Ahmad Salkida
9 October 2008
The practice of journalism has in recent time come under pressure as media practitioners ranging from publishers, editors and reporters struggle to keep their heads above water in a society where etics and other pristine values are under attack. However, as information and communication are strategic in contemporary societies, media practitioners must overcome to stay relevant.
Before the widespread literacy in many parts of the world, information was generally related to people by word of mouth. The few educated people wrote letters and manuscripts but much of this information, as many could not read, were delivered to the common population through town criers or by administrators who read out laws and proclamations to their subjects.
By the seventh century, the Chinese were producing the world's first printed newspaper called 'Dibao'. Apparently, at the same period in Europe, many people were still illiterate, travelling story tellers spread account of wars, calamities, crimes and other matters of interest, said many accounts. Later, handwritten and wood cut illustrated newssheets regarding such things were sold in public markets and at fairs, stated one account.
Germany was said to be among the first birthplace of newspapers in Europe, then much later, the advent of the broadcast media which made it possible for the media to relate information quickly and cheaply to an anxious teeming population. This trend, then, made some publishers to employ professional editors to improve the quality of their news content. Also, the demand for news vis-à-vis the high cost of generating same, led to the creation of content providers or news agencies for the gathering and distribution of news to subscribing publishers.
In many developing countries, there are fewer than 20 copies for 1000 inhabitants but in developed countries, Norway for instance, there are more than 600 copies for that number of inhabitants, stated one accounts. In Nigeria, in the 1980's, the leading newspaper titles namely, Sunday Times and Sunday Concord made a brace reaching 200,000 copies each in print run (or thereabout) per edition at 20 kobo each in the 1990's, the same titles merely peaked at 150,000 print run per edition, this period coincided with the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) and the cover price of newspapers jumped upward to 50 kobo, news papering as a business was considered as losing steam.
Today, the above mentioned newspaper titles belongs to the relics of history and when one puts together all the newspapers in Nigeria, both the old generation and new comers to the Nigerian news stand, their entire print run is nearly the same with the print run of just the two leading newspapers in the 80's in Nigeria. In a country with a population of over 140 million apparently, 500,000 copies in circulation depicts how endangered newspapers in Nigeria are.
Although, the Times publication is seeking a come back but it is evident from this reporter's findings that, the glory days of news papering in Nigeria seem to have left them behind and similar fates await nearly every other publication in Nigeria. The broadcast media is not left out of this misfortune or 'credit crunch' that confronts news papering in Nigeria.
The once glorious days of the NTA and FRCN have been confined in the negative fringes of politics and the monster of epileptic power supply with their new sisters both in the private and government stations struggling to remain on air let alone ay their staff. Unfortunately, most of these organisations have devised a means to survive by way of commercialisation of news and partisanship etc has placed profit over social responsibility and signalled the death of creativity and objectivity.
Many observers claim that this trend have contributed to why many prefer to switch off their radio or TV whenever it is news time, as those that pay the piper will dictate the news of the day, "we at the NBC are trying to stop the commercialisation of news in the broadcast media", said Doctor Igomu Onoja, the Zonal Director of the National Broadcasting Corporation in Maiduguri.
The media as an agent of change...
According to one account, newspapers over the course of history have instigated, supported and justified wars; they cite the 1870-71 Franco - Prussian war, the Spanish American war of 1898 and the Vietnam War of 1955 - 75. Many celebrities, leaders and those that matter have been pulled down over scandals involving them in newspapers and magazines. In the mid 1970's the water gate scandal, where investigative journalism set up a series of events that forced president Richard Nixon of the united states to resign against his will.
In Nigeria the self styled military president caught short his administration because of pressure from the media. Also, the way and manner the media worked to abort the tenure elongation bid of President Olusegun Obasanjo and the impeachment and sacking of some leadership in the National Assembly and other executives between 1999 to date, underscores how the media can be a mighty force to reckon with.
However the media goes beyond just bringing grief to individual politicians and policy makers all over. In Nigeria, "the media have positive historical evaluation in the sense that if you go back to the colonial era you will discover that the press in particular fought gallantly for Nigeria's independence. "Immediately after Independence" said Dr. Abubakar Muazu of the Department of Mass Communication University of Maiduguri "the broadcasting media have been used to mobilise people around key issues of health, education and agriculture which are very central to promoting development in the country. You remember the popular mobile cinema unit called the Majigi in northern Nigeria" said Dr. Muazu.
According to Dr. Muazu and Dr, Igomu, the media is a vital tool in bringing about change in any societies therefore any misrepresentation of news must be avoided in other not to misinformed the general public, and to achieve this, the media must be able to demonstrate courage and truth in the discharge of their responsibilities as watchdogs and vehicles of conveying the different sentiment of the people in their societies.
The Ethical Question...
Ethical issues have been around for quite some time now reporters who cover events demand for gratifications, revenues from advertisers apparently influenced reports in many organisations. In a country like Nigeria where the media depend mainly on advertisements to defray the cost of their operations and in most cases even to survive. In most cases most of these advert comes from government or companies that depend on government patronage or those that wish to remain on the good books of government invariably, they are the news makers and any attempt to undermine them, they may threatened to withdraw their advertisements.
Empirical evidence have shown that journalist or media houses are boycotted whenever these advertisers are passing information e.t.c while the others that who play ball receive exclusive interviews and invitations to accompany them on their travels or are often given seats to make pilgrimage to Jerusalem and Mecca.
According to many critics of the media, Nigeria is in need of an ideal journalist working in an ideal media house "but in a country like ours, where the advertisers more than the readers determined the survival of the medium of communication, the consumers of these information have to take any junk of information thrown to them, Malam Ibrahim Wamdeo, a public commentator in Maiduguri implied.
According to Dr. Muazu the ideal journalist is what we usually strive for but in real life you cannot fine an ideal journalist because when you say ideal you are looking for somebody who is perfect. I agree that there are certain practices that can be considered in evaluating a journalist of quality, he implied.
"Given the context in which journalist operate in Nigeria it is expected all those issues that are raising questions around the profession should be eliminated as much as possible. So an ideal journalist in that context should be that journalist who understands the demands of the profession of journalism in terms of the quality of selecting sources, balancing stories, being objective and not being partisan and one who focuses on issues of relevant to the society" said Dr. Muazu.
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