THE INDEPENDENCE OF THE JOURNALISTS AND GENUINE NEWS REPORT

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Journalism Practice: The Nigerian Experience

The role of the Nigerian press or media in decolonization cannot be over emphasised, neither can their role in the struggle against neo-colonial dictatorship, military rule and imperialism. Indeed, the role of the media in the struggle for democracy since the 1980s is also well recorded and important. Out of this arose the tradition of what is euphemistically referred to as “guerrilla journalism”. There are four issues I wish to address in this article viz, the nature and state of the media in Nigeria, the professional and ethical issues, the media and political activities. As the aphorism goes, every society gets the kind of leadership it deserves, but the media all over the world have tended to violate this rule. If you want to know or gauge the level of freedom or lack of it in any society, all you needed to know is the health of the media, how much freedom the media have. However, it should be noted that there is no society in the world where press freedom ever came cheap. All through the ages, press freedom had come at a price and struggles had been waged to ensure and sustain press freedom (Oladele, 2009).

In Nigeria too, since the colonial era, there has been repression of the press, resulting in the shutting of media houses and assault on journalists. This tradition continued into the military era. However, all this did not halt the campaign for press freedom. The media in Nigeria has been highly battered and highly compromised. It is now meant for the “highest bidder”. Many journalists have become so compromised that their reports are based on what butters their bread; news has now become what serves their patron’s interests. Increasingly, the proliferation of media houses, the weak supervisory role of the Guild of Editors and the Nigerian Union of Journalists, the lack of interests in building career in journalism as such and the greed and materialism of journalists have made it difficult for many journalists to maintain the standards and ethics of the profession. Worse still, some journalists do not know what constitutes minimum conduct and expectation of a professional journalist. This raises two other questions, first, the calibre and nature of those who call themselves journalists, second the induction and training offered them at recruitment by various media houses.

To be sure, journalism is an all-comer profession in Nigeria. People of diverse backgrounds and disciplines with mere “interest” in journalism or who are merely seeking job opportunities, automatically become journalists when such offers are made. Many essayists or writers can easily claim to be journalists, there are no rules of entry, or to restate the same thing, there are no rules for regulating conduct and practice of journalists or better still, enforcement mechanisms are weak. Most prominent people, who are editors and news editors in many media houses today, never studied journalism or mass communication that is true. But I do not think that accounts for why they are morally wanting. Not studying Mass Communication is not and cannot be an excuse, because all subjects, all disciplines teach ethics and good conduct; so it is with and in all professions -there are best practices. But why are these not respected by journalists or enforced by media owners or professional unions? (Oladele, 2009)

The cheapening of professional and ethical standards in journalism has affected the quality of news and reports; and has introduced excessive biases, fabrications and partisanship in the conduct of many journalists. What happens is that many journalists are on the payroll of key established businesses, governmental and political interests. From time to time, these patrons get news syndicated and planted in the media. They also pay heavily to get news killed, the public interest, notwithstanding. Many people occupying the office of “Press Secretary” whether at federal state or Local government level, or legislative arm or even to former political office holders, are meant to achieve that purpose. Hence those positions in many ways have become means of compromising the press and quality of news. The implication is that Nigerians no longer trust in what they read, they no longer believe what they hear, and rumour seems more authentic than what the media tells them. The result of the inaccuracies and falsehood of Nigeria media have resulted in a lot of litigations in law courts over libel and so on.

For how longer will the NUJ condone this practice? The unethical practices of journalists are also related in no small way to poor pay. Many journalists are grossly underpaid and this has compromised them in no small way in the discharge of their professional and social responsibility. It may be argued that this is not peculiar to the journalism or journalism as a profession, but it is most tempting for some journalists, the choice between collecting or rejecting gratification is quite complex. I hasten to add that some of those journalists are also greedy and opportunistic. Such bad eggs should be severed with the profession. There is no where Nigerian journalist has shown misconduct, sharp and unethical practices and lack of respect for the readership than in reporting of political activities or political office holders. The media have been unfair to some politicians and unduly patronizing to others. Facts are sacred and this must be recognized as a cardinal principle of the practice of journalism. Professional Journalism has been grossly compromised in Nigeria and induced with money, such that quite an impressive number of them have been compromised. Everybody knows about his but very few are courageous to speak out openly about it. That is selfcensorship and it is wrong particularly because such unethical conduct is not restricted to just reporters but to higher level of journalists, including Editors and Managing Directors and in some cases, publishers. The last political electioneering clearly showed that. Every news item bore the imprint of the interest of a political aspirant. Even after the elections, journalists continue to be subservient and loyal to their patrons. This has made the journalists to lose self-respect, as they have become highly compromised; they know this as well as do their patrons.

They inform their patrons about incoming “damaging” news about them, they promote, protect, gate-keep and defend the interest of their patrons in the news. Often times, the same news story is reproduced verbatim in four or five print media and more often, the news story was written by the same journalist working with a media house and on the payroll of such politicians. The implication of all this is that nobody respects journalists or news emanating from media houses, any longer. Increasingly the reading audience has become indifferent, if not cynical to news stories in the media. News is now ridiculed and caricatured as make-believe of journalists. Media houses are having less and less reading audience and less and less listening or viewing audience, depending on whether it is radio, television or the print media. This ought not to be the case. There is need to return to the basics. Media owners must allow their media houses to operate freely without interference, media proprietors need to improve the welfare and working conditions of journalists. It is bad enough that there is often no pension scheme in many media houses (thanks to the Obasanjo administration that tried to rectify this for many category of workers); however, it is important that journalists go home with a good pay packet; this will give them selfconfidence and fortify some of them against tempting gratification. This will still not stop the greedy ones but it will stem or mitigate the current tide.

The Guild of Editors and the Nigerian Union of Journalists at the Branch and national levels must enforce their ethical rules on erring members. Above all, journalists must go through training and retraining and internalize best practices and core values. They must know that certain forms of conduct impinge on their professional and morality thus making negative impact on the society at large. In the end, every journalist should know that their conduct will haunt them one day. They may feel that they have discretely, if not clandestinely, stuck deals with their patrons, but one day such information shall become public knowledge and whatever a journalist may have put into the service, will be lost or extremely diminished by such disgraceful and compromising disclosure. Just like the relationship between the medical doctors and the patient, the journalist stands in a strategic position as mirroring and informing society about itself. Misleading, deceitful and misinforming news constitute the highest crime against humanity any journalist can commit, especially when this arose consciously or as a result of inducement by patrons. All hope is not lost; journalists involved in such shameful acts can still redeem themselves and give a better image to the profession. Journalist cannot be critical of the society and shy away from being critical of the conduct of its members, it is a case of “physician, heal thyself”. The consequences of not heeding this clarion call is that in the end, not just the bad eggs in the profession but everybody will be perceived in the same way as the bad ones-the kind of mindset Nigerians had of the military in time past.

2.2 Professionalism and Media Ethics

McQuail, (2005) points out that lack of political independence has been identified as one of the effects of professionalism in journalism. This takes various forms, including organization into associations, the formation of press councils and the drawing up of principles of good practice in the form of codes of practice and ethics. The press councils are typically voluntary or at least non-governmental bodies that meditate between the public and the mass media. The function implies the need to have some codes of standard principles to which reference can be made; and in general press councils are instruments of self regulations for the press that acknowledge a responsibility to the public.

There are codes of ethics in Nigeria but it is often flawed — selling conscience at the altar of money.

a) Why Codes of Ethics?

