The media as often referred to as the fourth estate of the realm, the watch dog of the government, a major stake in the development of every democratic society while carrying out its responsibility of informing, influencing, entertaining and educating through it volatile contents and reach. By implication, it means that the media of any democratic society has the power and capacity of heralding the needed development, correcting the ill practices whether in governance or in the society as well as also help promote practices that can help protect the image of the said society to the outer world.
However, in achieving the above, there are already set standards, mode of operation as well as level of responsibility. One of such is its freedom and independence. The level of freedom and independence of the press has always been a subject of discussion and argument all over the world even though that the concept of media freedom and independence are usually encoded in the constitution of various countries which Nigeria is of no exception.
Section 22 of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) states that “the press, radio, television and other agencies of the mass media to, at all time, be free to uphold the responsibility and accountability of the government to the people”. This section of the constitution clearly affirms the freedom and independence of the Press including its responsibility in making sure the government is accountable to the people but how practicable is this section in Nigeria?
The benefit of a free and independent press in informing the citizens about publics as well as helping to maintain their rights and monitoring the government is evident in places where they have been upheld even though there is no such thing as total free press anywhere in the World
An example is the ruse between the press and former President of the United States; Donald Trump showed the level of inefficiency of the former president. In the case of Nigeria, the battle against corruption will have been more effectively if the media could effectively operate freely. The scenario of snake swallowing money, monkey making away with money and other fraudulent activities only saw the space and time of news with no investigative or interpretative reporting. We have often seen government official coming to say they know people sponsoring terrorist activities in the country but the probe to actually identify these individuals by the media have been silent. If free, independent and audible, the problems we face today would not have aggregated to this level.
But having seen the various instances where the issue of encroachment of Section 22 of the Nigerian Constitution in play in this country. For instance the letter issued to various media organizations by the National Broadcasting Commission in 2021 to downplay the worsening security challenges in the country, particularly the threat of Boko Haram as well as the fines issued to media organizations who reported the EndSARS protest.
Other examples include Jaafar Jaafar, the publisher of the Abuja-based Daily Nigerian online news outlet who went into hiding after the harassment from the police in Abuja and the Governor of Kano state; the assault of Fredrick Tunde Odimayo, an editor of Grace FM a privately owned radio station in Lokoja, Kogi state; Sunday Ode of the People’s Daily Newspaper who was arrested in Abuja on the alleged order of the Governor of Benue state for accusing the governor of mishandling the conflict between the Bonta and Ukpute tribes in Benue state; the 10th of May, 2021 raid of Newspaper vendors in Owerri arresting six of them and seizing various copies of publications with anti-government content and several others including the ban of twitter and the Nigerian Press Council bill introduced to shelve the power of the Nigerian media under the armpit of the President and the Information Minister.
Even with the Nigerian government and various agencies’ denial of involvement in these assaults and encroachments with the sanctions and bill supposed to be for the benefit of the country. The Nigerian Press still bore the question of whether being free or castrated.
Being free implies that it is independent in deciding what is news and objective reporting without interference whether through cohesion or by sanctions by anybody or agency. Being castrated simply implies that the media is on paper free but in reality, a propaganda tool for the government or manned by policies which prevent them from “upholding the responsibility and accountability of the government to the people”.
Nigeria ranks 115th out of 180 countries on the World Press Freedom Index in 2020. This shows how disastrous the efficient practice of the media in the country among other countries of the world. Even though according to the title of Mike Hume’s book, “there is no such thing as free press”, a reasonable level of freedom is vague in Nigeria or is it that Free Press is no good for our country? Then what is better? The castrated one?
Even with the excuse of upholding Social Responsibility or Developmental media theory, the level of limitations and control should be decided by journalists themselves through their associative bodies like National Union of Journalists (NUJ) for the interest of the country and the responsibility of the Profession and not by politicians in or seeking for public seats which if allowed relays to the Soviet Communist or Authoritarian theory.
In conclusion, just like how information is power and communication is important in every society as it is often said that “when there is no communication, there is no society”. The carrier of such information is also very important if not even more just as Marshal McLuhan puts it that “the media is the message”. The effectiveness of the Press which in this case is the medium is very paramount. The Nigerian Press with its evident castrated nature will do no good to the country but instead mar it.
Ishaq Bilal
