Analysis of Media Ethics in Nigeria

This paper will appreciate the thesis about the issues involved in media ethics - and examine these issues from a social, professional, and cultural perspective, with an emphasis on media practice in Nigeria; However, before presenting the main arguments in favor of this thesis, I will have to deal with the main consideration that just as there is a positive aspect of the conflict - conflict is like having a serious disagreement with someone or something. when you see a conflict, it can be a challenge and if you are unable to overcome the challenge but you are able to overcome the problem then you will basically become stronger, smarter or there is an improvement or advancement in your life, and I will give brief background about Nigeria as a nation and Nigerian media structure, this research will also discuss the Code of Ethics for Nigeria Journalist. Relating to this thesis, it is like you appreciate what those issues actually help develop in yourself.

Before going straight into the issues, I would like for you to know what media ethics means and its concepts. Ethics are “moral standards” and also a “system of morals.” If you noticed I used “morals” twice - morals can be defined as “of or dealing with right or wrong.” Similarly, media ethics are moral standards that are applied to the media. An example of this is the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics[footnoteRef:1], a standardized list of the items used as a guide by SPJ members in their efforts to be effective journalists. Similarly, media professionals sometimes use their code of ethics as a tool to protect themselves against attacks that are often carried out by people who are not satisfied with the work of a journalist. Just as ethics codes are used in various ways, so does the definition of media ethics. [1: Code of Ethics- Society of Professional Journalists]

I believe it is important that our publication identifies all the sources we used for our information. This is because the public has the right to as much information as possible about the reliability and identity of the sources. By giving the identity of sources, we take every possible step to report the truth and to prevent people from using anonymity as a mask for their own partial purposes. Along with changing this standard, I also changed the following standard which reads, “Question the motives of the sources always before promising anonymity. Clarify the conditions attached to any promises made in exchange for information.” I will never promise anonymity in my new code, so I change the standard to read: “Always question the motives of sources. Clarify the conditions involved in the exchange of information.” The sixth SPJ standard[footnoteRef:2], which states that photos or videos of new content should never be distorted is effective, but not sufficiently specific. Our group believed that our publication should never alter an image, not even flip a picture to make it more aesthetically pleasing. [2: Code of Ethics- Society of Professional Journalists Media Ethics - Media Ethics Meaning]

In the introduction, I said that I will touch on Nigeria as a nation and Nigeria's Media structure. Nigeria, is the most populous country in Africa and the eighth-most populous country in the world with a population of over 150 million according to the 2006 census, and in 2014 the Nigerian population according to World Bank is 160.8 million and the estimated population in 2014 is over 170 million, therefore, making it the most populous black country in the world[footnoteRef:3]. In Nigeria's media landscape, there are public (governmental) and private media houses in Nigeria. Nigeria has 233 state-owned radio and television stations. Government stations are owned either by the Nigeria Television Authority(NTA) or by the governments of 36 states. NTA belongs to the Federal Government and was established by retroactive decree on the 1st of April 1976. [3: World Bank Report: 2014]

The printing, television, and radio once held a three-way hold on the Nigerian public. The print typically attracted elitist audiences- scholars, politicians, power movers, corporate leaders, and the rest of the educated class with a distinctive affinity for pretty English. In the contest, the radio attracted its largest audiences from the opposite group - alphabets who, with a small, battery-powered transistor, were able to catch up with events in their place, but sometimes in the rest of the world. The radio elites tuned at home and drove to the office mostly in the mornings. Like radio, TV attracted its audience from all directions; but because of its dependence on electricity - and electricity has always been a major problem in Nigeria - regular access to TV depends on social status, on the ability to supply power. Print, online, and television were thus fairly dominant in Nigeria’s media landscape.

In Nigerian media organizations, politics remains a dominant theme today. The Nation, one of the leading newspapers, was founded in 2006 by Bola Tinubu, then an opposition politic who helped build the All ProgressCongress(APC) in the following years to compete with the ruling People’s Democratic Party(PDP) and finally topple it in 2015. In 2001, two years after becoming the Governor of Abia State, the Sun, another major daily in the world, was founded by Orji Uzor Kalu. Kalu launched a sister daily, New Telegraph, one year before the 2015 presidential election.

The main consequence of the interconnection between journalism and politics is that the media is sometimes obliged to cover politics in particular and society in general objectively. The public now views the content of media with skepticism and often sees the news to distinguish between the story and the interest of a paper in this respect. The media - the watchdog- is therefore sometimes the ‘watched dog’. The Alliance for Political Journalism has limited journalists’ ability to develop their careers regardless of political influence. The spread of journalism with politics has so greatly increased that the journalist is tomorrow’s policymaker and the next minute will be returned to journalism.

In the rest of this paper, I shall concentrate on the issue of media ethics that I() appreciate. Examine this issue with an emphasis on media practice in Nigeria from a social, professional, and cultural perspective. The ethical principles governing the media have always been the definition of media ethics. In order to understand the issues of media ethics in Nigeria accurately, we must understand the consequences of not following the ethics of the media and the codes of ethics. I will try to understand this by looking at the media’s and its people’s capacities.

Truth as a guiding principle, professional journalism stands on the foundation of “truth”, journalists have a professional responsibility to stick to the truth and to maintain the truth by means of a professional code. The truth, however, rests on the integrity of an individual in this case the journalist.

