Rethinking the Role of Traditional Media on Migration Issues in Nigeria

Chapter 6 Rethinking the Role of Traditional Media on Migration Issues in Nigeria

Gideon Ibukuntomiwa Folorunso https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1658-8748 Covenant University, Nigeria

Adeola I. Oyeyemi Covenant University, Nigeria

Oluwakemi D. Udoh Covenant University, Nigeria

Olaniyi T. Ayodele Covenant University, Nigeria

Nchekwube O. Excellence-Oluye Covenant University, Nigeria

ABSTRACT Traditional media is widely embraced by both the literate and illiterate population in different countries. Despite the wide coverage and acceptability of the traditional media in Nigeria, it has not favourably promoted migration issues, which has constituted national image crisis on an international scale. The media, having usually promoted their works with the mantra “voxidei, voxipopuli”, is thus burdened with the duty to liberate the masses by speaking truth to power, anything short of which is mere patronage of the people and contrary to the fundamental duties of the media as citizens of the world. This chapter also adopts secondary source of data collection and a content analysis model to analyse the data gathered, while the analysed data is presented in a narrative approach. The major finding of this book chapter is that, the known traditional media houses are playing around politics and money, bringing to life the saying that he who pays the piper dictates the tune, and this has in turn led to the continuance of illegal and dehumanising activities around the national borders of the country.

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-0210-5.ch006

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INTRODUCTION

The media is a wide platform for airing opinions, facts and investigations on issues with communal interests while shaping the mind-set of the targeted audience towards a particular direction (Triandafyllidou, 2017, pp. 1-2). The reality of migration issues and the citizens are at the moment tangential to policy makers and the media. Migration cannot be totally viewed as being negative, howbeit; traditional media reduces its importance by linking it majorly to issues of terrorism, crime and racial discrimination. This trend, coupled with the interests of media stakeholders (such as the government and owners of media corporations), tends to limit the creativity of traditional media journalists and thus, opens the pathway for new media to thrive (Triandafyllidou, 2017). Recently, undocumented migration (which some refer to as irregular migration in recent nation-state setting) is a typical African survival instinct, due to the state of leadership inter alia within the conti- nent. However, ancient and medieval history has a differing opinion – that migration is not limited to scouting for greener pastures and more importantly, it is not peculiar to Africans. The nexus between immigration and crime is conspicuously aired and promoted, while the media subterfuges positive news with regards to immigration. With the increasing influx of people from less developed countries to developed countries, the media remains the fundamental source –not the only source – and channel of information about migrant activities, through migration journalism due to its largest share of citizens patronage. This underpins the importance of traditional media outfits as the shaper of citizens’ perception on any social phenomenon or activity. To do this, the press, the radio, television, etc. are greatly engaged. Whatever the media sells as information on migration, can either discourage or accredit individuals’ decision on movement across international borders. Migrants also subscribe to local traditional media for the purpose of learning about their new location. In addition, expectations, perceptions and aspirations of migrants are shaped by the activities of these media outfits in various capacities. While perception, beliefs and attitude about migration are based on personal experiences and the experiences of those portrayed in the media, they serve as opinion shapers to both the migrants and the host nations, creating a form of positivity or negativity, as the case may be (Allen, Blinder and McNeil, 2017). In a world of capitalism, the media environment has been commercialised and monetised, hence, business comes first. The economic motivation behind a story is what drives it to air, for the purpose of attracting the targeted readers and/or listeners. Allen et al. (2017) believe that beyond these reasons, social and cultural leanings also come in handy to influence the contents. In particular, policymakers and advocates have dominated the space of migration journalism as stakeholders, at the exclusion of consumers, migrants and the labour force, thus further delineating the scope of traditional media on migration issues. Triandafyllidou (2017) posits that, another aspect is the politicisation and monetisation of the media. Like every other sector, once the media is involved with political advertisement and promotion for its profit purposes, it is rightly labelled partisan (aligned with the political elites or parties), thus the lan- guage used in engaging their audience in political discourse is subtle or neutral. To uphold a non-existent national image, local traditional media negatively influences the content of what is aired by focusing on the actions of migrants and not on the causal factors of migration, such as the political economy and the socio-cultural milieu of the country.