Codes of ethics exist virtually in all professions in order to ensure standard practice and since journalism is not an exception thus, it bends along with dictates of the standard. The phenomenon reflects the general process of professionalism of journalism especially from the threat of external intervention and reduced autonomy. It reveals the values that the media publicly proclaim as guidelines for their work. Common features of the codes includes: the prohibition of discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion; respect for privacy; and prohibition of bribes or any other benefits. As a matter of fact, truth and objectivity are central to the values of journalism.

2.3 Identity of a Professional Journalist

Astor (1991) explains that journalist is not a man who can write good, sound, logical English which he has learned at school or which divine providence has put into his head without effort on his part, unless he knows something of the fundamental of the things which he assumes to be calling. Such people are special writer, a contribution to the press. Surlin (1987) after his study of values of journalism practitioners before and after undergoing course in media ethics opines that the media ethics course had a noticeable and ethically positive effect upon the student value system. Consequently, one might assure that this shift in values will lead to more ethical and responsible decision making by these soon to-be media professionals.

Ogunsiji (1993) agrees with social “communicologist” that no doubt, professionalism will certainly restrict the ranks of those who practice journalism in Nigeria and that; it will also eliminate quacks from practicing. This will make Nigeria press in general appear more responsible and respectable. In the same vein, Akinfeleye (1990) opines that journalists and pseudo-journalists will find the lure of professionalism very strong because, it would give them the aura of social responsibility and dignity. Astor also ascertains that professional journalist is the foundation stone of the structure without which the seeker for news and the writer thereof, all the vast and intricate mass of machinery of melting post, of dynamos, picture of fleets of motor cars and special trains – all will be useless.

2.4 Freedom for the Media - Issues of Journalism Ethics in Nigeria

A common understanding is that the quality of journalism is closely related to the basic values of a free and democratic society. Press freedom is definitely a fundamental element in democratic media reform. Society grants the media both the freedom of expression and free access to information, not as privileges, but as an obligation to use them responsibly for the advancement of democracy and civil society. The prerequisite is that journalists enjoying these freedoms uphold moral values and norms of professional ethics.

The newly independent post-Communist countries have had only a brief experience of free media, free market economics and democratic government. The development of the media in these countries has taken three broadly contrasting routes. First, in some, especially the former Soviet Socialist ‘Republics’, such as Moldova, Belarus, Russia or Ukraine, the media are still politically controlled, and press freedom is limited or non-existent (Mickiewicz, 1998). Second, others that were predominantly not former Soviet ‘republics’ have a relatively broad pressfreedom (e.g., Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, the Czech republic).

However, in these countries, state interference remains substantial and legal measures are occasionally taken against ‘disobedient’ journalists and media outlets (Paletz & Jakubowicz, 2003). Third, in those countries where democratic reforms have been most successful (e.g., Slovakia, Estonia, Lithuania), the media have more successfully distanced themselves from political forces and governments, and acquired the same functions that exist in the mature Western democracies, including the political ‘watchdog’ role (Sükösd & Bájomi-Lázár, 2003; Balcytiene, 2005).

They also enjoy wide freedoms that are supported by legislation.

Freedom of expression,however, is not necessarily directly correlated with a responsible and ethical performance of the media as the situation in several newly liberated countries demonstrates. The paradox isthat ethical problems of the media in these countries are not an issue of the restrictions of freedom of expression, but an issue of the media abusing this freedom.

After censorship was abolished in the early 1990s, no new legal regulation was established as a replacement. As a result, a moral vacuum emerged, where old values and conventions were repudiated, but the replacements were not yet articulated nor agreed. Journalists interpreted press freedom as freedom from any restraints, which created a euphoric atmosphere of absolutely unlimited freedom with no need to consider what to say and how to say it, publicly. This caused many cases of violation of good journalistic practice, several of which ended up in court, and undermined the public trust in the media. The duration of the ‘vacuum period’ differed from country to country, and ended in most cases, not only with establishing legal regulation, but also with State interference in the media.

2.4.1 Regulation and self-regulation

Estonia is one of the rare post-Communist countries where

State regulation remained minimal and confined itself only to a

Broadcasting Act (1994). In Latvia and Lithuania, the laws for regulating all the media were adopted. Due to non-existent regulations of both media market and media ownership, and few test cases to set legal precedents, media policy in these countries remains extremely liberal. No institutions or individuals, for example, are empowered to watch the ‘watch-dog’. Civil society structures are still too weak, and civic and political cultures insufficiently developed to be able to create an atmosphere where violations of journalistic ethics would be, at best, inconceivable or at least publicly and stronglydisapproved. Where no effective mechanism exists to watch how the media fulfill their public service functions, commercial interests inevitably take over and the quality of journalism suffers severely (Coman & Gross, 2006). Increasing negativism, such as the abundance of sensational and criminal news that appears in the Lithuanian media, is also a trend in other countries. For example, in the Lithuanian main daily newspapers – Lietuvos rytas and Respublika – the number of suicide stories increased from 131 and 91 in 1996 respectively, to 190 and 162 in 2001 (Balcytiene, 2006).

The free press in pursuit of commercial interests can also be seen to abuse the freedom of speech. The owners, management and elite journalists control the professional environment and attempt to preserve the freedom of the press for corporate interests. While declaringthe status of the ‘fourth estate’ and ‘watchdog’ who have right to scrutinize everyone’s activity in society, the media frequently use this right to ‘whip-up’ leak-based scandals, careless intrusions in peoples’ privacy and disclosures of sensitive information.Even if legislation exists for dealing with such cases, the application of laws for securing media’s responsible performance is insufficient. In developed civic cultures, public control and media self-regulation mechanisms are a relatively strong authority among media organizations and journalists.

In countries that still continue to struggle with unsolved political, economic and social problems media self-regulation is developing under specific circumstances Media self-regulation emerged as a new development in these countries and has largely remained under control of media elites. As Richter (2007) states, “ethical charters and conventions are generally drawn up, adopted and signed by media proprietors and executives rather than journalists. The top people are de-facto supplanting professional with corporate solidarity and ethics, and asking the rank and file to reconcile themselves to an often highly conditional form of ‘in-house-censorship’ in order to avert pressure from the state”. In one format or another, Codes of journalistic Conduct are adopted in most of former Communist countries, but few of them are independently adopted by journalists.

The existence ofthe Code itselfdoes not, however, raise the quality of reporting or prevent violations of the ethical norms. Media owners, publishers and executives “see the introduction of codes of ethics as merely a move to curb their freedoms instead of furnishing a system of moral values that they themselves need” (Richter, 2007). Therefore, they strivefor the soleright to define ‘good journalism’ and decide how to interpret and apply the principles of the Codes of ethics. This leads to a simulation of self-regulation and contributes to the abuseof the freedom of expression by the media, as the case of Estonia demonstrates (Harro & Lauk, 2003).

Furthermore, as public figures, these two men should be able to withstand stronger criticism than other members of the public and consequently the newspaper did not violate ethical norms.

When it comes to the critical assessment of the quality of the media, news organizations effectively block theseissues. While the media take the right to criticize everything and everybody, they remain opaque and inaccessible for criticism themselves, and any question of responsible use of this right is carefully avoided. Critical voices that point to violations of ethical principles of reporting, power abuse by the media or simply bad journalism are furiously attacked by the media.

The most effective weapon against those who criticize the media from outside is to accuse them of attempting to restrict the freedom of the press or even to establish censorship. This argument easily findspublic support and understanding. The memories of past censorship and the all-penetrating control by the authorities are still fresh and painful among both journalists and the public. For example, when the author of this article raised (rather generally) an issue about the responsibility of a broadcasting channel for occurrences in its live broadcasts, no lesser authority than the ethical advisor of the National Broadcasting Commission blamed her for suggesting the forbidding of live broadcasts and restricting the freedom of speech. The issue of responsibility of the channel was entirely ignored. By contrast, a similar case (inappropriate expressions about somebody’s personality in a ‘live’ talk show) on Nigeria television brought a strong reprimand to the television channel by the Nigeria Press Council and also public condemnation.

The cases where the media organisations or journalists abuse their power have become toofrequent. For example,the right to reply is often ignored. Furthermore, there was a case in 2008, in which an individual who asked a television channel for the chance to reply was publicly mocked in one of the next news broadcasts.

Nigerian National Broadcasting Commission has employed an ethical advisor. The task is to deal with the viewers’ and listeners’ complaints, to make the broadcasting organization more transparent forthe public by explaining the programming policy and to watch over the adherence of the ethical principles of journalism in broadcasting. There is certainly a conflict of interests involved. There was a recent case that entirely confirms his statement.

In early 2008, an author and literature Professor was severely mocked on the public service channel. He was labeled as ‘irresponsible red professor’, a criminal, a ‘dog-author’,a traitor etc. He was not offered the right of reply i.e. a chance to defend himself. First, he complained to the Broadcasting ombudsman requesting the right to reply.

2.5How Appropriate are the Ethics of Journalism independence in and genuine news report in Nigeria

Firstly, there is a need to highlight the code of ethics of Journalism in Nigeria.The

Code of ethics is a collective effort of Nigerian journalists represented by the Nigeria

Press Organization (NPO) and the Nigerian Press Council (NPC). It thus reads;

•Editorial Independence

Decisions concerning the content of news should be the responsibility of a professional journalist

•Accuracy and Fairness

1. The Public has a right to know. Factual accurate, balanced and fair reporting is the ultimate objective of good journalism and the basis of earning public trust and confidence.
2. A journalist should refrain from publishing inaccurate and misleading information. Where such information has been inadvertently published, prompt correction should be made. A journalist must hold the right of reply as a cardinal rule of practice.
3. In the course of his duties, a journalist should strive to separate facts from conjecture and comment.

•Privacy

As a general rule, a journalist should respect the privacy of individuals and their families unless it affects public interest.

1. Information on the private life of an individual or his family should only be published if it impinges on public interest.
2. Publishing of such information about an individual as mentioned above should be deemed justifiable only if it is directly at:
3. Exposing crime or serious misdemeanour;
4. Exposing anti-social conduct;
5. Protecting public health, morality and safety
6. Preventing the public from being misled by some statement or action of the individual concerned.

•Privilege/Non Disclosure

1. A journalist should observe the universally accepted principle of confidentiality and should not disclose the source of information obtained in confidence.
2. A journalist should not bridge an agreement with a source of information obtained as “off the record” or as “back ground information”

•Decency

1. A journalist should dress and comport himself in a manner that conforms to public taste.
2. A journalist should refrain from using offensive, abusive, or vulgar language.
3. A journalist should not present lurid details, either in words or picture, of violence, sexual acts, abhorrent or horrid scenes.iv.In cases involved in personal grief or shock, enquiries should be carried out and approaches made with sympathy and discretion.

v.Unless it is in the furtherance of the public’s right to know, a journalist should generally avoid identifying relatives or friends of persons convicted or accused of crime.

•Discrimination

A journalist should refrain from making pejorative reference to a person’s ethnic group, religion, sex, or to any physical or mental illness or handicap.

•Reward And Gratification

1. A journalist should neither solicit nor accept bribe, gratification or patronage to suppress or publish information.
2. To determine payment for publication of news is inimical to the notion of news as fair, accurate, unbiased and factual report of an event.

•Violence

A journalist should not present or report acts of violence, armed robberies, terrorist activities or vulgar display of wealth in a manner that glorifies such act in the eyes of the public.

•Children and Minors

A journalist should not identify, either by name or picture, or interview children under the age of 16 who are involved in cases concerning sexual offences, crimes and rituals or witchcraft either as victims, witnesses or defendants.

•Access to Information

A journalist should strive to employ open and honest mans in the gathering of information. Exceptional methods may be employed only when the public interest is at stake.

•Public Interest

A journalist should strive to enhance national unity and public good.

•Social Responsibility

A journalist should promote universal principles of human rights, democracy, justice, equity, peace and international understanding.

•Plagiarism

A journalist should not copy, wholesale, or in part, other people’s work without attribution and/or consent.

•Copyright

1. Where a journalist reproduces a work, be it in print, broadcast, art work or design, proper acknowledgement should be accorded to the author.
2. A journalist should abide by all rules of copyright, established by national and international laws and conventions.

•Press Freedom And Responsibility

A journalist should strive at all times to enhance press freedom and responsibility.

Having highlighted the ethics and examined the Nigerian Journalist, the ethics are not totally obeyed by them. The issues have however been a concern based on the ethics meant to be followed by journalists in Nigeria. Firstly, Editorial Independence most of the times is subjected to negative ownership. Most media organizations in Nigeria are not being independent of their publications due to the fact that these media houses are privately owned by important personalities in the society. This Owners control what should be heard or read by the citizens. A good example is that of President Olusegun Obasanjo, being a Southerner, has benefited from the “soft touch” of the predominant media in Nigeria. In the “Speaker-gate” scandal that involved Alhaji Salihu Buhari, the first Speaker of the House of Representatives in the Obasanjo Presidency, the North/South perspective of the Nigeria media was manifest. The News, a southernbased news-magazine, which first reported the fact that Salisu Buhari had forged his age and educational qualifications to clinch the exalted position, pursued the allegations until Buhari was forced to resign, and was subsequently tried and convicted for perjury.

Most media organizations support the religion or ethnicity of the owners of the media houses. Notable examples of these are the census controversies of 1962 and 1973, the Daboh-Tarka affair. The North/South divide in Nigerian politics is so deep that public policy defers to it, and mass media outfits skew their reports and analyses to accommodate the interests of its adherents. Also the idea of giving out brown envelopes to journalist by politicians is very imminent in the Nigerian Media. The integrity of Journalists has been bought by the bribes and incentives of politicians and people in power. Monetary bribes and other gifts tie the hands of journalist who then become incapable of being objective in reporting events and issues involving people who give the gifts. Also, some publishers are in the habit of getting contracts from the government, such publishers always try to discourage their newspapers and magazine from publishing stones hat are critical of the government.

Although the media sometimes provide information to citizens but in most cases it is never done, rather they hoard information at times for security and if they have been bribed to keep the information. For instance, the government’s poor record of accountability amongst public officers between 1986 and 1993 was evident among others at the National Electoral Commission (NEC), the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), the Nigeria Telecommunications (NITEL) Plc, and the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), but which was reported only after the demise of the Babangida administration. This implies that the problem of lack of exposure during life of an administration is not for want of evidence and the necessary information.

It is said that a public officer has no private life. This may well be so, but even here public interest draws the line. It is not everything we know about the private life of a public officer that is publishable. Convention imposes on us the obligation to protect the integrity of a public officer under certain circumstances.

