Over the weekend, allegations surfaced that President Goodluck Jonathan paid CNN for his January 24th interview with Christiane Amanpour. Premium Times reported that President Jonathan contracted American lobbying firm Fleshman-Hillard to contact foreign media outlets such as Bloomberg, the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and others to the amount of $59,200. The firm was also supposed to hire a media aide to improve President Jonathan's performance on foreign media outlets, in regards to his delivery. So far, the firm has only been able to procure a CNN interview. His delivery hasn't improved either.
Could this be true? Yes. Let's look at President Jonathan's track record for a minute. The man comes across as someone who craves the attention of foreign media. In 2010, he gave CNN an update about Late President Y'ardua's health. He doesn't show such preference for local news outlets. Does roaming the streets shoeless as a child have anything to do with this? I digress.
Could these allegations be false? Probably. Pres. Jonathan's most recent interview with CNN happened during the World Economic Summit in Davos when other African leaders were interviewed so it isn't odd that he would be interviewed as well. Hillary Clinton's Senate testimony on Benghazi had just occurred where she mentioned Boko Haram as a threat to the stability of the Nigerian state.
Whatever the case may be, I refuse to believe that CNN was paid for the Amanpour interview. Nonetheless, it isn't news that governments employ the services of PR companies to boost their image and that company could very well be Fleshman-Hillard. #enoughsaid
Could this be true? Yes. Let's look at President Jonathan's track record for a minute. The man comes across as someone who craves the attention of foreign media. In 2010, he gave CNN an update about Late President Y'ardua's health. He doesn't show such preference for local news outlets. Does roaming the streets shoeless as a child have anything to do with this? I digress.
Could these allegations be false? Probably. Pres. Jonathan's most recent interview with CNN happened during the World Economic Summit in Davos when other African leaders were interviewed so it isn't odd that he would be interviewed as well. Hillary Clinton's Senate testimony on Benghazi had just occurred where she mentioned Boko Haram as a threat to the stability of the Nigerian state.
Whatever the case may be, I refuse to believe that CNN was paid for the Amanpour interview. Nonetheless, it isn't news that governments employ the services of PR companies to boost their image and that company could very well be Fleshman-Hillard. #enoughsaid