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The crux of this argument is that while traditional media is entrenched within the human society and well-funded, it does not operate like the new media. New media appears to be all-encompassing, covering different aspects of the society without any bias and with little or no funding, due to its people-centred nature (Oberiri, 2016). This chapter calls on all stakeholders within the traditional media industry to rise for the sake of promoting the freedom and non-partisanship of the media by encouraging an all-inclusive drive at migration reportage, especially as it affects the people within its area of interest. This chapter discussed issues related to tradition media; reportage on migration issues; discussion of press freedom and responsibilities, a nexus analysis on traditional media and migration issues in Nigeria, conclusion and recommendation for a way forward. The role of communication according to Chapke and Bhagat (2009), from the earlier days of history cannot be overemphasized, especially for its role in the process of social, political and economic development. Given the emergence of the information age and changing nature of information dissemination, new media has appeared as though its components are replacements to traditional media due to the ease that accompanies its very existence, which may include portability and easy user interfaces. However, traditional media remains a major source of information dissemination due to its wide reach, accessibility and affordability. Traditional media is mostly conventional means of public communication that travels through ancient and modern history, and situated in diverse global societies (Aikat, 2009). Ramanathan and Shrinivasan (1988) describe traditional media as the most effective communication means as it provides, not only the literates more access to information but also allows illiterate audiences to obtain and retain information for fifteen to thirty days. In furtherance to this, Ogidi and Anthony (2016) describe the real essence of traditional media as one that seeks to reach as many consumers as possible breaking speed and access constraints. Traditional media like; radio, television, newspapers, remained akey means of advertorial services and dissemination of information, even with the emergence of the new media platforms. The growing popularity of new media platforms via ICT tools to reach the digital door steps of millions of people has further enhanced the productivity of traditional media outlets. This is because most of them have now leveraged on increasing internet access and ICT tools as means to project their services to a larger audience (Bell and Garret, 1998; Ogidi and Anthony, 2016). Due to the one-way technology or practice that characterized traditional media, Becker and Whener (2001) opine that new media has precipitated newer forms of engagements and reportage as individuals who were forced to assume passive consumer positions during the periods of one-way broadcasting can now, through new media, register their comments and weigh in on matters of national concerns at their convenience. Furthermore, the centralized orientations of old media cannot also be overstressed as it also defines the saliency of issues considered to trend or appear on mainstream media outlets. In discussing the nature of traditional media and how it affects domestic and global issues, Peterson (2003) identifies the means of production which rests mainly on technology as a key determinant of social systems. Due to the cost and scale of production technologies, and because states and major corporations dominate the centre stage of traditional media, therefore having a stronghold on news production, traditional media is predominantly unidirectional and non-competitive; hence their production technology and outputs are subject to a centralized control (Bheker and Whener, 2001; Peterson, 2003). According to Desjardins (2016), the past five years have recorded a dwindling effect in the relevance of legacy or traditional media with emphasis on newspaper, magazine and radio stations. Even though there are substantial changes in the media industry, there has not been total shift from the norm especially in areas of control of media reportage.

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Figure 1. Source: Desjardins (2016)

The image fig.1 depicts the advertising by media type as at 2014; with a fast-rising growth of digital media and also retention of growth by television and obvious dwindle in newspaper. This makes it evi- dent that even though there is a fast-rising acceptance and usage of new media, there has not been total paradigm shifts in the media industry as certain traditional media outlets still retain their dominance and reach (Desjardins, 2016). On reportage of issues and saliency of socio-political concerns like Migration, it is however clear that traditional media due to their cumbersome scale and cost of production, i.e. technology, staffing, remuneration, ownership, to mention a few, pry on information that would be of commercial gain to them so as to be able to match the strengths of the millennium competition, new media (Peterson, 2003).

LITERATURE REVIEW

Selected Migration Issues

Migration is one of the emerging challenges of the 21st century that impacts significantly the interac- tion and development of countries. Many countries are not focused on the implications of migration, especially developing countries due to their focus on creating the basic needs within the country (Gels- dorf, 2010). The implications of migration can be viewed in binary terms; it has both positive as well as negative effects. The purpose of this section however is to discuss the hazards of migration which have been largely unreported by the mass media.

Healthcare System

It has been observed that, besides being an avenue to treat and care for people, the healthcare system is an avenue of improving the economy of a country. Improving the health sector has been found to account for 11percent of the economic growth in low and medium-income countries (Dean & Lawrence, 2013).

