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BALANCING THE PUBLIC INTEREST WITH COMMERCIAL INTEREST IN THE NIGERIAN MEDIA

BY

AYO OLUKOTUN DEPT. OF POLITICAL SCIENCE UNIVERSITY OF LAGOS E-Mail – [email protected]

Paper Presented to World Bank Institute/Media Rights Agenda Seminar holding at Regency Exclusive Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos from October 18th – 20th 2005. SECTION I

INTRODUCTION/OVERVIEW

The debate about balancing the Public Interest with Commercial Interest has been a long and complex one. It is taking place, we must note against the backdrop of drops in newspaper circulation and readership globally, as well as challenges to the newspaper genre from television, the internet boom and the tablodization of culture, which is increasingly blurring the line between information and entertainment. To indicate the global nature of the debate, here is a description of the British media published 4 years ago The United Kingdom has the most competitive major newspaper market in the world: Sensationalism, killer headlines, rapier writing --- journalistic aggression has become institutionalised amid weakening circulation and the struggle for market preeminence (Newsweek, 21 May 2001, P.16).

Obviously such a context leaves little leeway for rarified notions of the public interest. Indeed some neo-liberal American technocrats have long written off the notion of the public interest in its pristine form, a fad exemplified by Mark Fowler, former Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, who quipped famously that “the public interest is that which interests the public (cited in Hallin 2000:234). In the Untied States, traditional notions of public interest and professionalism are under assault from the banalisation of journalism which some see as a counterweight to more elitist notions; the upsurge of reality-based programming with its highly successful market showing, as well as the eclipse of what has been called a civic generation. With predictably good habits of newspaper readership.

Following McOquail (2001:501) we can conceive of the public interest as The idea that expectations from, and claims against the mass media on the grounds of the wider and longer term good of society can be legitimately expressed and may lead to constraints on the structure or activity of the mass media.

The principle is linked to that of the concept of media accountability whereby the media are held down to some notions of responsibility regarding the content, quality and impact of their work, in the larger interest of society. The public interest principle can be traced back to the American Commission on Freedom of the press of the 1940’s which suggested that The press look upon itself as performing a public service of a professional kind-- - There are some things which a truly professional man will not do for money” (Cited in Halin 2000).

1 Obviously, then the notion of public interest is related to the hold of professional values, ethical and ideological underpinnings and the extent to this which can countervail or restrict commercial pressures. In media studies, commercialization is viewed as “A process by which media structures and contents come to reflect the profit- seeking goals of media industries and are governed by market considerations (McQuail 2001:492). Its most significant principle is tabularization of media content or a sensationalist discourse style.

There are of course deep contentions among scholars as to what constitutes the public interest and who should decide it but we will not enter into those here. It becomes relevant in the Nigerian context where as I show in the next section, media are on a tight leash, and pressures of the bottom line, in view of the rapid rise and demise of newspapers are so pervasive.

Reiterating the commercial imperative in the Nigerian media Agbese (1995:7) had written from the vantage point of a magazine publisher that Publishing is business. A business is no good unless it survives. The publication which sells is the publication which is successful. It is also the one that survives. Everyone who invests in a newspaper or magazine wants to make money. Unless the publication sells, that money cannot be made. The investment is lost

This is impeccable as far as it goes but the issue is that the outworking of an extreme commercial model in Nigeria has led to such abuses as newspaper vendors dictating headlines; buying and selling of ‘news’; the relegation of newsworthy but commercially unprofitable groups, ideas and causes; untoward pressures from advertisers; rampant corruption in the media as well as the fictionalization of news in the search for profit. For a country like Nigeria in which the journalistic public sphere is private sector driven (in contrast to say, Ghana, where it is public sector-driven), the need to balance commercial pressures with the public interest is all-important, especially in view of an anarchic capitalist culture.

In the next section, I outline a history and topography of the media; another section takes up issues to be discussed while a concluding section brings the strands together.

