Patience Subokume Otobotekere

Philip Obaji Correspondent, The Daily Beast C/O The Daily Beast 555 West 18th Street 2nd Floor New York, NY 10011 United States-January 28, 2024 To whom it may concern: Letter of reference for Patience Otobotekere I have mentored Patience for a number of years and have edited a number of her most recent articles on LinkedIn. She has always shown that she is an independent voice and has never acted on behalf of special interests whether political, corporate or cultural. Patience is fair and impartial. Her stories are balanced and add context. Her impartial reporting has built trust and confidence in her work. She holds herself accountable. When Patience commits errors, she corrects them. Her expressions of regret are sincere, not cynical. She seeks truth and reports it. She knows ethical journalism should be accurate and fair so she makes sure she remains honest and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting the information she gets. She takes responsibility for the accuracy of her work. She verifies information before releasing it. Patience avoids surreptitious methods of gathering information unless she is certain that traditional, open methods will not yield information vital to the public. She never plagiarizes but always attributes. Patience balances the public's need for information against potential harm or discomfort. She understands that pursuit of the news is not a license for arrogance or undue intrusiveness. She is aware that the highest and primary obligation of ethical journalism is to serve the public, and so she does everything possible to minimize harm. She understands that ethical journalism means taking responsibility for one’s work and explaining one’s decisions to the public. She acknowledges mistakes and corrects them promptly and prominently. She explains corrections and clarifications carefully and clearly. I strongly believe that Patience, for all her efforts, deserves a consideration. Yours faithfully, Philip Obaji