When the press makes statement that damages a person’s reputation, the press is guilty of character assassination. An example of character assassination was late Ohonbamu’s accusation of the former Head of State, late Murtala Muhammed of corruption and acquisition of ill-gotten wealth. Ohonbamu, a Senior lecturer in Law at the University of Lagos and also the publisher of African Spark magazine published the allegation in his magazine. He was charged to court and towards the end of the trial he pleaded guilty. Also, the recent statement credited to Dr. Gbenga Obasanjo published by The News magazine accusing Vice President Abubakar Atiku of corruption is another case of character assassination. Whereas there is no legal punishment for sycophancy, character assassination is both unethical and illegal, a journalist could face court action for defamation or damaging somebody’s reputation.

Ethics are important because they prescribe acceptable codes of professional behaviour (James, 2007). But in itself, an ethic code of conduct can of itself do nothing. The responsibility for serving the public rests squarely on individual reporters and their editors. As I see it, the challenge facing us has less to do with our failure to abide by the ethics of the profession. The challenge is to do a good job of informing and educating the Nigeria public. To do this, we must commit ourselves to two fundamental objectives.

• Firstly, we must be better informed than the public we seek to serve. An uninformed or a poorly-informed reporter is a dangerous creature let loose on the land.
• Secondly, we must sharpen our editorial judgment. Good editorial judgment is a function of both experience and broad-mindedness. The rush to publish has left a lot to be desired in our editorial judgment. We need to hasten slowly because what is published can never be unpublished.

In the words of Risley (2001) when a journalist is confronted with ethical problems he or she should consider the following principles.

• When there are two extreme positions in a situation, he or she should seek the middle ground known by Aristotle as the “Golden mean”.
• Act only as you would wish others would act.
• Consider the utilitarianism of our actions, that is, our action should produce the greatest balance of good over evil.
• Apply the veil of ignorance, that is, make ethical decisions as if you are equal with all members of the society and lastly treat people in the same way you would expect to be treated.

2.6 The Media and Integrity

Society shares in the responsibility of making media practice easier and smoother for practitioners. But society does not seem to agree with that position and yet, it desires an unblemished performance from the media. A lawmaker, who does not support the passage of the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill would, for instance, be the first person to condemn a reporter for publishing ‘half-truth’, even when he understands the pains experienced before procuring such ‘half-truth’ considered as classified in government circles. Nevertheless, the media must forge ahead with a clear appreciation of certain guiding principles bordering on the pursuit of integrity. The media is a powerful force which cannot be ignored in any nation but journalists are not expected to abuse such power for selfish reasons. Their primary role is o gather and report news and comments to enable the public to make informed judgments. Shunning all appearances of professional impropriety should be the watchword of a thoroughbred journalist. He is supposed to be confident at times to defend his actions. Such actions, which unequivocally translate into news stories, are expected to be guided by truth, accuracy, balance, impartiality and fair play (Omojuyigbe, 2010).

These are principles required to help the public build a trust in the media, not only as an impartial observer and carrier of news, but also as a reliable ‘instrument’ through which they can readily appreciate the true position of issues.

2.6.1 Understanding Ethical Implications of Journalism Practice

The question of ethics is not clear-cut as the question of law. The ethical implications of a reporter’s action, in the process of gathering and disseminating information, are far-fetched in relation to the legal implications of such action. The issue of ethics is so wide that it can be interpreted variously, depending on who or what is involved. However, ethics dwell on the concept of methodology which ought to be universally recognized one.

If, for instance, obtaining information through pretense or deceit is unacceptable as a standard practice, then it becomes condemnable for a journalist to do so, no matter what issue is involved. But the journalist is in a fix here. He now ruminates over whether to violate the law and serve national interest or play the game by the rules and put the peace and unity of the country in jeopardy. But purists will always argue that only the methods approved by law in gathering information are acceptable, notwithstanding what else will suffer. They believe that, that is the only way the media can be trusted by members of the public. It is now left for the reporter to justify whatever decision he takes (Abadins, 2007).

He went further that journalists are corrupt or that they take brown envelopes. Which euphemistically, still means bribe, has become the song of many? Corruption is reprehensible, whichever way it happens, whether openly or in a veiled from. There is no justification for it, for the self pride and integrity of the journalist involved are depleted, while the little confidence and trust of the public in the media are further eroded. If the media must act to type as the watchdog of society, its practitioners must shun all form or appearance of corruption. That is the only moral standing they have to expose corruption in other places.

2.6.2 What Journalism Ethics Say

The demands of good media practice are high and varied. Media ethics represent the acceptable behaviour of media practitioners in the course of their duty. Ethics call for responsibility from journalists and appeal to their moral suasion. They are expected to be truthful, honest, fair courageous and impartial in gathering, reporting and interpreting information. Gathering information is important but processing it is crucial, so as to avoid mistakes and misinformation when reporting. That is why reports should be presented in such a way that news consumers will be able to distinguish between news and opinion. Mingling them is totally unacceptable because it has the propensity to mislead the public. Also, the audience should be given opportunity to respond to allegations of wrongdoing, just as distortion of news is a grave offence (Lasacca, 2005).

A journalist should always remember that he has a responsibility to the public who has the right to know. He needs to avoid conflict of interest and refuse favours or gifts that could make him compromise that position. This is achievable only if he is willing to act independently and not seek to ingratiate himself with any person, group, organization or government functionary. He is accountable only to his readers, viewers or listener and so, should admit mistakes when they occur and promptly correct them. He should also expose evil when detected, no matter who is involved (Akpan, 2001). Reporting is expected to be done with decency and also in good taste. Suspected malice in a report calls to question the principle of fair play, while the issue of lurid pictures is abhorrent, which in print or electronic media.

The issue of ethics is all encompassing and almost inexhaustible. A high demand is placed on the sound judgment of journalists in this regard when confronted with challenging situations. For example, proper understanding of the diversity of a community is necessary while reporting certain events but such understanding may be far-fetched for the reporter on some occasions. Again, lack of access to necessary information could compel a journalist to extend the coverage of some events or individuals even when they do not essentially advance of a story. He struggles to use what is available as his information base.

2.6.3 The Regulatory Bodies

The Ibrahim Babangida administration promulgated decree No. 85 in 1992 to establish the Pres council for the purpose of addressing the question of professional misconduct among media practitioners. This was after several attempts to do so in years past have failed, owing to disagreement between the media and the government involved. However, the Council is merely a complaints commission which addresses extra judicial matters. The earlier failure to have a Press Council in place had given birth to an eight-point Code of Conduct supervised by the Nigerian Press Organisation (NPO), comprising NPAN (Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria), NUJ (Nigeria Union of Journalists) and NGE (Nigerian Guild of Editors).

The Code accentuates truth as the foundation of every story, wants the confidentiality of news sources protected and condemns plagiarism outright. It disallows the collection of gratification for the purpose of suppressing news and canvases for the respect of the privacy of individuals in the process of gathering information. The Code approves only the legitimate method of collecting information and wants nay misinformation by journalists corrected when discovered. Unfortunately, Nigerian governments do not seem to have any respect for the Press Council. Rather than report any perceived misconduct of journalists to the Council, they prefer to adjudicate on the matter concerned by themselves. They circumvent the process by detaining journalists, shutting down television and radio stations and proscribing newspapers and magazines. Channels television, Adaba FM, the Punch, the News, Newswatch and others have suffered such brutal fate.