2 SECTION II

THE MEDIA: HISTORY AND CAPACITY PROFILE

Iwe-Irohin, an indigenous language newspaper established in 1859 was the first newspaper, a newsletter to be precise, to be published in the Nigerian Colony. It was quickly succeeded in 1863 by the short lived Anglo-African and a rash of other titles which rode piggy-back on a printing industry that was closely tied to the missionary influence between 1880 and 1914. Other titles which flourished in this period include Lagos Observer, Lagos Weekly Record, Eagle; Lagos Critic and The Nigerian Pioneer.

The temper of the emergent nationalist press is illustrated by the close intertwining of politics and journalism as well as by the tenor of the radical Weekly Record which thrived between the late 19th century and the 1930’s.

Anticolonial newspapers did not mushroom without a fight. They were circumscribed by the withholding of advertising revenue; by a battery of repressive legislation such as the Newspaper ordinance of 1903; as well as by the courting of pro-imperial newspapers. Indeed Marinquez (1996) goes so far as to assert that colonial officials bribed journalists to kill embarrassing stories. However that maybe, what is clear is that newspapers such as The Nigerian Pioneer and to a lesser extent the Daily Times often defended the colonial government and sought to combat the nationalist press. Hence, we have a latent division between a pro-imperial press and an increasingly strident anticolonial press which was the hand maiden of political agitation. (Olukotun 2004a).

Hegemonic contest continued in the latter colonial period as the colonial government relying on emergency powers assumed during the second world war, tightly and selectively censured the press. For example, government prevented Azikiwe from expanding his newspapers in Jos and Kano, two Northern cities, but instead, accelerated its own plans for both an indigenous language newspaper and the publication of the Nigerian Review, viewed by many as a propaganda outfit.

In the early post colonial period a similar division overlaid and criss crossed by ethnic and religious divisions, is evident in the contest between newspapers established by the state, and those in private hands. In the period between 1960 and 1983, the independent press, emerged as the bulwark of democracy, drawing on the protest tradition established in the colonial period. Significantly, the late 1970’s and early 1980’s witnessed the ascendancy of an entrepreneurial class, powered by a rentier, oil- driven political economy, resulting in the establishment of several independent newspapers of which The Guardian, The Concord and The Vanguard are important examples. 3 Under General Buhari’s short-lived military rule, (1994-5), state owned media which had been multiplied by the practice of every state in the federation owing a newspaper and a television station broadly promoted the military while most of the private media opposed the authoritarian regime and continued to insist on democratic renewal. This pattern was carried over into the early period of General Babangida’s rule, with the qualification that several private newspapers at first endorsed the General, who initially evinced a human rights posture as well as announced a transition to civilian rule programme. Following the death of Dele Giwa, founder and editor in Chief of Newswatch in a bomb explosion which had all the overtones of state murder, the line became slowly drawn between an official media which routinely sang the General’s praises, and an increasingly outspoken private media, which in the face of repression, harped on the need for accountability, human rights and democratic renewal.

Explaining the hegemonising strategies of the Babangida Regime in the early 1990’s, Osaghae(1998:248) had written of Neocorporatist and coopted structures, notably the various Armed Forces Wives Associations – the ‘Better Life’ Associations, government sponsored rival student association, traditional rulers and the Federal and State government-owned media, newspapers (notably the Daily Times and New Nigerian) and radio and television channels (notably Radio Nigeria and Nigeria Television Authority)

Opposed to this infrastructure of consensus – building around a dictatorship, which was scheming to elongate its tenure were sections of the private media which included such newspapers as The Concord, The Guardian, The Punch as well as emergent hard-hitting magazine titles such as Tell and The News magazine.

Broadly the same pattern was carried into the Abacha period when an adulatory state media and their allies in the commercial press hailed Abach as the apostle of a united Nigeria even as an increasingly radical opposition media which included a guerilla media insisted on a return to democratic rule (Olukotun 2002A; 2002B)

Nigeria has the biggest and most virile press community in Africa followed by South Africa and Kenya. A recent census of the Nigerian media published in the 1999 edition of the Media World Yearbook puts the number of regular newspapers at 78, magazines at 45, television stations at 52 and radio stations at 39 though it should be mentioned that a number of these are shoe-string enterprises, at the margins of survival.