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Truth, society has confidence that the journalist(s) will not betray or get dishonest, but that this confidence is sometimes betrayed by humanity, it is why all occupations have trust infringement mechanisms, which are laid down in the “codes of conduct” designed to provide some sort of supervision, reporting, punishment or rehabilitation for those who are wrong. The elders use to say that “If there is no town or an organization, that does not have rules or law”. In relation to this adage, Nigerian media don’t follow some of the rules, but instead, they try to tweak them to their own advantage, that’s what the media and the politicians to the people, Not everything we see or hear is the truth but we have to live through that particular situation.

Ethical Codes, a code is a set of principles that guide professional conduct or behavior. All occupations have codes, just as rules and laws exist in a country. A statement of principles supported by the SPJ Code of Ethics with explanations and documentation on changing journalistic approaches. It does not constitute a set of rules, but rather encourages journalists to assume responsibility for the information they provide, regardless of the medium. Ethical journalism should be precise and only. Journalists should be honest and courageous in gathering, reporting, and interpreting information.

Core ethical issues in the codes and journalism practice involve daily meetings with a number of issues that constitute ethical dilemmas for journalists who face proper ethical decisions. Since you don't move into the field with textbooks, the ethical principles help you decide what you ought to and should not do. Professional journalists should respect, adhere to and respect the principles set out in the following codes, issues, and my expectations of them from social, professional, and cultural perspectives.

Dealing with advertisers is the first issue I’m going to talk about and the reasons behind why I’m talking about this issue. The heart and soul of the media business are advertising. Nevertheless, uncontrolled publicity power can be difficult in journalism. Adverting was not coordinated and regulated at the start of ad activities in Nigeria. Manta advertisers tried to organize behavioral standards, but the law failed. Sadly, their efforts have not been effective. The Advertising Practitioners’ Association of Nigeria (AAPN) and the Nigerian Advertising Council (ACON) were also established in 1977. During this period, the bulk of consumer goods and services promoted in Nigeria had and were of insignificant foreign origin. The goods announced were for elite consumption, not for the mass market. In Nigeria, some companies have been knocked out of the game while others have won customers and gained more advertising. Substantial consumption is also responsible for these companies. With the in-depth of dealing with advertisers, keep in mind the following questions, because I will be using them to examine this issue from social, professional, and cultural perspectives. There are; What are some of the evils of advertising? How do they affect journalistic autonomy in the era of commercialized media? How do we work around this?

With the first question, what are some of the evils of advertising? - The more I watch TV, listen to the radio or read magazines the more I find myself bombarded with ludicrous advertisements. Our lives are consistently enriched by someone who tries to sell us a new - top gadget that one day we might need or a ridiculous magic soap that makes our clothing look new! I’m going to argue in this paper about banning all adverts. First of all, adverts are designed to give the consumer a feeling of need to buy a targeted product. Advertising agencies are renowned for capturing their audience through sensory manipulation and need creation. Secondly, children or adolescents use the best commercials. Often “children” promotes hot products and therefore create the feeling that they want to be like them. The most vulnerable target group is young consumers including teenagers and children. Often they watch television and are always on the lookout for new or “cool” things. They are also the least expensive in our society, therefore, their parents are being put under a lot of pressure. Last but not least, I believe that it is totally corrupt that celebrities should be used to advertise the product. Regardless of the quality of the advertising product, we worship all our heroes. We want to share a piece, in other words, too. Whatever they advertise, we want it too and often at all costs. It’s what the media do most about manipulation. They use many strategies to achieve their objectives and thus make consumers believe in their needs. The advertising world has been designed to ensure that consumers don’t have money.

I believe that we must boycott advertising in order to help society to live an ethical life rather than a life based on self-created needs which will only allow us to be consumption-dependent. The advertisements manipulate young children teens parents and adults as is the golden age, marketing agencies are aware of how the media can come to invade us in our own homes directly. They harass us with announcements that eventually bombard us with futile gizmos and force us to buy them for the money we do not have. Finally, in all forms or in any way, I strongly condemn publicity. In our society, the government should ban any advertising that uses children or young people, as it is the biggest vulnerable target group. School of education reduces the use of advertising by celebrities who sell costly brand names. The creation of needs that only trick us doesn't have to constantly put our society under extreme pressure.

Although the efforts of journalists over the decades have involved the realization of professional values like ethics, autonomy, and jurisdiction, the management logic has recently given rise to other directions and values. In our second research question, we examine the extent to which managerialism in the newsroom is affecting the autonomy of the profession. Autonomy is a core value and the prerequisite for the exercise and maintenance of other professional attributes. Thank you

Dealing with photography, The old journalist’s adage is like a good picture is worth a thousand words; However, photographs can have many ethical questions. This section will address some of the photojournalism challenges.

The ethics of photojournalism, this section will specifically address the following:

• The Intrusion of photographs into privacy and privacy
• Picture of minors and people at risk.
• Uncovering reporters ' techniques
• Lying photographs and digital editing's ethical dilemma
• In the era of terrorism ethical imaging

Cultural Interpretation, engages people in the close analysis and interpretation of cultural representations to learn how people make sense of themselves and their world.