2.7 Problems of Ethics and Journalism in Nigeria

Take the neglect of the Niger Delta for instance. There are certain basic facts that confirm that this neglect is a fact confirmed by devastated farmlands and the pollution of waters in the area. But have the federal government and the oil companies done anything over the years to remedy the peculiar problems of the area? Once you raise this question, you are instantly bombarded with all sorts of facts because here we are no longer dealing with facts as they are but facts as the parties to the dispute intend them for public consumption. Here is the challenge for the reporters and editors in this region. The challenge for them is to rise above the propaganda and dig diligently for the truth; how much was OMPADEC given and how much did it do? How much has NDDC been given so far and how much has it done to change the face of the region? How much have the state governments in the region received as their shares of the derivation fund and how much have they done with the money? These are verifiable facts. If the truth is known it may help to ease tension and volatility in the region (Japh, 2004).

Let us look at another aspect of the first item in the code of honour. The freedom of the press to serve the public the truth to which the code says it is entitled is severely restricted by a number of factors. A publishable fact must pass the test of its being in the public interest. Who decides that and on what basis? The editor, of course, does and quite often on grounds of universal convention. All of us guard our private lives. We believe that our privacy must not be invaded because what we do in private lives is nobody’s business. Is the private life of a private individual of public interest? By convention, we tend to leave people alone unless and until they cross the boundary and deny themselves the right to their own privacy (Martins, 2002).

It is said that a public officer has no private life. This may well be so, but even here public interest draws the line. It is not everything we know about the private life of a public officer that is publishable. Convention imposes on us the obligation to protect the integrity of a public officer under certain circumstances. Some facts offend the laws of the land. We cannot publish such facts because publishing them is deemed not to be in the public interest. If we do, we pay dearly for our indiscretion. Here I draw your attention to the laws of libel, sedition, pornography, national security and official secrecy. Another set of facts the press cannot publish concerns those facts whose publication would be injurious to public safety, public morality and national defense. If Nigeria is at war with another country, the movement of its troops would be a fact but the public is not entitled to know that because its publication would compromise national security and put the lives of our troops at risk (Etete, 2003).

There are even more difficulties that confront the reporter in carrying out his daily duty of serving the public with the truth to which it is entitled. These difficulties or constraints fall into two broad categories – internal and external. internal constraints refer to a) proprietorial interests, b) personal interests and c) self-censorship. Brigadier-general Samuel Ogbemudia, former military governor of the old Mid-West Region, once put it quite nicely when he said no government sets up a newspaper to criticize itself. Despite the sometimes high-minded mission statements of proprietors, all of them have vested personal, economic, religious and even ethnic interests in setting up newspapers or radio and television stations. They expect journalists working for them to fully protect those interests at all times and at the same time advance them, even at the expense of their business rivals.

Journalists are human beings. We all have our personal interests and those of our friends to protect and even promote. Those interests do tend to exert some influence in the way we do our job. This is usually evident in self-censorship. We restrain ourselves from publishing facts known to us about issues and event because doing so would compromise our interest or those of our friends.

The external constraints are (a) inducements, (b) pressures from individuals, groups and organisations and (c) laws and administrative decisions. Remember the brown envelope syndrome? Those who invite reporters to press conferences know what they must do – they must induce the reporters with money to publish their stories. Reporters and editors are also induced to kill stories when their publication would affect certain vested interests. The more pernicious aspect of this constraint is found in a situation where editors and reporters are induced or to be more polite about it, persuaded to publish damaging stories about individuals and organisations. Here the public is not served the truth and by the time the truth is known, the damage has been done and someone’s integrity has been called into question.

All of us face pressures from our friends and communities to give the public some varnished truths. Sometimes we are even blackmailed to do this. And truth becomes the casualty.

Legal and administrative constraints are hurdles on the path of the reporter’s efforts to give the public the truth. Governments in Nigeria from the colonial times to the present have systematically run the ring around the Nigerian press. Prince Tony Momoh has detailed the various laws specifically directed at constraining the press. There have been eighty or so of these laws. Perhaps, the most notorious among them were the Newspapers Act of 1964, decree 11 of 1976 and decree four of 1984. the more dangerous of these constraints during our long winter of military rule were not the laws, draconian as some of them were, but that what was not an offence became an offence at the whims of the military men and journalists were punished for them. A good case in point was the publication by Newswatch magazine in April 1987 of stories that dissected the report of the Samuel Cookey panel on political reforms. The Babangida administration took offence and banned the magazine for six months. The magazine committed no offence because the report was a public document and its publication did not endanger national security in any way. If anything, the magazine sought to promote public discourse on the political future of the country.

I have used one of the eight items in the Code of Honour to show that the enactment of the code of ethics by a professional group does not necessarily pave the way for a more honest public service by its members. The bad news is that these constraints are facts of life. They have been with us since the world began and they will be with us until the world ends. But the good news is that in spite of them, generations of editors and reporters have continued to perform credible service in informing, educating and entertaining the public. These constraints should not, therefore, frighten anyone from doing his duty to journalism and serving the vital information needs of the public.

Let me also point out one fundamental fact about the Code of Honour under discussion. The observance of the code appears to be left at the door of the conscience of individual editors and reporters for two reasons. Firstly, it provides no sanction for infringements. Secondly, it makes no provision for policing the code. This is not the case with doctors, dentists and lawyers. The lack of these pillars of enforcement is a weakness in the Code of Honour. Perhaps, that is one good reason why this generation of editors and reporters hardly know that the code even exists (Agbese, 2010).

The Murtala/Obasanjo military regime tried to police the news media with the promulgation of decree 31 of 1978. The decree established the Nigerian Press Council to foster a) “the achievement and maintenance of the highest professional and commercial standards by the Nigerian press, b) review development likely to restrict the supply through the press of information of public interest and importance and advise measures necessary to prevent or remedy such developments; and c) inquire into complaints about the conduct of the press and exercising in respect of the complaints powers conferred under this decree.”

The decree provides for sanctions in the case of item c) above. The decree, of course, ran into a storm kicked up by journalists who raised objections to some of its provisions. The council was roundly ignored for more than ten years. In the end, what we eventually have is a press council without powers to sanction erring publications. A further attempt to police the media was made by decree 59 of 1988 that set up the Nigerian Media Council during the Babangida administration. Its functions were similar to those of the Nigerian Press Council but were clearly more extensive. Again journalists raised issues with some provision of the decree. As matters stand, the watch dog has no dog watching over its conduct.

Also, the following are part and parcel of the problems of ethical practice of Journalism:

1. One major problem confronting strict adherence to media ethics by practitioners in poor pay. Many media houses pay their workers peanuts which, most times, are not regular. Some media organisations owe their workers’ wages running into several months. Though not professionally and ethically defensible, yet, survival instincts dictate to such workers to report to fraudulent means of getting money.
2. Many media practitioners, especially those coming from backgrounds other than mass communication, have little or no technical knowledge of media practice. Such often run foul of the ethical provisions of the profession,. These people need capacity building, while capacity development or retaining is necessary for those that area trained. Training is necessary, as fresh challenges keep manifesting every day.
3. Challenges also come through competition. The market is already saturated with media presence and still, every media house struggles to register its presence and have its share of the market. In the bid to control the market and win the audience’s attention, some reporters engage in all manner of crude means of getting information while some distort information.
4. Ownership is another factor. A fire-brand reporter may not carry a report that runs contrary to the interest of the media owner. Some journalists have been compelled by circumstances to do public relations jobs for some organisations. They shut their ears to whatever wrongdoings the organisations perpetrate, notwithstanding the effect of the wrongdoings on society.

