Much enthusiasm heralded the signing of the Freedom of Information Bill [FOI] on 28 May 2011 by President Goodluck Jonathan as it challenged journalist in discharging their duties as the fourth estate of the realm. The much ado attached to the signing of the bill came from the opportunity it provided the media to seek for information and facts that will back their reports and investigations without restrictions especially on the side of the government policies and classified information. In its enthusiastic response to the passage of the Act, the Nigerian Guild of Editors in 2011 stated that ‘’ the president has more than anyone else empowered the citizens to participate in the governance of their own affairs’’. Hence our journalist have the mandate to provide only factual and truthful information to the public because they have the vital tools to uncover facts, fight corruption and hold officials and institutions accountable of their actions without the fear of been harassed for trying to feed the public with factual information. But how this liberty and freedom have affected the Nigerian information dissemination negatively is my point of discussion.
The era of a non participation and total lack of interest in the affairs of governance by majority of Nigerians can be said to be on the road to extinction. Today, citizens have developed much interest in what goes on within the corridors of power, Nigerians are itching to get information and they do so by paying attention to every bit of information relayed to them by the media. By working on the consciousness of what they hear and watch, their judgment totally falls on the information provided, so, it is the prerogative duty of the media to provide the right information to the populace. But in the cruel truth of it all; our information outlets have failed on this simple task assigned to them. The fact is that the content and headlines of an information outlet measures its popularity and acceptance in the society have become a problem and unfortunately, what people tend to readily consume are the negative stories, the readily acceptance of such information be it true or lies are high while placing less emphasis on the positive and may be truthful information. Ultimately, this has led to the uncharacteristic abandonment of the ethics of journalism for mere pursuit of popularity by our media personals and outlets. Be it the print, electronics and the web which is made up of the social media and blogsites which has become rampant in the country’s internet domain are all guilty of this offence. The constant dissemination of false and divisive stories to the public consumption are gradually creeping into the consciousness of the average citizen that nothing good comes out of our country and when even the positive are reported they are clouded with doubts. Thus the expectations of something negative each day seem high on the mind of Nigerians. The Nigerian information podium is now in a state of variable untrue representation, where write ups and reports are biased manipulated.
Being a journalist and media outlet does not give one the privilege of spewing false information to the general public, stories based on rumour and unproven sources shouldn’t be randomly thrown to the public domain as it can stair up unending controversies thanks to the global outreach our media outlets now possess. The advent of social media and independent online information sources such as bloggers has complicated the whole issue. The opportunity provided by the internet has continuously attracts people to develop blogs that spew out information. A clear example is the Nigerian cyber space where every online user wants to become a blogger because of the financial opportunities it provides to a popular blogger. Everybody wants to become the next Linda Ikeji, bellanaija, naij.com, nairaland.com and so forth, and how do they achieve this if not by becoming popular. And to achieve this, they spread untrue and antagonistic stories in the name of getting views from young novice youths who fall prey to their ploys. Their practice has brought journalism to total disrepute; hence, calls for a drastic action to be taken against this trending evil should be paramount. It should be a thing of ultimate urgency for the government to establish a regulatory agency that its sole prerogative duty is to monitor online publications by independent sources and bloggers and be held responsible for what they publish especially if their identity is verified through online tracking medium. I know this idea might be controversial and strange but I buy into to it because of the need to prevent multiplicity of falsified stories seen on our internet pages and social media forums. We need not to have the Edward Snowden of Nigeria who will divulge critical information concerning his country.
It baffles me most times when our major dailies publish stories that lack facts and base. I tend to wonder what on earth will make them publish such stories when their sanctioned duty is to investigate and report; or do they want to function like gossip blogs and social media whose stories most times are based on mere rumours and here say. The Nigerian dailies today have become a top contender where one read all kind of good for nothing stories, a fertile ground for weeds and thorns and a dumping ground for divisive agenda. Political jobbers and miscreants have taken the loopholes found within the media and exploited it to their advantage. The print media and the electronic media today, have taken sides on different sides of political divide and do the dirty works of their pay masters in castigating and publishing unfounded stories against political opponents. Our journalist should know these politicians are hell bent on distorting the public views for their own selfish gains.
The continuous harbour and leverage afforded to these media houses can be roughly be attributed to the Freedom of Information [FoI] act passed by the president in 2011, but in as much as we support the freedom afforded to the media much step have to be taken to curtail their overriding use of the advantages negatively. As a country facing difficulty in security, ethnic and religious crisis and the most of them all the political crisis caused by our politicians who don’t have ideologies and guiding principles that they follow as politicians, hence the need for an agency to be set up specifically for the online monitoring, especially with the kind of false information they pour out every day. I can vividly recall the Army spokesperson Chris Olakolode, categorically stating on CNN about the false information concerning attacks reeled out by the media, stating a case of the false kidnap of sixty Fulani women by the boko haram sect which was later denied by the Fulani association in Borno state. Such news doesn’t do us any good especially our trust on the military and the fight against insurgency. Broadcasting Organization of Nigeria and the Nigeria Broadcasting Corporation scopes should be expanded to accommodate online media and their code of conducts should be stricter that will ensure that offenders are punished seriously. Online bloggers should be held accountable for what they give out, and this can be achieved by ensuring we reduce to the barest minimal the faceless internet users by tracking their IP addresses and other means suited to the agency or body.
In any case, no matter what we do and how they are carried out if the offenders do not imbibe the culture of positive journalism, the efforts lie in waste. We journalist must learn to understand that the nation’s future and progress hinges on our modus of operation, if we don’t critically substantiate the information we reel out we will be held accountable when the country suffer from our dubious handiworks. The earlier we understand that there is no other country like Nigeria the better for us; let us protect our country from those that feel we are at the mercy of their dictates.
PLS Moderator front page things.
Ejezie Darlington Elo
Online Political Analyst
www.ejeziedarlington..com
08038967839

Challenges Facing Media Organisation in Dissemination of Information (A Case Study of Nigeria Television Authority (Nta)

The first responsibility of the press especially the broadcast media is to uphold the truth at all times because the public have the right to be informed and get facts about the truth on the activities of events within and around them...

http://www.scharticles.com/challenges-facing-media-organisation-in-dissemination-of-information/