Every May 3rd is World Press Freedom Day (WPFD). It is a day set aside to remind governments of their commitment to press freedom. The day also presents media professionals the opportunity to re-evaluate issues around press freedom and ethics.
The theme of this year’s WPFD celebration is ‘Information as a Public Good.’ Nigeria has journalists to thank for being informed, entertained and educated. The media are also an important stakeholder in the entrenchment of democracy and good governance, especially through their role as 'watchdog'
What happens when the right of the press to receive and impart information suffer interference from public authorities?
What forms do the interference take and what are their consequences?
These threats to press freedom are discussed in more detail some media practitioners that timeline.ng interviewed to mark the day.
Nigeria's environment is hostile to journalists - Tony Ezimako
“I will describe the current environment for journalists in Nigeria today as very hostile. Most of the time, journalist do not even have the tools to really operate maximally and up to their full potential. On the other hand, the incentives are also not there so. When you look at it, it appears that you are giving a stone to squeeze out water," Tony Ezimako, the Abuja Bureau Chief of Daily Independent told Timeline.
Ezimako was arrested and detained for seven days by the Department of State Security Services in connection to a story he was working on in 2018. His release came after media organisations and the Civil Society mounted sustained pressure on the security agency.
"It is a very hostile situation and most of the time you see that journalists find themselves face with very difficult options. Surviving the hostile situation and the impunity of the governance structure also make it very difficult for them to freely perform their constitutional responsibility.
"One common way journalists are suppressed in Nigeria is through intimidation by forces both within the media environment and outside it. When I say forces I mean the security apparatus of the government. Often when you say a view whether it is a recorded view or a written view, especially when such view is contrary to what those who are in government want to hear or what they see you are harassed, you are made to appear as if the responsibility that you are constitutionally given to hold them to account is no more in the constitution.
"This leads journalists to unconsciously self-censor themselves. You will see practitioners struggling to edit themselves even when know the original form of the story is what will be of value to society. The practitioners or their organisations suppress such reports and are afraid to be be associated with such news. Operating in such an environment deprives the society of the benefit of journalism that can help provide better governance or improve the society,"he said.
He also pointed out that unfavorable working conditions impedes the proper practise of the profession.
"If you go to many media houses you will also see situations of nonpayment of salaries and the application of employment contracts and laws that do not protect journalists. You will find today that professional journalists are freelancers and freelancing in Nigeria is equivalent to begging. You cannot get the best from a profession when many of its practitioners are struggling to make ends meet. Their objectivity and independence will never be guaranteed."
"Journalists are the people who have the right to question and publicly expose conduct that are harmful to society but you cannot get the best out of them as long as this is their situation. They cannot hold those in authority to account or question how appropriated funds are spent. They cannot demand to know how individuals get the kind of wealth they claim to have especially after they have been in government because these people can leverage on their financial situation to influence their reports.
"When such an environment exists, trying to question the so called constituted authority will appear like trying to force the proverbial camel to go through the eye of a needle. It is something you cannot attempt because governance of the impunity with which government and the political elite conduct their dealings with the media. The country loses because you cannot be talking about good governance in such an atmosphere.
"There is no way financial inducement will not affect reportage of news, there is no way especially in an environment where salaries are not paid. Most media houses cannot take firm responsibility for those they engage. When your basic needs are not met it becomes like a survival of the fittest where you have to find solution to your own even basic needs but that is against the ethics of the profession.
"To use financial inducement to suppress a report is criminality. To make demand of a journalist to suppress a particular news item with the offer of money is blackmail. There has to be a line between appreciation for what a journalist has done and inducement for you not to work. I think that thin line has to be drawn.
"I remember in the past, let's say in the 90s, even in the early 2000, when you put out something in print, questions are asked. You could see ministers being summoned and queried because of disclosures in the media. You will see Directors panicking because questions will be asked because of the story you wrote that affects government. Of late, what see is a reign of impunity. Nothing matters. Nobody cares about what you write. You will simply be classified as a disgruntled element and the substance of your report will get no attention.
"They will say you chose to write a negative report because they did not give you money and the desire to even question what is going in the country is lost.
"Presently, the whole situation is such that even the journalistic practice has become a very unattractive profession. I have seen many journalists who say they will not encourage their children to become journalists, and these are person who have spent the whole of their lives in journalism.
"It seems the profession is a dying one. Many people do not find joy in it again. Impunity has taken over. When you write what is factual, instead of people responding positively to what you have written you are now made a scapegoat.
"The journalist cannot do anything. All they can do is put pressure and the pressure these days cannot do very much, because in the first place they are working for private organizations that are also one way or the other having ties to government or other political actors and without adverts and government patronage they cannot survive. When a journalist takes a stand on what he is wrong, he will be alone in that trouble. In some cases he is sacked from his office.
"No journalist would like to be marked, trolled or followed. I recall situations where my lines were tracked, my offices were bugged. Sometimes you see somebody trying to record what you are saying on phone and or trying to see what you are posting on your Facebook account and all that. The truth is that the moment you have a feeling that somebody is tracking you, it naturally suppresses your ability to exercise your ordinarily daily communication. So, it is a very worrisome situation because a free press is the live wire of any meaningful development.
"If your press is not free to hold people to account, to hold those in position of authority to account then that particular society is gone. And we are seeing the effect in the manner everybody have gone haywire completely
Suppressing journalism undermines democracy - Abdulkareem Aminu
"The current operating environment for Journalists in Nigeria is a mix. There is a certain extent of freedom depending on the kind of story being pursued or the subject. The environment is ultimately a mix of the good and bad," says Abdulkareem Baba Aminu, former Editor of Daily Trust on Saturday and member of Media Trust's editorial board.
"When Journalist are suppressed, Democracy is undermined. Democracy requires truth and when journalists are hindered from saying the truth, it affects democracy.
"Notwithstanding, Journalists should be professional in carrying out their duties, resist the urge of rushing to print. Sticking to professional tenets, truth, reliability, honesty, transparency are important for practicing journalists to imbibe," he told Timeline.
Financial pressure frequently used to restrict freedom of the press to operate - Busari
Niyi Busari is the Publisher and editor in chief of www.bsnsports.com.ng and he shared his own views with Timeline
"In my own case during the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) corruption saga, though I will not mention names, but I understand that some of the editors were alleged to be on the payroll of the Nigeria Football Federation and that affected the kind of news that was reported by such organizations.
"After a journalist conducts investigation for one or two weeks and files in their report with convincing documents and interviews from both sides, the editor may decide not to use such stories because of their bias. If you insist after been warned there can be adverse consequences. There was a typical case in one of the top news paper whose name I choose not to mention here where the reporter was removed from reporting sports to and redeployed to reporting traffic simply because he refused to heed to the advice of the Sports editor not to report any anti-NFF stories.
"The editor told him very clearly that it is because he has a 'platform' that is why he was filing what he was 'not sent to report'. He said he would to see how he will be sending sports stories from reporting traffic. Such are the degrading experiences journalists have been forced to ensure in the course of doing their jobs diligently.
"Another way that journalist are been suppressed is through threat of physical harm or restriction of their movement through detention.
"For those that are bent on doing objective or investigative reporting, some of them are killed, some taken to court or arrested by the DSS. I was once a victim of that. Today, I am still in court with the NFF with regard to a report I did in 2018 not because the report was faulty or malicious but because they believe they are in higher positions and they have the government apparatus to deal with me.
"In another case, I was invited recently by the DSS and they were dwelling on what was not their job, asking me questions about a report I wrote about NFF. I told them there that it was not their duty to question me on that, and that if NFF is aggrieved they should go to court. It took a lot of intervention from the Nigerian Union of Journalists and others before they accepted to release me.
"Another thing helping those who want to suppress the press and influence their freedom while practicing their profession of journalist in Nigeria is the non-payment of the salaries of practitioners by their media organizations. This exposes them to all manners of temptations. This is the reason some of the journalist are struggling to be in the good books of the administrators, political actors and even corporate/commercial organisation.
"In the case of NFF you see journalists struggling to be included in any of their national or international trip, because on returning at least your pocket will be boasted. The expectation of the financial reward keeps them writing favorable stories," Mr. Busari concluded.