The period since 1999, have witnessed a mushrooming of sorts in the newspaper industry with new titles like The Anchor, The Sun and Daily Independent springing up as well as the relaunch of moribund or prostrate titles such as the National Interest. We should also take on board the recent proliferation of NTA relay stations under the Democratic government which has considerably added to the number of television stations in the country. As political competition for the 2007 election hots up, more 4 publications are likely to be announced most of them with a predictably short life span. One consequence of the economic downturn of the 1980’s and 1990’s, and specifically a result of hostile authoritarian economic policies towards the media is that at as at now the combined circulation of all newspapers barely reach half million, in a country of close to 120 million people. If we add the circulation figures of magazines and other publications, to those of newspapers, they barely hit the 1 million mark.

The Punch, a privately owned newspaper is perhaps the most widely read newspaper and its print run is between 60,000 and 80,000 copies per day. The Guardian, a favourite of the intellectuals and respected for its independent, sober views, had a print run in 2001 of between 50 and 60 thousand copies per day.

Other newspapers such as the privately owned Nigerian Tribune, This Day, Post Express, The Vanguard, The Comet as well as the until recently state-owned Daily Times, and the New Nigerian do less well in circulation terms than The Punch and The Guardian. The magazine market is dominated by three giants namely, Tell Magazine, The News and Newswatch, and have circulation figures in 2004 of about 40,000, 20,000, and 15,000.

One underreported, but increasingly assertive newspaper genre is the vernacular newspapers, which in the Yoruba speaking region made a rebound in the closing years of military rule. A rash of vernacular newspapers have sprung up in recent years trying to build on the success of Alaroye whose circulation competes favourably with the most successful national dailies. In broadcasting, ten or so television stations are in private hands, while of the forty or so radio stations, a handful are privately owned following the deregulation of broadcasting by the state in 1994. The most successful private electronic media are, Galaxy, AIT, Minaj and Silverbird televisions as well as Raypower Radio, all of which offer refreshing contrasts to the heavily state-controlled contents of state electronic media.

As in Kenya, Ghana and much of Africa publications rise, fall and are sometimes reborn with dizzying regularity. Between 1999 and 2003, several prominent titles such as The Concord, National Interest, Tempo (which survived underground under the Abacha dictatorship) The Anchor, Post Express and Eko Today have gone off the streets, although one of them, National Interest was relaunched in February 2005.

The imposition of value-added tax on input into newspaper production by both the Abacha and Abubakar administrations, and the consequent skyrocketing cost of production, forced many newspaper to downsize, cut back on circulation, increase cover price or simply capsize. The years between 1994 and 1999 were harsh ones for the press, not just because of censorship decrees and frequent detention, but because of hostile economic policies. The imposition of 5% Value Added Tax on newspapers in the 5 1999 budget by General Abubakar and their retention under the civilian governemnt stiffened further the climate in which many newspapers found themselves. Increase in cover price and advert rates by The Guardian and other publications, in recent years make the press even more of an elitist product than it ought to have been, in the period since 1999.

As at February 2005, various newspapers, state-owned and private are owing their staff several months of salary, ranging from three months to twelve months, as a result of the distress in that sector of the economy. One senior journalist observed correctly that The Nigerian journalist goes out to work armed minimally despite today’s electronic age. Side by side with his foreign counterpart he is equipped like a stone age communicator amidst the clusters of sophisticated gadgetry presided over by his Japanese equivalent. Under these conditions, the Nigerian journalist is an unsung hero-deplorable low wages and delayed salary payments are common (Daily Times, April 15, 1994, P.20)

Many journalists are not computer literate, much less own Personal Computers, in spite of the arrival on the Internet of The Punch, The Guardian, The Vanguard, The Comet and several others.

The situation with regards to computer literacy and adaptation appears to be improving slowly, however, despite infrastructural hitches such as fitful electricity and frequent computer breakdown.

Interestingly, some of the anti-media decrees promulgated by General Babangida and Abacha are still on the statute books as at March 2005 inspite of several promises to expunge them, although they are not being enforced. Although the Senate has recently expunged some of these decrees, there are others, which remain on the statute book, surviving reminders of the long night of dictatorship.