2.8 Remedies to the Challenges of Journalism independence in and genuine news report in Nigeria

Ethics are important because they prescribe acceptable codes of professional behaviour. But in itself, an ethic code of conduct can of itself do nothing. The responsibility for serving the public rests squarely on individual reporters and their editors. As I see it, the challenge facing us has less to do with our failure to abide by the ethics of the profession. The challenge is to do a good job of informing and educating the Nigeria public. To do this, we must commit ourselves to two fundamental objectives.

Firstly, we must be better informed than the public we seek to serve. An uninformed or a poorly-informed reporter is a dangerous creature, let loose on the land. What often passes for exclusive stories are fiction dressed as facts in the press? Perhaps, the desperation imposed on the press by the imperatives for survival in these difficult times has made this inevitable. Still, it is not an excuse. The less we do our job well, the less we impress the public and the more we damage our reputation and integrity as professionals. The barely literate analysis in our newspaper impresses no one. The discerning read it, chuckle and dismiss us of hand.

Secondly, we must sharpen our editorial judgment. Good editorial judgment is a function of both experience and broad-mindedness. The rush to publish has left a lot to be desired in our editorial judgment. We need to hasten slowly because what is published can never be unpublished.

2.9 News commercialization, ethics and objectivity in journalism independence in and genuine news report in Nigeria

Journalism practice wields such enormous powers and calls for the highest standards of ethics and commitment to truth. Ethics and truth in journalism have assumed global concern as scholars recognize that their basic constituents of objectivity, accuracy, fairness and balance have merely assumed mythical qualities as journalists battle to assign credibility to their news stories. Tuchman (1978) describes objectivity as ‘facticity’ (a mechanism which allows the journalists to hide even from themselves the ‘constructed’ and ‘partial’ nature of their stories). This view seems to have garnered force as increasingly scholars suggest that news even when professionally ‘selected’ is guided more by organizational needs than by professionalism. The journalist thus becomes ‘a walking paradox’ (Nordenstreng 1995) as one cannot fail to see that journalism is so full of contradictions that “we have to question even the most fundamental dogma of the profession – truth seeking – because the way it has been conceived and practiced in journalism serves as a deceptive filtering device preventing as much as helping the truth being discovered” (Nordenstreng 1995). News commercialization practice in Nigeria media industries adds to this contradiction and deception, creating a continuous dilemma for ethics and objectivity in journalism independence in and genuine news report in Nigeria.

2.9.1 What is news commercialization?

UNESCO (1980) alluded to the commercialization of news when it wrote:

The news has become commercial product... important developments in the countryside are pushed aside by unimportant, even trivial news items, concerning urban events and the activities of personalities.

Though nearly three decades old, UNESCO’s assertion certainly has currency in Nigerian media scene as news items have to be paid for by those who want to be heard. News is no longer about reporting timely occurrences or events, it is now about packaged broadcast or reports sponsored or paid for by interested parties. By this practice individuals, communities, private and public organizations, local governments, state governments and ministries, gain access to the mass media during news time for a prescribed fee. The message they wish to put across is then couched in the formal features of news and passed on to the unsuspecting public as such. Willie Nnorom (1994 cited in Ekwo 1996) defined news commercialization as “a phenomenon whereby the electronic media report as news or news analysis a commercial message by an unidentified or unidentifiable sponsor, giving the audience the impression that news is fair, objective and socially responsible”. We must say that though this definition seems not to include the newspaper industries, news commercialization do occur there too as scholars have noted (Oso, 2000).

News commercialization operates at two levels in Nigeria:

• At the institutional level, where charges are ‘officially’ placed for sponsored news programmes. For example, the Delta Broadcasting Service, Warri charges N20, 000 [80 pounds] for religious programme, N36,000 [144 pounds] for corporate coverage and N25, 000 [100 pounds] for social events. Ogbuoshi (2005) gave the commercial rates of Radio Nigeria Enugu as follows: Commercial news (N47,000 [188 pounds]),

news commentary/political news (N52,000 [208 pounds]), special news commentary/political (N60,000 [240 pounds]). This commercialization at the institutional level is thriving because editors, publishers and owners of the broadcast stations/ print media see the organizations, or their investment, as a profit making venture that should yield the required financial return. Increasingly, commercialoriented news stories are taking the place of hard news reports. Hanson (2005) is right when he notes that: “reporters and editors are supposed to be concerned not with profits but rather with reporting the news as best they can. But that barrier is coming down, and editors are increasingly looking at their newspaper as a product that should appeal to advertisers as well as readers.” Writing on the semantics of commercialization of news by broadcast stations in Nigeria, Tom Adaba, a onetime Director General of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), one of the regulatory bodies in Nigeria, makes a distinction between the “legitimate sales airtime for paid messages adjacent to or within breaks in the news” and “charging news sources for the privilege of covering and relaying their pre-paid views or messages as news”. According to him, in the first case, what the sponsors are buying is “the credibility of the newscast and newscasters to confer status by association on their company logo, message or product” while in the latter:

What the broadcast station is doing is selling cheaply the integrity of newscast and newscasters by attesting to the “truth” of the claims of the so-called “sponsor”.... By also charging and receiving fees by whatever name called, to cover ‘news’ of company annual conference meeting, weddings, funeral, chieftaincy installation, town festivals, workshops and seminars, even events organized by charity organizations, stations are not only prostituting the integrity of news, they are insulting their audience and breaching the National Broadcasting Code (Adaba 2001).

The NBC code makes explicit that: “commercial in news and public fairs programme shall be clearly identified and presented in a manner that shall make them clearly distinguishable from content”. (NBC code) It is this passing off of commercial content as news within the Nigerian news media, the assigning of news quality to the commercial that raises ethical questions and challenges the notion of objectivity in Nigerian news reports.

• At the individual journalist level: News commercialization also operates at the level of individual journalists. This occurs when a journalist or group of journalists makes monetary demands to cover an event report the event. Idowu (1996) citing Bamigbetan (1991) recounts a story that buttresses this:

The Rt. Rev, Abidun Adetiloye, Anglican Archbishop of Nigeria, was sighted at Murtala Mohammed Airport, Lagos. Journalists crowded him, asking for interview on issues of national importance. The man of God spoke at length... His views were newsworthy. But the journalists felt they needed something more to write the news. They asked for “transport money”. The religious man declined. Resulting in a mutual blackout.

This tendency of Nigerian journalists, known as the ‘brown envelope’ syndrome, has been widely condemned in Nigeria as a very unethical practice, yet Ekwo (1996) makes it clear that, “ the payment for news stories is approximate to official brown envelope or bribe offered to the media house itself as against the one offered to the individual reporter”.

2.9.2 News commercialization – current status in Nigeria

A recent interview the author conducted with the News Editor of Enugu State Broadcasting Service (EBS) Enugu, East of Nigeria, shows the increasing rate at which news is being commercialized.

Commercialization of news began in Nigerian media houses as the result of the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) introduced in 1986 and the eventual withdrawal of subsidies from government owned media houses (see Ekwo 1996, Ogbuoshi 2005). With the increasing rise in production cost and dwindling circulation, the media houses resort to all kinds of tricks including commercialization of the news to make money (Oso, 2000). The situation has led to a lot of compromise, with sensationalisation of news stories and half-truths reaching alarming stage. Citing an instance with the Daily Times, a onetime leading newspaper in Nigeria, Idowu (2001) noted the situation became so bad that:

The workers threatened not to board the company’s staff buses unless the company’s name was wiped off from the buses. Even the company’s cars were no longer branded. It was meant to be a precautionary measure to save the staff and the company’s vehicles from being attacked by an irate public which could not reconcile itself to the half truths being published in the Times. The company heeded the workers’ call.

