Leadership (Abuja)
Ayode Longe
10 November 2008
opinion
Thomas Jefferson, the third president of United States, a founding father of her independence, and the principal author of America's 1776 Declaration of Independence once said if he had to choose between government and a free press, he would choose a free press. His declaration underscores the importance of a free press in a society, moreso in a democracy.
For a country's media to be truly free, there must be the right mix of the social, political, economic and legal environments. A deficiency of any of these settings will compromise the total and true freedom of the media in the country. The foundation for a free press and a free society is possible when the right laws are in place and there is compliance to the rule of law. For the press in any country to be free and to thrive, the laws of that country must guarantee its freedom and counter governmental, institutional, personal interference or anything that will amount to censorship.
Nigeria has no law that either guarantees press freedom or mitigates or prevent media censorship; extant laws rather hinder media freedom by obstructing media access to information through secrecy laws and criminalizing offences that affect the industry and its professionals in their duty of gathering, processing and disseminating information. For these and other reasons, the Nigerian media can never be truly free; it will at best remain partially free. The Nigerian media therefore needs specific media freedom and anti-censorship laws to lift it from the status of not being free or being partially free to that of being totally free.
International and local conventions and laws set the standards for media freedom throughout the world as they do for all other freedoms that national laws guarantee. A peek at some of them and their comparison with what obtains in Nigeria will reveal that Nigeria lacks media freedom law and consequently, that the Nigerian media is not really free.
Articles 19 of both the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), as well as Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) guarantee freedom of expression and the press.
Article 19 (2) of the ICCPR, in recognizing freedom of expression and the press states: "Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice." It recognizes that freedom is not absolute but comes with duties and responsibility and that there may be certain restrictions. It therefore also states the condition under which restriction can be imposed.
Paragraph 3 says: "The exercise of the rights provided for in paragraph 2 of this article carries with it special duties and responsibilities. It may therefore be subject to certain restrictions, but these shall only be such as are provided by law and are necessary:
"(a) for respect of the rights or reputations of others;
"(b) for the protection of national security or of public order (order public), or of public health or morals."
The provisions of this Article are clear, reasonable and logical to every right thinking mind and protect both the purveyor and subject of information. No one is left vulnerable.
The freedom of expression guarantees in the UDHR and the ACHPR also strengthen the protections provided by Article 19 of the ICCPR. I will not go into them.
Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights is a duplication of Articles 19 of ICCPR and UDHR thereby setting a high standard for media freedom and practice in Europe. It recognizes freedom of expression, irrespective of frontiers and medium and also recognizes that this freedom is subject to certain restrictions which must be provided by law and necessary in a democracy.
The first amendment to the American Constitution gives a blank cheque for media freedom. It is open to and has been interpreted very widely in the protection of media freedom. It says: "Congress shall make no law respecting ... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press...."
Close to us, in the Wets African sub region, the protection of media freedom is specifically guaranteed by the Ghanaian Constitution in clear terms in Chapter 12.
Section 162 (1) and (2) state: "(1) Freedom and independence of the media are hereby guaranteed. "(2) Subject to this Constitution and any other law not inconsistent with this Constitution, there shall be no censorship in Ghana."
In addition, the Constitution forbids government interference in editorial contents or the work of media practitioners.
Paragraph 5 of Section 162 says further that: "All agencies of the mass media shall, at all times, be free to uphold the principles, provisions and objectives of this Constitution, and shall uphold the responsibility and accountability of the Government to the people of Ghana."
Section 164, like the ICCPR; UDHR; ACHPR and the European Convention on Human Rights, also subject freedom of expression and media freedom to certain restrictions, which are "laws that are reasonably required in the interest of national security, public order, public morality and for the purpose of protecting the reputations, rights and freedoms of other persons."
The Ghanaian Constitution goes further to set up an independent National Media Commission entrusted with the responsibility of, among other things, ensuring freedom and independence for private and public media in the country.
The Nigerian Constitution is bereft all of these specific media freedoms guaranteed by these international and national instruments analyzed above.
Though Section 22 of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria compels "the press, radio, television and other agencies of the mass media to, at all times be free to uphold the fundamental objectives contained in this Chapter and uphold the responsibility and accountability of the Government to the people", it is not open to the same wide interpretation as the First Amendment to the American Constitution. The Provisions of Chapter Two of the Constitution under which we have Section 22 is not justice-able. Journalists or lawyers cannot cite it or any provision of the Chapter as defence in litigations in matters pertaining to publication or broadcasts. So, though it gives the media the responsibility of holding government accountable to the people, it neither empowers nor protects the media to discharge this duty.
Section 6(6) (c) of the Constitution says "The judicial powers vested in accordance with the foregoing provisions of this section shall not except as otherwise provided by this Constitution, extend to any issue or question as to whether any act of omission by any authority or person or as to whether any law or any judicial decision is in conformity with the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy set out in Chapter II of this Constitution."
Section 39 of the operative Nigerian Constitution which purports to guarantee press freedom is actually an omnibus provision which gives every Nigerian, including journalists, the right to freedom of expression. It does not guarantee any specific media freedom or independence as the Ghanaian Constitution does, than the freedom it guarantees all Nigerians.
Unfortunately, though there are no specific media freedom guarantees in Nigeria's statute books, the nation's laws are replete with laws that do not enhance media practice and freedom; rather they put media freedom in short leash by restricting access to information, criminalizing media offences, prohibiting publication of certain news items, and providing neither empowerment nor protection etc. These laws include Sections 50, 51, 59, 373 - 379 etc of the Criminal Code Act, LFN 1999; Obscene Publications Act 1961; Official Secrets Act 1962; Newspaper (Amendment) Act 1964; The defamatory and Offensive Publications Decree No 44, 1966, among several others.
From the foregoing, Nigerian laws, apart from falling short of internationals standards and practices in protecting media freedom actually stifle it.
Again, there are serious misconceptions in high places, especially in government circles that the Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill that is presently before the National Assembly is a media Bill; it is not; it is a bill which, when it becomes law, will be used by all facets of Nigeria including the academia, professionals, contractors, business people, civil servants, law makers, the ordinary Nigerian etc and it will benefit the nation in immeasurably different ways.
Just as any Nigerian will use a Freedom of Information law to enhance his/her profession and business, so also the journalist will use the law to enhance his reporting.
The two Chambers of the Nigerian National Assembly have been probing various sectors of government and revealing mind-boggling amounts embezzled by individuals and groups. This would not have been possible if necessary information were not made available to them. In the same way, other Nigerians need a regime of free access to information to enhance their work and ensure the development of our dear country. More than 70 countries all over the world, four in Africa, have Freedom of Information laws and Nigeria should not be left out.
A Freedom of Information law is a necessary and veritable tool for fighting corruption in public and private life, ensuring social, economic and political development through the availability of useful information and eventually a better Nigeria.
In other words, apart from Freedom of Information legislation in Nigeria, the nation's media need specific media freedom, independence and anti-censorship laws to make the legal environment under which Nigerian media operates conform to international standards and practices and lift it to the status of a truly free press.
The National Assembly will not be doing anybody any good by passing not only the Freedom of Information Law but also enacting a media protection and anti-censorship law but will be uplifting the nation and her citizens. It is incumbent on them to do these as they were voted to be law makers. They are to make laws that will make Nigeria a better place for all to dwell. A media freedom guarantee and anti-censorship law is imperative in Nigeria and should be enacted and passed without delay. Ayode Longe is a Senior Programmes Officer with Media Rights Agenda, a media freedom NGO based in Lagos.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Leadership. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
