By Osagie Alonge
‘Often times it isn’t the quality of your candidates, it’s the quality of your interview’, Mark W. Boyer (Author)
I have a huge problem with the Nigerian media and I know what exactly it is – there is too much showboating, fanfare-ism and sadly a minute display of professionalism.
A few weeks ago, online television platform, Ndani TV announced the second season of its celebrity interview segment ‘The Juice’, after a successful debut run. What makes it more interesting is that ‘The Juice’ has made its way to cable TV, airing on Africa Magic, DSTV. Beat FM radio OAP Tolu ‘Toolz’ Oniru also returns as host.
I was very excited to hear this, as I am a regular viewer of the show (not just because I’m a journalist searching for content but because I’m actually a fan of most of the guests). But three episodes down the line, I must say I am totally appalled, partly embarrassed and full of distaste with what I’ve watched.
The new season’s premiere which featured 2face Idibia was 15 minutes of hot mess. Let’s get critical here – 2face Idibia is the biggest Pop star across Africa; any interviewer has to bring his/her A-game on, Toolz unfortunately didn’t. Instead of asking the pertinent questions, she avoided them. It was as if she purposely didn’t want to ask the questions as not to piss him off. She was basically kissing his ass.
2face recently made the news when an Access Bank staff, reportedly his account manager, claimed she was pregnant for him. It was big news everywhere. But I guess Toolz thinks otherwise. She jokingly asked the question and moved on quickly and that was that! Wow! Why didn’t she get stern with him? Why didn’t she ask if 2face has ever met the woman before? Does he have an Access Bank account? Why was she avoiding the hard questions?
Oprah wouldn’t do that, Piers Morgan wouldn’t do that. Larry King wouldn’t. Hell, Wendy Williams wouldn’t!
The same thing happened in the second episode when she interviewed Davido – it was just as irritating. Too many questions to ask but Toolz just pranced around and avoided asking hardball questions. Questions surrounding a few controversies like his ‘Skelewu’ video or the UK model who claims to be pregnant with a set of twins for the Pop singer.
‘There are so many questions i wish toolz would’ve asked him instead of some of the irrelevant questions she asked… Alot of things i think fans would love to know and i hope soon in the future they add some kind of fans’ top most questions .. like what fans actually want to know instead of asking him how many cars he owns…really? (sic)’, Dee Dorable who watched the video on YouTube commented.
It continued in the third episode with Iyanya – leaving out the widespread Lenovo deal controversy and Emma Nyra’s earlier claims of dumping his MMMG label.
Toolz isn’t the only one at fault here – nowadays, Nigerian journalists seem to be scared when interviewing celebs/entertainers. Turn on your radio and listen to the interviews. Very cheesy talk I tell you. Interviews can’t be rosy all the time – if something needs to be addressed then talk about it! What’s the whole pampering about?
Is it that Toolz and the others have grown so big in the media, that they are now considered celebrities themselves and therefore cannot conduct proper interviews with their fellow celebs?
My favourite interview hosts have to be with DJ Envy, Angela Yee and Charlamagne of US radio station Power 105.1 Breakfast Club. They go in. They are frank, playful, and truthful about their opinions. They will ALWAYS ask all the questions be you Jay Z (who can get you fired), Kanye West (who will give you the craziest rant) or Mariah Carey (the total embodiment of a diva).
Content is what will sell you, content is what will give you a reputation. In Nigeria, we rather gush over the glamour and glitz, the red carpet shenanigans and other irrelevant things rather than focus on becoming better at what we do. Is this why we are here?
2 comments
Infact! Osagie baba! U don yawn dem d koko. I’m really impressed about your point of view
U are rite,in nigeria no one likes the truth been said.not only the entertainmenr industry ,but every where including politics.