Just as the organization is subjected to economic pressure and tries all means not to sink, so too are individual journalists. The greatest problem besetting Nigerian journalists is that of poverty which scholars agree need to be addressed if the ethical professional standards are to be maintained Rather than do so, however, the current practices in most media organisations in Nigeria seem to be encouraging unethical practices. Publishers in Nigeria, rather than pay attractive wages to the journalists, refer to their identity cards as a meal ticket. In other words, the journalists are encouraged to make money on their own in whatever manner they deem fit, thus encouraging the popular brown envelope syndrome within journalism parlance in Nigeria.

In some media organizations, reporters are officially made to function as marketing officers in addition to main reportorial duties. “For instance, those in charge of specialized pages or columns are made to source for adverts or supplements to support ‘their’ pages or the pages are dropped and probably with the reporter. In broadcasting, producers are asked to scout for sponsors for ‘their’ programmes with a promise of commission” (Oso, 2000). Another factor that allows news commercialization to thrive in Nigeria is the pattern of news reports and the means of newsgathering. A quick survey carried out by researchers in a school of journalism in Nigeria to find out the major means of news gathering by Nigerian journalists saw slated, or ‘diary’, events topping the list (60%), followed by interview (32%). Investigative newsgathering recorded 6% while news breaks, or exclusives, were as low as 2%.

This means that most times, journalists are often invited by the high and mighty in the society to ‘their’ (slated) events. In many cases, the journalists are so well-taken care of and they go home with ‘news’ often written by the people who invited them. It is not surprising that Akinfeleye (2007) actually classified journalism independence in and genuine news report in Nigeria as ‘cocktail journalism’, ‘journalism of next-of-kin’ and ‘journalism of the general order’. Writing on the tendency for Nigerian journalists to rely on interviews, Galadima and Enighe (2001) described the Nigerian newspapers as “viewspapers”. By this they meant that there are more interviews than digging out of facts, and news sources may concede to favouring the journalists for their views to see the light of the day.

The social responsibility theory of the press details the key journalistic standards that the press should seek to maintain. As summed up in McQuail (2000), among others, the media have an obligation to the wider society and media ownership is a public trust; news media should be truthful, accurate, fair, objective and relevant, and the media should follow agreed codes of ethics and professional conduct. By this treatise, media ownership is a form of stewardship rather than unlimited private franchise. In other words, the media are established to serve the intent of the public rather than personal interests.

Yet, the quest for personal aggrandizement seems to have infiltrated the practice of journalism in Nigeria and beyond. Uche (1989) recalled the public accusation of Nigerian journalists as “politically and financially corrupt as one can find individual Nigerian newsmen who will take money or gifts for doing special favours...” Such acts of irresponsibility are not limited to Nigeria alone. The media mogul, Rupert Murdoch is often accused of running a media empire where journalism of convenience is the order of the day. Sparks (1999) makes it clear that:

Newspapers in Britain are first and foremost businesses. They do not exist to report the news, to act as watchdogs for the public, to check on the doings of the government, to defend the ordinary citizens against abuses of power, to unearth scandals or do any of other fine and noble things that are sometimes claimed of the press. They exist to make money just as any other business does.

Driven by such commercial interests, journalists throw ethics to the winds in the bid to achieve fame and success. As Hanson (2005) recounts:

The Washington Post credibility suffered a major blow when the paper discovered in 1981 that a Pulitzer prize – winning story by reporter Janet Cooke was fabricated. And in the spring of 2003, the young New York Times reporter Jayson Blair created shock waves throughout the news business when it was revealed that he had fabricated or plagiarized at least 36 stories for the nation’s most prestigious newspaper.

Notable too was the case of Patricia Smith, Award winner who had to resign from the Boston Globe. Hanson (2005) told how she apologized to her readers in her farewell column.

News commercialization could possibly make journalists commit the cardinal sin journalism – fabrication – through inaccurate, unfair and biased news reports – a contradiction to what news ought to be.

One of the objectives of his study is to determine the degree of stoicism towards news commercialization in the Nigerian news scene. To do this, the researcher examined the news content of some national newspapers in Nigeria (January – March 2006 and October – December 2007, totaling six months) and looked out for stories indicative of other interests than pure news value. The news stories were judged based on Jamieson and Campbell (2001) parameters for analyzing news items in print and broadcast media. These include:

The newsworthiness of the of the news

• The sort of claims made in the story
• Framing – the nature of the headlines, the values the headlines support
• Inclusion/exclusion of important or trivial issues and why
• The timing of the reports. Were they to favour a named source? Did other media report the story?

2.9.3 News commercialization: Any gains?

At a recent workshop organized for working journalists in Anambra State of Nigeria by the State Ministry of information, one of the journalists was privileged to participate as a resource person. As is usual with such workshops, the question of ethical conduct of journalists came up. The journalists made no pretence about their receiving forms of payment for themselves or for their media houses to publish stories. According to them, how could they do otherwise when:

• They receive poor and irregular salaries
• Some media houses do not have salary system at all. Therefore a journalist’s chances of survival depend on how much s/he gets from news sources.
• The harsh economic situation has a telling effect on their job.
• The Nigerian society is corrupt, increasing their difficulty in being ethical in an ‘unethical world’ such as Nigeria.
• Publishers complain high cost of production and as such use such excuses to deny them their due wages.

To the supporters of news commercialization, totally condemning the trend is tantamount to throwing the baby out with the bath water. News commercialization, they argue:

• Helps to generate income for the media houses, helping them to function smoothly;
• Helps also to generate income for the individual journalists who otherwise might slump under the weight of the harsh economic realities;

Has a psychological benefit for these journalists. They develop a sense of importance as they feel the job is being appreciated by those in authority, who are even ready to offer payments;

• Helps to impose a form of forced taxation on the rich, as those who often pay for the ‘services’ are the well-to-do in the society;
• Acts as a form of informal redistribution of income from the rich to the poor. Since media personnel tend to earn less than most of the rich who patronize them, accepting ‘brown envelopes’ from these publicity seekers makes it possible for money to circulate more in the society;
• Helps to create cordial working relationships between the media and the media users, especially the political class. (Onyisi, 1996)

These assertions mostly centre on financial gains and poverty, and so “until the problem of poverty is seriously address with concrete solutions, no constitution or code of ethics or any other body or association for that matter can adequately discipline or regulate the conduct of journalists in Nigeria” (Adelusi 2000). There is no doubt that both the media industry and the journalists are facing hard times. But should their desire to survive make them employ deceit? Do the ends justify the means? Ethics is personally determined and as such these questions are to be answered on individual note. The issue is that the dysfunctions brought by news commercialization may far outweigh the merits claimed by their proponents.

2.9.4 Ethical Implications of news commercialization

With the growing concern about news commercialization, which many believe negates all fundamental principle of fairness, equity and balance required in journalism practice, many scholars have explored its ethical implications.

These are outlined here.

• Commercialization of news violates the ethics and code of conduct of journalists, which states: it is the duty of the journalist to refuse any reward for publishing or suppressing news or comment.