Two influential media genres active in Nigeria are the international press and the emergent telematics sector; as well as the alternative press consisting of indigenous artists, orature and social critism. BBC, VOA and CNN are quite popular, in view of an esteemed higher credibility rating. They infact increasingly shape the content of Nigeria media. There is also a tiny but growing telematics sector featuring E-mails, Internet messages and whole province of new information technology in which the country remains peripheral. Only an estimated 150,000 surf the Internet while the problems of epileptic power supply and infrastructure constrain wider diffusion of these services.

It should be mentioned also, that the media can broadly be divided into state-owned and private media. State owned media as mentioned earlier include the majority of the broadcast media; such newspapers as The Daily Times, which has been recently privatized, New Nigerian and a broad array of newspapers owned by state governments. 6 These are the ones usually deployed in hegemonic contests by the State. The propaganda bent of the Nigerian Television Authority in successive civilian and military regimes is notorious. For example, during the impeachment crisis involving the legislature and President Obasanjo, between August and November 2002, the NTA considerably downplayed, even hardly reported the issue. In contrast to this posture, private television stations such as African Independent Television (AIT) and Channels Television give balanced coverage to both government and opposition. Of course the constraining regulatory environment under which private televisions are allowed to operate prevent them from becoming oppositional. But they are certainly less easy to use for propaganda by government.

Of Interest, too is the concentration of media institutions in South-West Nigeria where a developed newspaper and advertising culture going back to several decades exist. This had led to charges of the media not being pluralistic, but a regionally-based instrument for promoting, largely Yoruba interests.

An earlier formulation of this viewpoint was made by Peter Enahoro, former managing director of The Daily Times who argued that: Many of today’s so-called national newspapers emanating from the South-West are in fact regional publications whose loyalties are to the personalities and causes espoused by the apparent majority of the people of that area- It is tantamount to a monopoly of a vital resource with a crucial bearing on the democratic process. (Daily Times, April 15, 1994 P.21)

It should be noted that the preponderant location of media in South-West Nigeria, does not dovetail with ownership patterns. For example, 10 out of 12 major media institutions are located in Lagos, out of which only two, The Punch and The Comet have Yoruba proprietors. Indeed, the emerging trend is a preponderance of media owners from the Niger-Delta area, a fact that may not be unrelated to the Petroleum-driven political economy of Nigeria and the incorporation of the elite from the Delta area into a national framework of spoils sharing.

Furthermore, the recruitment pattern of journalists in these media institutions is fairly diversified in terms of ethnic origin of personnel. What is true, however, is the relative activism of civil society in the Ibadan-Lagos area as a result of higher level of education, a pronounced history of political struggle, Yoruba protest epistemology manifest in Oral cultural productions condemning oppressive rulers as well as the existence of an advertising and commercial infrastructure conducive to media growth. All of these, however, do not mean that ethnic and other divisions can be wished away. They are real but should not be overplayed.

7 Concerning the work environment of journalists, it is pertinent to mention that low remuneration delayed salaries, frequent job changes, all related to the crisis of viability of media are the order of the day. A fragile macro economy, underpinned by the escalating cost of imported newsprint and other input into newspaper production, the rapid demise of media and weak demand for newspapers, translate into a harrowing work culture for Nigerian journalists.

The fragility of media in economic terms results in corruption in the media, rapid turnover of personnel and the participation of journalists in public relations projects as survival strategies.

Such practices are fuelled by the distress in the media sector, although they have not prevented critical and independent media from championing reform and democratic causes.

8 SECTION III

BOTTOM LINE VERSUS SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

The preceding narration of the ecological and historical context of the media provides an appropriate jump-off point for analyzing the issues involved in subjecting the market impulse to professional norms. Tale television for example. A transmitter costs over half a million dollars, licensing fees are in the neighbourhood of N15 million while the woes of a comatose economy impact directly on production costs. Television stations have to supply their own power, water and other infrastructure in the absence of a capable state.