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Two areas that have been major sources of concern to low-income countries (such as Nigeria), medium and high-income countries (such as India, United Kingdom and the United States of America respectively), are brain drain and medical tourism. As important as these issues are, they have received very minimal attention from the government and citizens due to inadequate coverage of the media. Brain drain in the medical field is a situation whereby there is a massive out-flux of health professionals from any given territory in search for greener pastures. According to Cambridge Dictionary 2016, brain drain is the situation where large numbers of educated and very skilled people leave their own country to live and work in another country where they would enjoy better living conditions and increased emoluments, while medical tourism, on the other hand, is the situation where citizens travel out of their home country for medical care and treatments in another country. This is typically reflective of the appalling state of healthcare in their home countries; below state-of-the-art medical infrastructure as well as insufficient or inadequate medical personnel to attend to the health needs of people. In both situations, migration becomes a panacea to the challenges of ill-health and unsatisfactory rewards for skilled labour. It has been revealed that Nigerians in the USA are one of the most successful immigrants, with many holding a graduate/professional degree (Fosco, 2018). They are number one from Africa and close behind the Asian countries. They are welcomed and given opportunities to utilize their skills and make an impact in their specialties. Nigerians gladly take these job opportunities abroad, leaving en masse every year and leaving the health sector vulnerable to the activities of quacks due to the shortage of qualified professionals in the host country. On medical tourism, it is not unusual to read from social media and news reports through traditional media outlets that the Nigerian elite, typified by the political class, have a proclivity for traveling overseas to receive professional medical attention – sometimes after commissioning a supposed new medical facility. For instance, in May 2015, a former Governor in Akwa Ibom State in Nigeria was allegedly flown to the United Kingdom for medical treatment for an accident shortly after he commissioned a ‘world class’ specialist hospital for the citizens of his state (Ukpong, 2015). Also, the current president of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari was known for constant medical shuttles to the UK for treatments on a regular basis between the years 2015-2017. The revenue lost to the medical migration of the citizens has been estimated at over $1.2bilion – an amount that drains the nation’s budget on health, and that is with an overall average of 10,000 people leaving the country for either treatments or career advancements. Unfortunately, these effects are not adequately covered in the media.

Socio-Economic Development

Nigeria’s socio-economic development has issues that can be attributed to the effect of migrations. The level of human capital and in turn the productivity of the country is low due to a deficiency in the number of skilled workers available. On average of 150,000 skilled individuals (Engineers, Information Technologists, and doctors) in the necessary and important fields that can bring about required development in the country leave Nigeria (Ebri, 2017). The underlying effect is that, year-in and year-out, the country continually loses practitioners, which immediately affects the death rate, birth rate and mortality rate of the country. Given that development is a gradual process of growth and advancement, it is pertinent to state that socio-economic development is necessary for the health and status of a country’s sovereignty. One area that has had a major impact on the Nigerian socio-economic development is lack of security (Ewetan

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and Urhie, 2014). Nigeria has been bombarded with diverse and constant insecurity issues and violence throughout her history which has contributed to the migration of her citizens abroad for education, work and most importantly, security. There were incidents of multiple military coups and electoral violence in her earlyyears of independence, part of which contributed to the civil war of 1967-1970 and the eventual deaths of over 3 million citizens who were predominantly Igbos (Ewetan and Urhie, 2014). In recent times, other cases of violence and insecurity as reported by traditional media includes militancy and vandalism of oil pipelines; the Boko Haram insurgency and; the Fulani-herdsmen attacks – all of these have contributed to the massive displacement of the Northern Nigerian people as well as other citizens of the country who live in fear of the unknown (Ewetan et al., 2014). Unfortunately, as important as these issues are, the local traditional media hardly reports them (Ewetan et al., 2014, p. 4). Much of what is known about migration in Nigeria are reported by foreign media corporations; most of which present either an exaggerated picture of the problem – in other cases, the reports are not adequately presented to reflect or capture the magnitude of the problem. Rather than being proactive by bringing these issues to the front burner in order to attract the attention of major stakeholders and policymakers, the mass media in Nigeria sometimes draws from news social media contents or posts. Nevertheless, journalists cannot be entirely faulted on this.

