Media Freedom for a Better Future: Shaping the post-2015 Development Agenda

BY IDRIS MABADEJE

One major characteristic of the press is that it mirrors society. Thus, to effectively reflect the true image of the society where it functions, a wide latitude of operational freedom is often sought by its members and other stakeholders.

From time immemorial, the quest for press freedom, in whatever degree, has remained at the centre of conflicts between journalists and governments in every society. Thus arose different theories of the press, viz, Authoritarian, Libertarian, Social responsibility, Soviet-Totalitarian and Development.

It was with a view to raising awareness of the importance of freedom of the press and reminding governments of their duty to respect and uphold the right to freedom of expression enshrined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that the United Nations General Assembly declared May 3 as World Press Freedom Day.

 The day celebrates the fundamental principles and issues of press freedom as well as provides opportunities for reflection among media professionals, on ethics of their trade. Significantly, it is also set aside to confer the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize on a deserving individual, organization or institution that has made an outstanding contribution to the defence and promotion of press freedom anywhere in the world.

Determined to accelerate worldwide development, the global community, under the auspices of the United Nations,  in 2001, decided to focus on a number of crucial issues, termed Millennium Development Goals, MDGs. These are, eradicating extreme poverty and hunger; achieving universal primary  education; promoting gender equality and  empowering women; reducing child mortality rates, as well as  improving maternal health; combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; ensuring environmental sustainability; and developing a global partnership for development.

As the 2015 deadline for the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations approaches, the theme for the 2014 World Press Freedom Day celebration, Media Freedom for a Better Future: Shaping the post-2015 Development Agenda, is not only apt in charting a direction for the global media community, but also germane and instructive, especially for the press in Nigeria.

It is a consensus that, to a very large extent,  lack of good governance is a major reason for the non-attainment of the MDGs in many parts of the world. While opinions are diverse on the extent to which the MDGs have been achieved by different countries, it is pertinent to begin to focus attention on the roles that freedom of expression and media can play towards engendering good governance. This is essentially so, given that the watchdog role of a free media can ensure transparency and accountability, which are pre-requisites for good governance.

As a first step towards enhancing media contribution to good governance, a post-2015 framework of the United Nations for global development, should as a matter of necessity, include explicit mention of access to information, freedom of expression and independence of the media. Doing this will invariably shift international attention towards human rights and communication issues.

Much more, it would also help to stress that informing people, and people expressing their opinions are useful for development, and a necessary ingredient in a democracy.

That press freedom has considerably improved in contemporary Nigeria is very glaring. As opposed to the inglorious era of military dictatorship, when censorship  thrived and journalists manacled at the slightest provocation, the plurality and independence of the media have grown in leaps and bounds. Significantly too, incidence of harassments, threats and deaths of journalists has reduced.

However, given that the year 2015 signposts a political transition in the nascent democracy of the country, setting agenda for a better future on the platform of media freedom is not out of place. In the run-off to Nigeria’s 2015 general elections, the media are already caught in the thick of electioneering web. How the press extricates itself to play the role of an unbiased umpire  remains a major challenge.

As it were, the temptation to jettison professionalism and time-tested codes of ethics for parochial ethnic and pecuniary interests is at play. Journalists must rise to the occasion and help to enthrone true political leadership, based on popular wish of the people.

In Akwa Ibom State, with close to 90 local newspapers, in addition to public and private broadcast stations, alongside other national media representations, the plurality and divergence of the media are entrenched,  and suggest a tolerable operational environment. The task therefore, is to use this humongous media flourish in the State to leverage on a just, equitable and egalitarian society.

Whatever role the media play now in determining the outcome of the 2015 general elections in Nigeria, nay Akwa Ibom, to sustain our democracy would be remembered, just as the different roles played by individual journalists and media organisations in the different epoch of Nigeria are being remembered today.
As the Akwa Ibom State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) join the rest of the world to mark the World Press Freedom Day, journalists, as much as they expect government of the day to be tolerable, should uphold the principles of objectivity, fairness and balance in their reportage. By so doing, they would not only have helped to douse political tension along ethnic lines, but would also have helped to shape a better future for Akwa Ibom State, and indeed Nigeria. 

Happily, the leadership of the NUJ in the State has taken commendable steps to keep members abreast of the Ethics of the profession through regular interface and also set up an Ethics and Disciplinary Committee headed by a renowned University teacher, Prof Des Wilson. The World Press Freedom Day celebration should again reinforce the need for ethical standards in media reportage. 

The quest for scoops and exclusives, as well as the push to break the news should be self moderated and tailored along socially responsible practice, such that whatever news journalists choose to break will not end up breaking the society.

-Idris is of the Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Information Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists