"Media Partners by Day, Forgotten Guests by Night: The Tale of the Fourth Estate: The Burial of a Cinderella Pen"

 

By Abioye Tosin Lawrence

Society demands professionalism from journalists. It expects accuracy, balance, ethics, objectivity, and courage. Every day, the public urges the media to uphold the highest standards of the profession.

Yet, beneath the applause lies a painful contradiction.

The same society that celebrates journalism often treats journalists as an afterthought. The same institutions that expect the media to be the watchdog of democracy frequently starve the very people assigned to perform that sacred duty.

Across many public events, millions are spent decorating halls. Enormous budgets are allocated for venue aesthetics, entertainment, protocol, and logistics. The red carpets are rolled out. The chandeliers glitter. The banquet tables overflow.

But somewhere in the corner stands the journalist—the individual expected to document history, amplify achievements, and hold power accountable—often struggling to afford the tools required to do the job.

It is a strange irony.

The photographer captures the moment but is forgotten in the celebration. The reporter writes the story but is excluded from the reward. The editor polishes the narrative but remains invisible to those who benefit from the publicity.

Then society wonders why content creators are flourishing.

It asks why influencers are seated at state banquets while seasoned reporters stand outside the gates. The answer is not difficult to find. Nature abhors a vacuum. Where professionalism is neglected, alternative platforms emerge to fill the gap.

This is not an attack on content creators. Far from it. Many are talented and hardworking. But it is a reflection of a disturbing reality: society increasingly rewards visibility while undervaluing expertise.

Writing is not a gift of laziness. Journalism is not the profession of the intellectually idle.

A writer is not merely someone who arranges words. A writer interprets events, investigates facts, challenges assumptions, and preserves history. Likewise, web designers, editors, broadcasters, and media professionals are builders of information infrastructure. Their work shapes public understanding and democratic engagement.

Yet brilliance is being buried beneath a culture that expects professionals to lobby endlessly for recognition and compensation.

There is nothing wrong with networking. There is nothing wrong with building relationships. But when media houses are expected to beg for relevance before being allowed to perform their professional duties, society has eroded the value of expertise.

The tragedy is not merely economic.

It is moral.

A society that undervalues its journalists gradually weakens its own voice. A nation that ignores the welfare of its storytellers risks losing control of its own narrative.

For every journalist carrying a camera under the scorching sun, every reporter filing stories long after midnight, every editor battling deadlines while receiving little appreciation, this reality is painfully familiar.

The pen remains powerful.

But even the strongest pen deserves ink.

And perhaps the greatest irony of all is that while society continues to demand ethical journalism, it often forgets that ethics cannot flourish where dignity is constantly under attack.

The burial of brilliance does not happen in silence.

It happens every time intelligence is ignored, professionalism is undervalued, and journalists are treated as beggars in the very society they strive to inform.