Ownership-Influence on the Freedom of the Mass Media

The mass media basically refers to channels of communication which can be used to disseminate information to, and across a wide range of audience. The typology of mass media can be broadly categorised into the print media (which includes newspapers and magazines); the electronic media (channelled through the television, radio) and the new media (in which case, information is majorly transmitted through the use of digital technologies like the internet and devices like computers and mobile phones). In any given society, the mass media is considered vital because it is responsible for the production, processing, packaging and dissemination of ideas, opinions, entertainment and other contents that can be considered news to a wide audience. In carrying out these roles, they help in shaping peoples’ opinions and identity and are thus considered a ‘mirror through which we see reality’ (Apuke, 2017). It is also integrated into various aspects of the society. Despite the uniqueness and peculiarity of this industry, it is vital to state that, like any other business venture, most are privately owned and are, thus for-profit establishments, owned by individuals who aim to profiteer from the dissemination of information. Others are state-owned and exist only to serve the interests of the state. The real or perceived impact of media ownership on the independence and freedom of the mass media, as well as its effects on the quality of information being passed, has been the focus of long-standing research in media studies. For the purpose of this paper, freedom of the media refers to the liberty of, news agencies to select stories (of interests); underscore certain aspects of news; and to contribute to ‘editorial discussion and decision making (news coordination)’ (Beer, Láb, Strielkowski and Tejkalová, 2015). In discussing the influence of business on media, Cabelkowa, Strielkowwski and Mirvald (2015) assert that this influence generally takes two forms. The first is indirect and manifests in the manner in which the business community manipulates the …

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…stories journalists write or not write due to the use of money, presents, or freebies, on the one hand, or threatened by force, on the other hand. This type of influence is well described especially in developing countries like Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Zimbabwe, and Indonesia…However, even in the well- developed and democratic countries, these practices are still easy to find (p. 67).

The second form of business influence, according to them, draws on the ownership structure of the media. This is considered important because media ownership affects not only the content but also the political and economic processes in countries. The mass media can either be state-owned, private individual-owned or jointly owned by private individuals and the government. Typically, state-owned media corporations seek to publicise government policies and pursue goals that serve public interests while privately owned media companies are mainly for profit. Each of these forms of ownership can to a large extent create a coverage problem. In other words, ownership influence includes direct censorship of what is broadcast or outright intimidation of journalists. Like any other business venture, interests are the compass that guides the decisions of stakeholders. For privately owned media corporations, stakeholders’ interests ‘interlink with those of advertisers and government (which is the biggest adver- tiser) thereby creating propulsions into market-driven but government controlled journalism’ (Thembo, 2013). The resultant effect is that, the core values of journalism – fairness and equality; justice and independence – are eroded. Previous study by Shoemaker (1991, p. 10) shows that media content is affected at the different levels namely, the individual level, media-routines level and organizational level. At the organizational level, he posits that, media content is affected by the business/economic goals of the organization and these impact the personal aspirations of journalists and guides their activities. It is important to state that, these organizational goals are largely determined by the owners of the business. Magnuson (2003) observes that when some issues are repeatedly reported, they are considered more important – this is founded on the assumption that the media presents information to the masses in a hierarchical fashion that is, ranging from most important to the least important. When news production and circulation are done in a selective manner, it is believed that certain interests are at stake. For any media outlet, the goal is always to be the first to ‘spill the beans’ – for information that is considered appropriate to be aired. The rationale behind this is that, people have a proclivity for searching for news updates and this ultimately increases the visibility and subscription to the outlet. Hence, stories that are not considered sensational enough may not make it to the screen. Furthermore, in a bid to win favours from governments, some media agencies may not assume a neutral stance in the unbiased reports of the activities of such governments. In this case, the media crew may be handicapped when choosing stories to produce or report. From the foregoing therefore, it can be deduced that the inadequate media coverage of migration could be due to the inability of media outfit owners to foresee or project any real return on investment on that venture. Unless, it is sensational and attracting the subscription of viewers, they may not report the effects of migration on the country.