Commercial pressures translate directly into news racketeering. According to Steve Ojo, president of Galaxy Television There are a number of TV Stations that retain state governments as clients. In other words, any information those state governors have, they ask such stations to cover them – If a governor retains you to promote him, how can you criticize his governance when he is not doing right?

This is a biting intramural criticism of a specific example of news commercialization by television houses. Most T.V. Stations also now have a commercial news segment which are paid for by individuals and corporate bodies, as distinct from formal advertising. If commercialization drives content, then the public interest cannot be protected. Syndicated programming, even pirated films from Alaba are also increasingly substituting for news gathering and indigenous programmes, with nefarious consequences. Then of course, there is the formal influence of advertising on news content in the sense that news considered offensive to advertisers and brand promoters could get easily sidelined. There are both institutional lowering of guards as well as individual compromises. Many proprietors of television and newspapers are on the payroll of political and economic moguls and this limits editorial independence (See Olukotun 2004B).

Some television and newspaper proprietors like fortune seekers even write letters to Federal and State governments requesting to ‘market’ them. Where then does public relations/marketing stop and journalism begin? Individual journalists also compromise their professional calling through the ‘beat organization’ a form of syndicated corruption in which ‘news’ is closely determined by corporate and political institutions. Of course, the poor or negligent welfare status of journalists alluded to in the last section makes them susceptible to news racketeering. The Nigerian Guild of Editors was sufficiently disturbed by corruption in its own ranks that it devoted its 2004 annual conference to a discussion of the issue as a house cleansing project.

9 In the print media, news magazines allegedly sell cover stories to political and economic bosses for agreed fees. Obviously, the news and information value of such outfit is questionable indeed. Corporate bodies often adopt journalists assigned to cover them as virtual public relations technocrats. In sum the dimensions of the crisis are both institutional and personal. What then are the remedies? First of all, let it be said that not everyone in the media is guilty. There are cases of journalists courageously turning down seductive offers and commercial pressure to avoid being compromised. The quality media sometimes joins the fray in exposing abuses and corruption in the media as illustrated by a Tell magazine story entitled ‘The Rot in the Media (Tell, 6 May 2002).

Kunle Ajibade, founding editor of The News once said At one point in 1994, General Abacha’s son, Ibrahim had offered to invest in ‘The News’ but we turned down the offer, even though we were cash-strapped at the time. We turned down a gift of rams on one occasion from Basorun Abiola because we felt it would compromise us. A strategy paper generated by one of us (at inception) had advocated the need for decent salaries to avoid bribe taking which could ruin our mission (Personal Interview cited in Olukotun 2004A)

The point here is that it is dangerous to assume that news racketeering and corruption is the only game in the media town. Journalists in the quality press are concerned about the problems and the danger they pose to the profession – which offers a window of opportunity for those seeking reform.

It has been said and I believe correctly that the incidences of corruption in the media and have increased considerably since the advent of civilian rule – which multiplies the opportunities for political marketing and the information skills of journalists and promoters. But the media cannot afford to merely reflect society, they must challenge its decadence in a democratic era.

The history of ethical regulation of the media by government has been mired in conflicts controversies and deserved skepticisms because of attempts to use such bodies as the press council and the media commission under the military as instruments of coercion. Indeed, the trend the world over is for self-regulation. As Okunna (1998:2) informs us Because ethics is self regulation, if ethical codes are prepared and adopted by journalists themselves there will be little room for government regulation. The emphasis worldwide is on the voluntary adoption of ethical codes by journalists” This is pertinent because ultimately the issue of modulating commercial pressures for wider societal goals is an ethical rather than a legal one unless of course, bribe taking is involved. Interestingly the Code of Ethics for Nigerian journalists adopted by the NUJ states in its preamble Journalism entails a high degree of public trust. To earn and maintain this trust, it is morally imperative for every journalist and the various news media to observe the highest professional and ethical standards. In the exercise of his duties, a journalist should always have a healthy regard for the public interest. 10 These words contain the kernel of a reform onslaught directed at restoring the social responsibility balance as against commercially driven journalism.

The issue then is: if we accept the roles of the press enumerated by German Social theorists as including: binding the society together; giving leadership to the public; helping to establish the public sphere; providing for the exchange of ideas between leaders and masses; satisfying needs for information; providing society with a mirror of itself as well as acting as the conscience of society (McQvail 2001: 73) what changes in ethical outlook and professional orientation are needed to transcend the simply commercial model?

The NUJ codes cited above already envisages the search for an ethically driven and responsible media. So indeed are similar ideals enshrined in the Broadcasting Code and the Press Council Code. The issue is: Why are these principles not impacting seriously on the outlook of the media?

Kayode Komolafe, former Secretary of the Lagos State NUJ, argues for example that editors and senior journalists tend to view the union with some disdain, citing the case of Mr. Ray Ekpu, Chief executive of Newswatch who ostentiously boycotted an invitation by the NUJ ethics committee, to defend breach of ethics by Newswatch in 1991. Komolafe also cited the case of an editor who denied been a member of NUJ when asked to appear before its ethics committee (Komolafe, 1996).

Although the problems raised by Komolafe are not insurmontable it is suggested that there is an enforcement gaps; there is a normative gap – this speaks to the lack of Widely Shared professional and institutional norms or at least their weak hold; and, finally there is a social audit gap, which express the lack of societal interest in watching the watchdogs.

For ethical imperatives to drown out sensationalism and news racketeering we must invest better in the training, retraining as well as reorientation of journalists; the NUJ must enforce its code, for example by blacklisting errant journalists and press houses, a task it can only undertake with the support of the NPO (Nigerian Press Organisation) and the NGE (Nigerian Guild of Editors) while civil society must find a way of acting to protect the best in the ideal of public interest journalism – for example by rewarding desirable behaviour.

It is interesting, too that although the Constitution of the Nigerian Guild of Editors listed as one of its objectives, the preservation of the high traditions and standards of journalism by enforcing in cooperation with other journalistic bodies, the profession’s code of ethics, very little actual progress has been made in this direction by the Guild. Could matters have been different, if civil society had served as a back-up to get the

11 Guild to enforce its own Constitution? Also the lament of Press Council Chairman, Alade Odunewu, that several media houses in the 1990’s “dared the council and ignored its directives or feigned ignorance that a complaint was brought against them,” (Odunewu 1996: 282) may have been unnecessary had there been more societal legitimacy regarding the council’s activities. In this respect, we may have something to learn from the modest success of Ghana’s National Media Commission. Established in July 1993 by an Act of Parliament as stipulated by chapter 12 of the 1992 Constitution, the Commission was inaugurated on October 13, 1993 with a 3-year term of office. It is composed of 15 members, 10 of which are drawn from professional associations which include the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) and the Private Independent Papers Association of Ghana (PRINPAG).

Its mandate include: 1) To promote and ensure the freedom and independence of the media for mass communication.

2) To insulate the state owned media from governmental control.

3) To take measures to ensure that persons responsible for state owned media afford fair opportunities and facilities for the presentation of divergent views and opinions.

Of particular interest to our discussion is the fact that its complaints settlement committee, through which infringements and unethical behaviour by media are sanctioned deploys such instrument as official reprimands, publication of correction or rejoinder as well as reference to relevant professional body for disciplinary action (Bonah Koumson 1998)

The commission has been active in sanctioning errant media in the manner described above, and also recorded notable successes (with the help of opposition political parties) in isolating state owned media from governmental control between 1994 and 2000. The point here is that much more can be done in Nigeria if the required political will and societal back-up are galvanised. In this respect, the suggestion made by Odunewu (1996) that employers of journalists should incorporate a clause into the employment letter of contract under which they can dismiss or suspend journalists found guilty of ethical violation should be explored. Under the military it was easy to snub the Press Council as an instrument of authoritarian censorship; there is no reason why we cannot cultivate a new approach under democratic rule, using as a basis the new code of ethics for journalists drafted in 1996 and ratified at Ilorin in 1998 by representatives of the NUJ, the NPO and the NGE.

