative-journalism-on-the-COVID-19-crisis
• Hart, A. (2011). Social media in investigative reporting: A conversation with CIR’s Meghann Farnsworth. InvestigateWest. Retrieved June 25, 2020 from http://www.invw.org/content/social-media-ininvestigative- reporting-a-conversation-with-cir%E2%80%99s-meghann-farnsworth
• Hoffmann, L.K. & Patel, R.N. (2017). Collective action on corruption in Nigeria: A social norms approach to connecting society and institutions. London: Chatham House Africa Programme Report.
• Hume, E. & Abbott, S. (2017). The future of investigative journalism: global, networked and collaborative. Retrieved September 17, 2020 fromhttps://cmds.ceu.edu/sites/cmcs.ceu.hu/files/attachment/ article/1129/humeinvestigativejournalismsurvey_0.pdf
• Syed, N., & KAS Media Programme (Eds.). (2016). Investigative Journalism Manual (IJM). Singapore: Konrad- Adenauer-Stiftung, Media Programme Asia.
• Jebril, N., Loveless, M., & Stetka, V. (2015). Media and democratisation: Challenges for an emerging sub-field. Media Studies, 6(11), 84-98.
• Johnston, M. (2005). Syndromes of corruption: Wealth, power, and democracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Kalpokas, I. (2019). A political theory of post-truth. Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Lone, S.A. & Ahmad, A. (2020). COVID-19 pandemic—an African perspective. Emerging Microbes & Infections, 9(1), 1300-1308. DOI:10.1080/22221.751.2020.1775132.
• Musa, B. (1997). Uses and abuses of development media theory in sub-Saharan Africa: Critique of a quasidescriptive/ prescriptive theory, Ecquid Novi: African Journalism Studies, 18(1), 132-147.
• Ojebode, A. (2011). Nigerian former guerrilla journalists ten years into democracy: Reformists and revolutionaries. Fort Hare Papers, 18, 19-40.
• Olorunyomi, D. (2013). Democracy challenges Nigerian investigative journalism. The Investigative Reporters and Editors Journal, Winter 2013, 28-29.
• Onyenankeya, K & Salawu, A. (2020). On bended knees: Investigative journalism and changing media culture in Nigeria. Media Watch, 11(1), 97-118. DOI: 10.15655/mw/2020/v11i1/49758.
• Oso, L. (2013). Media and democracy in Nigeria: A critique of liberal perspective. New Media and Mass Communication, 10, 13-22.
• Reed, S. (2012). American sports writers’ social media use and its influence on professionalism. Journalism Practice 7(5), 555–571. DOI:10.1080/17512.786.2012.739325.
• Reich, Z. (2013). The impact of technology on news reporting: a longitudinal perspective. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 90(3), 417–434. DOI: 10.1177/107.769.9013493789.
• Rosenthal, R. (2011, September 16). New investigative reporting models: Opportunities and challenges. Paper Presented at Back to the Source Conference, Sydney.
• Starbird, K. & Palen, L. (2011, May). ‘Voluntweeters:’ Self-organizing by digital volunteers in times of crisis. Proceedings of CHI 2011 (pp. 1071-1080). Vancouver, BC. DOI: 10.1145/1978.942.1979102
• Suleiman, A.S. (2017). Investigative reporting and press coverage of corruption in Nigeria (1999-2012) (Unpublished PhD Thesis). University of East Anglia, Norwich.
• Voltmer, K. (2013). The media in transitional democracies. Cambridge: Polity.
• Yusha’u, M.J. (2009). Investigative journalism and scandal reporting in the Nigerian press. Ecquid Novi: African Journalism Studies, 30(2), 155-174.