Traditional Media and Migration Issues: A Nigerian Perspective

Traditional media –old/mainstream media, as some will call it – has built a large coverage of audience and this becomes a form of leverage upon which they thrive as corporations. Profit however, has become

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a determining factor in the activities of these organisations with the public representing their loyal audience. Migration on the other hand has been demonized in the mainstream media due to perceived political interference with migration reportage. As can be seen across the world, the mainstream media has always designed the footages on migration to suit their political leanings. Even while we are all a part of a common humanity, the neutrality of the mainstream media with regards to migration issues is alarming. Radical scholars such as Bourbeau (2013) and Triandafyllidou (2017) opine that the current global migration system is broken. Historically, migration is responsible for the civilization and awakening that the world has experienced. The ancient books explained a form of global migration that accommodates in the best possible way because it is assumed that “a stranger is a blessing in disguise”. Can this be true? Of course, the migrated Jews were instrumental in the building of great civilizations like Great Babylon, Ancient Egypt, the United States of America, Germany, Italy etc.They excelled in businesses and organisations. The clamour on brain drain was necessitated due to the immense advancement that emigrants caused abroad. The likes of Oluwole Soyinka, who was the first African to be awarded a Nobel Prize in Literature; Oluyinka Olutoye, who successfully carried out an operation on a baby at 23 weeks and returned the baby into the womb where growth continued and healing took place and subsequently, the child was birthed at 36 weeks; and Adebayo Ogunlesi, an accomplished Nigerian lawyer and investment banker who has proven to be a ruthless business magnate with the acquisition of Gatwick Airport, London City Airport and Edinburgh Airport and Transporto Viaggiatori under the auspices of his firm Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) in the space of 12 years; all of whom have migrated overseas have proven in recent time that even Nigeria had something great to offer the world apart from crude oil. Religion, economics and politics have retained a high stake in migration discourse, as they almost perfectly control the mind-set of people towards migration. The northern Muslims share common religi- osity with the Chadians and Nigérien Muslims, so much that migration around the region is inevitable. The economy of Lagos is heavily bombarded by the smuggling of goods, products and services through Seme borders from the Republic of Benin. Holistically speaking, at these several ports, extra-judicial activities occur, while graft activities are almost a norm; irregular migrants move daily to and fro these porous borders, without being accounted for. The media, with the basic responsibility of representing the voice of the people —masses tend to look away from this continuous decadence, and focus on the stories that whip political sentiments, ‘not’ gore the horses of the political ruling class or appeal to political structures and institutions. Parenti Michael, a renowned Marxist commentator situated the evasive finesse of mainstream/corporate media reportage in his book, Contrary Notions (2007). To him,

...newscasters who want to keep their careers afloat learn the fine art of evasion...with great skill they skirt around the most important parts of a story. With much finesse, they say a lot about very little, serving up heaps of junk news filled with so many empty calories and so few nutrients. Thus, do they avoid offending those who wield politico-economic power while giving every appearance of judicious moderation and balance. It is enough to take your breath away (Parenti, 2007).

The author made this statement with the intent to shed light on the Orwellian double standards that is obtainable within the corporate media system.

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CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

This chapter was limited to a study on traditional media and its role on perception of migration and migrant population. Future research can be directed towards new media’s impact on the issues sur- rounding migration. Future studies can also look into the creation of a specifically named regulatory institute to carry out the duty of checks and balances for these traditional media corporations through a peer-reviewed mechanism. The traditional media over the decades has become entrenched in the policy trajectory and decision- making process in the country at all levels of government as gatekeepers. As such, their duties are defined with a tilt towards the larger population rather than the political class, and as an implication therefore, they serve as the voice of the larger majority of people and not the voice of a few powerful people in the country. This role however, is fast-changing in the light of political interference in the ideas that the media passes to the people. Most of traditional media coverage is burdened with interest-laden motives, sheer politicisation and monetisation of fragile topics to create a bias in the minds of the larger population. It is important to note that the role that traditional media plays in recent history is influenced by the high cost of production and desire to match the strength of the rising new media, thus commercial gains remains a dire need and the foremost consideration before any people-centred considerations. While migration is not a curse, a lot of countries in the world today owe their development to decades of immigration and settlement. The media has become very vulnerable because of the overwhelming influence of major stakeholders, like media owners, in censoring and modifying news sources for the purpose of profiting. Hence, they are not exactly concerned with the accuracy of reporting but with influencing consumers’ preferences in their favour. Migration has its benefits to host countries and this should be brought to the fore by media agencies. This will go a long way in improving Nigeria’s image in the global space. This study therefore recommends a reorientation of media organisations to go beyond the pursuit of economic profiting, to become agents for accentuating positive reporting, as far as migration is concerned. This is also because nation-states have a lot to gain from immigration and the activities of immigrants across the borders of their home countries. Regulatory agencies should also be set up to monitor, censor and guide the content reports made by media agencies on migration issues. This will promote the credibility of such agencies and ensure that the right information gets out to the public.

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