12 Government should be enlisted, too as a partner, to see for example how they can soften the woes of publishers and broadcasting organisations while we should see how we can connect to emerging comments in international civil society to strengthen the search for a more socially responsible media. Creating media outlets not driven by the search for profits, for example community and grassroot media as ways of strengthening the civic sector as well as invigorating the public service content of state owned media

13 SECTION IV

THE PROSPECTS

Speaking, last year at a public lecture in Lagos, Jonathan Friendly, Chairman of the Alfred Friendly Foundation pointed out that: The bad news – is the spreading corruption including corruption of reporters and editors. A month ago I was in India meeting with journalists and they were deeply concerned about how publicists were successfully simply buying major display space – including space on the front pages – for flattering pieces about their clients. Journalists in Turkey, where I was a couple of days ago, are often on the payroll of politicians. It is no secret here in Lagos that reporters accept bribes to write favourable stories (Tell, June 21, 2004, P.67).

Friendly restates the international nature of the problem of news commercialization and corruption in the media. It can be argued that outright corruption of media is at the tail end of a process of degeneracy that begins with the commercialization of media content and that in a sense, the Nigerian case is an example, and a reflection of the pervasive decay and corruption in Nigerian politics. Journalists in Nigeria tend to resent ‘outsiders’ pointing to corruption in their ranks which they see as another instance of persecution or blackmail. However, attempts to restore ‘best practices’ in the media may be a sign of respect and a desire to restore the media’s waning authority.

Sensationalism, publishing fiction as news because it sells; accepting bribes to kill or to publish stories as well as institutional linkages that erode the credibility of the media are the kind of things that make the Nigerian media less of a public sphere that it ought to be. Revitalizing the public sphere and restoring the informational role of the media depends on the extent to which these abuses can be countermanded. The media must elect not just to monitor others but to monitor itself.

Columns by Journalism scholars and teachers pointing out abuses, not just of language, but of ethics can help. If people know that they are being watched, it helps them to be more on their guard. No serious progress can be made in an ethical vacuum; restoring the sanctity of the profession implies the restoration of an ethical base. Existing codes must be enforced and those who refuse to comply should be sanctioned. It will take time and perseverance; we must settle for small gains and expect reverses in such a project. References

Agbese, Dan (1995) Commercial Journalism and News Judgment and Management Paper Presented at a Workshop on News Management and Judgment Held by the Nigerian Press Council, Gateway Hotel, Ota, June 22-24.

Bonnah Koomson, A.K. (1998) A Study of Ethical Violations by Ghanaian Journalists in Kwame KariKari (ed) Ethics in Journalism: Case Studies of Practice in West Africa, Accra, Panos Institute, P.36-68.

Hallin, Daniel (2000) Commercialism and Professionalism in the American News Media in James Curran and Michael Gurevitch (eds) Mass Media and Society London, Arnold Publishers, P.218-237.

Komolafe, Kayode (1996) The Impact of NUJ on Journalism in Nigeria in Olatunji Dare and Adidi Uyo (eds) Journalism in Nigeria: Issues and Perspectives, Lagos, NUJ, Lagos State, P.252-267.

McQuail, Dennis (2001) McQuail’s Mass Communication Theory, 4th Edition, London, Sage Publications.

Odunewu, Alade, Regulatory Mechanism in Olatunji Dare and Adidi Uyo (eds) Opcit; P.268-286.

Okunna, Stella (1998) Trends in Journalistic Ethics Media Review August 1998, P.28.

Olukotun, Ayo (2002A) Traditional Protest Media and Anti-Military Struggle in Nigeria 1988-1999 African Affairs (Oxford) April, P.193-211.

Olukotun, Ayo (2002B) Authoritarian State, Crisis of Democratization and the Underground Media in Nigeria African Affairs (Oxford), July, P.317-342.

Olukotun, Ayo (2004A) Repressive State and Resurgent Media Under Nigeria’s Military Dictatorship 1988-1998 Uppsala Sweden Nordic African Institute/College Press Ibadan.

Olukotun, Ayo (2004B) Accountability, Media and Democracy in Nigeria 1999-2003, African Studies Review (Massachusetts) December, P.69-90.

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