News commercialization has affected information flow tremendously. As the majority of news is paid for, therefore, the news that sees the light of the day has to be induced by somebody or an organization, while those news that are genuine and authoritative are dropped because there is no inducement where such news emanates from. The greatest flaw in the practice of news commercialization as Ekwo (1996) surmises is that “news is narrowly defined against the weight of the news source’s purse”.

• News commercialization makes the news susceptible to abuse by interest groups who can pay their way into the media to project an idea they want people to accept whether it is positive or not.
• News commercialization can lead to news distortion. The person who pays the piper often dictates the tune. Since the media would not like to lose a major customer, they will do all within their reach to satisfy such client that pays them enough money to have to his/her view projected. In return, the client may dictate how and what he or she wants out of the news packaging of the media house. This can extend to dictating to the media what makes news, thereby emasculating opposing views. This is often flagrantly displayed during election times as contestants often buy over one media house or the other, which at every news hour seize the opportunity to praise the ‘client’ and crush his/her opponents.
• With the zeal to acquire more and more money through commercialization of news, many news organizations have lost their focus on investigative journalism. This has led to loss of variety in the news, monotony, etc. Many have lost their mission turning to praise singing and propaganda, which has dire consequences for the Nigerian society (see Ekwo 1996, Lai 2000, Ogbuoshi 2005).

2.10 Theoretical Framework

Professionalism is attained when a profession has functional clearly defined or prescribed educational standards, licensing and enforcement of performance of standard by the profession itself. In view of the practice of non-professionalism in Nigeria the researcher intends to use gate-keeping theory to make the research work arrive at a logical conclusion. Kurt Lewin originated this theory in 1947 while Westley-Maclean model visualized the concept of the gatekeeper in the mass communication process. McQuail (2005) says the core idea of the theory is that “the news media indicate to the public what the main issues of the day are and this is reflected in what the public perceives as the main issues.”The research paper broadly explores gate-keeping process in relation to the regulatory bodies of journalism on what they consider as the criteria for those practicing journalism. The regulatory bodies in this way are the gatekeepers because whatever they objectively lay down will be followed.Secondly, this theory appraises the media content that is, what the media practitioners dished out to the public, how they mediate, select news content, and suppress facts in exchange for materialism.

According to Ekeli as quoted in Folarin (2005) “gate keeping is nothing but voluntary self censorship performed by the media themselves”. Hence, the media practitioners should strictly adhere to the minimum standard because they are gatekeepers in that sense while journalists themselves should be socially responsible to their readers in whatever materials they package and elevate the virtues of the profession.

Opubor (2001) explains that while some insist that people who practice an occupation themselves should be the determinant of when they have become professionals, others argue that, to become a professional in any field, a person must undergo a certain minimum period of training or introduction during which the skills and values of the profession are imparted in him. Professionalism is associated with competence, training, relevant education body of knowledge, standards of evolution and improvement.

Who is a professional journalist?

One of the American reputable social scientists, William J.Goode states that professionals constitute a homogeneous community whose members share values, identity, definition of roles and interest. He added that members of a profession are bound by sense of identity and they share common values.

According to (Olatunji, 1991), sociologists hold that, in order for a job to qualify as a profession; it must possess the following attributes. First, it must emphasize a unique and essential service. Second, it must perform a unique and essential service. Third, it must have a long period of specialized training to acquire a systematic body of knowledge, based on research. Fourth, it must be given a broad personal responsibility for their judgments and actions. Sixth, it must place greater emphasis on service than on private economic gain. Seventh, it must develop a comprehensive, self-governing organization. Eight, it must have a code of ethics which has been clarified and interpreted by concrete cases.

Needless to say, no single profession or occupation passes all these tests. A profession, then, is nothing but an ideal type in the sense which does not describe any actual profession, but which is fruitful in the analysis and investigation of actual professions. What we have in reality therefore is a continuum, with zero professionalism at one end, maximum professionalism at the other. Various professions may be plotted at various points along this continuum. It may well be that, on such a continuum, journalism is further from maximum professionalism like law or medicine or even closer to zero professionalism than in law or medicine.

Astor (1991) expresses the thought of the United States of America’s Bureau of Labour Statistics which summarizes the qualifications of professions thus, prescribes educational standards, licensing and enforcement of performance of standard by the profession itself. By and large, research conducted by Akinfeleye (1991) explains the features of a professional body as follows.

(a) Solidarity:

A member of a profession believes closely in solidarity with other members and thinks that, it is a good thing to present a solid front to those outside the profession. How far can we say this about Nigerian journalists? b) Trust:

A member of a profession assumes that he can be trusted since he professes to have certain expertise that is not common. To what extent can a Nigerian journalist claim this point and be believed? It is viewed that everybody is a journalist in this country (even if he only features via letter to the editor). The impression created by print media that everybody should become journalist by creating his own news is not helping matters. Though it is acknowledged that there should be democratization of news via citizen journalism notwithstanding, expertise should still be upheld to make the profession one of the best.

c) Objectivity:

Members of a profession are expected to think objectively and inquiring about matters subject to orthodoxy and sentiment which limit intellectual exploration. This feature of professionalism is dead in Nigeria journalism where emphasis on materialism is placed above intellectual exploration. Majority of journalists are not interested in stories that will not enrich their pocket-so, pocket first, others follow. d) Certification:

Certification and licensing are sacrosanct to the practice of a profession while a member can also expect to be put out of the profession if he does not live up to professional code of ethics. How many times have the Nigerian journalists practised this without any amount of success? Is it not possible for reporter “A” to be punished for a professional misconduct, or professional malpractice and after a few days he is being employed by another media organization who is also a member of the profession that instituted the punishment in the first instance?

e) Training:

A member of a profession is expected to meet the various minimum entrance standards for the profession such as a diploma, degree, or degrees in the professional area. Just what is the minimum entry standard for Nigerian journalists? There is certainly none and as such, everybody moves in and out of the profession. Though the Press Council in its Ilorin Declaration of 1998 specified the minimum entry requirement for journalism in Nigeria but there is no known back-up legal force, rather, it is only being backed-up by professional ethics and codes which are often violated by all.

Okunna, (1991) stated that:

…the merits of higher education for journalists have become widely recognized in all parts of the world. A review of studies in professionalism conducted in both developed and developing countries show that journalists with higher formal education exhibit more professional orientation in the performance of their duties, and are generally classified as high and medium professionals in contrast to their low professional colleagues most of whom have not had formal higher education.

A high status could ultimately make the journalist become more ethical and professionally inclined because the visibility arising from this attribute could engender the journalist the conviction that he or she has a name to protect.

1. Reward:

Astor (1991) says that members of a profession share in a discrete end substantive body of knowledge available to those in the profession. Following this, a member of a profession participates in a system of rewards monetary and or honorary for those who conduct themselves most notably within their code of ethics. Nigeria journalists truly jostle for both monetary and honorary reward but on the platter of laziness. It is on record that there was no winner for the 2011 TV presenter in the just concluded Nigeria National Media Merit Award (NNMMA) held in Akure Ondo

State.

1. Code of Ethics:

Code of ethics governing the entrance and practice of members of a profession is a must. This governs their practice to a high degree of group control. There only exist on paper numerous codes of ethics for various Nigerian journalism associations, yet, the actual practice and submission to peer control has not been brought to fruition. The journalists’ creed of 1908, media council law of 1988, Ilorin Declaration of 1998 and other code of ethics governing the conduct of journalism in Nigeria only exist on paper.

References

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