history of nigeria mass media

The Book started by explaining to us the growth of periodic publications in Nigeria dating back to when Iwe Iroyin came into being back in 1859 by Briton Rev. Henry Townsend. Then the book also talked about how Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe and Chief Obafemi Awolowo used their own publications to fight for freedom until Nigeria gained independence in 1960 despite all the odds. The attack by the nationalists and other newspapers contributed to this achievement.

The book then highlighted how the try to stop the newspapers from publishing reports so that they will not use their publications to attack the government, this also forced the federal government to establish its own medium of information, The Morning Post, the publication did not last after revoke by the people who claimed the paper was just working for the government and not really serving its people, that made the government to acquire 60% of Daily Times. The Daily Times was seen as a fair paper then and the government felt acquiring the paper will allow them to get to the people again.

The activities of Press as highlighted also include battling the military governments of Gen. Olusegun Obsanjo, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida and the late Gen. Sanni Abacha, the chapter made it known that the press played a lead role in chasing away the military leaders, although, many people died as many journalists lost their lives during the course of fighting for democracy in Nigeria. Mr. Dele was assassinated by letter bomb and up till this moment, the killers have not yet been identified.

The press also played a major role in ‘sustaining’ the country’s democracy by fighting corruption in the country and highlighted the case of ex-speaker of the House of Assembly, Salisu Buhari, who was ousted after his true identity was revealed by the press, he was trialed and jailed thereafter.

The emergence of Radio and Television was highlighted in chapter 3 and 4. Broadcasting proper started in 1936 when the first Radio Distribution Service (Re-diffusion) was opened in Lagos and distributed the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC London) programmes. Then in May, 1960, the former western region established its own radio station and on August 28, 1961 witnessed the passage of a bill which gave the Federal Government complete control of the Nigeria Broadcasting Corporation (NBC). The chapters go on to explain how many decrees were set up by the Federal government including the one which forbids the Federal Government from establishing radio stations outside the four national stations and that the state owned radio stations’ transmitters should not exceed 10 kilowatts. This however was not the case as the rule was violated as many state radio stations acquired powerful transmitters which could be picked beyond their territory; they also established more radio stations especially the FM station.

Many private radio stations were created including Ray Power 100.5 FM which happened to be the first private radio station to go on air in 1993 and today we have over 25 private radio station in Lagos alone.

Television broadcasting was also not left out as the book highlighted how Television came into Nigeria in 1959, a year before the independence of the country. Officially though, the Western Nigeria Television (WNTV) was commissioned on Saturday, October 31, 1951 and transmitting from the grounds of parliament building and has its slogan as first in Africa.

In May, 1977 when the Nigeria Television Authority was inaugurated and was empowered with the sole responsibility of undertaking Television Broadcasting in Nigeria. Individuals were not allowed to operate television stations as at then as the government believed that it could be dangerous for individuals to run it. In 1992 however, the government of Gen. Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida bowed to the cries of proponents of private broadcasting in Nigeria, who have repeatedly clamoured for the chance for private broadcasting stations. They have argued that job opportunities would be created, boost freedom of expression, especially as there was no source where the public could express themselves since the broadcasting stations were all government owned hence the criticism og government was not allowed on the government owned stations. After all the agitations, General Babangida bowed to the public and when the decree 32 of 1992 was promulgated, it brought an end to about sixty years of government monopoly of broadcasting in Nigeria.

The National Broadcasting Commission was established to oversee the affairs of broadcasting in Nigeria and its responsibility includes issuing of licenses to new broadcasting stations, renewal of old ones and also lately, the NBC have been strict about the contents of TV stations and Radio stations. Therefore, they also supervise and monitor what goes on air.

Many private broadcasting stations were then given the green light which saw the emergence of 11 private new televisions including Clapperboard, which is now known as Superscreen Television was the private television station to go on air. After that, many TV stations have gone on air too notably African Independent Television (AIT) and Channels Television.

Competition is also getting tighter as Television stations compete with each other to ensure quality programming to beat off competition from other television stations. However, on the negative side, some television station, most notably the government owned ones, allow proliferation, preferring to use the greenhorns instead of employing the services of young professionals and also, the number of NTA-owned stations is getting too much daily and it’s not as if they are bringing to the homes quality programmes, nearly all the 36 states in the country has its own Federal Government-owned stations and the states also have theirs. Study shows that the government (both the Federal and the state) control about 90% of the television station we have in the country.

The book went ahead and talked about the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) which was established as a result of the domination of the world’s air waves by western media in the wake of the advances in information and communication technology with their ethnocentric and Eurocentric reportage, analyses and comments. The western world focused all its reports on Europe alone not minding what was going on in Africa. This is what informed the African leaders to establish news agencies that would disseminate their view points to correct the perceived imbalance in international news flow. Hence, the News Agency of Nigeria was established in 1976 by General Olusegun Obasanjo’s military administration.

The decree at which the body was established empowers NAN to seek, obtain and receive through subscription, payment or exchange, international, regional, local and other news features. The News Agency of Nigeria in its editorial policy seeks to uphold the integrity of the Federal Government of Nigeria and promote harmonious relationship between and among the various ethnic components of the nation by informing and enlightening opinion comments NAN must bring to bear on its discussion of national and international issues.

Like the saying goes, he who pays the piper dictates the tone, NAN focuses its reports on the Federal capital, state capitals and other urban areas in Nigeria than from rural areas just as they also focus on the third world countries than the developed countries. Today, the agency provides good percentage of the news and news features which are used by radio and television stations, as well as newspapers and magazines in the country.

The success of Broadcasting and journalism in any country cannot be achieved without certain bodies controlling or overseeing the affairs of press in a country which prompted the government to establish the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) and all other regulatory bodies being mentioned in chapter 6 of the book. Other regulatory bodies mentioned include the Nigerian Press Council, The Nigerian Guild of Editors, Newspapers Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria (NPAN) and the Broadcasting Organization of Nigeria (BON). All these bodies have their different responsibilities they are playing in ensuring professionalism in Journalism practice in Nigeria just as Broadcasting.

The book went ahead to talk about the deregulation of the Broadcasting Industry in Nigeria and started with how the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission decree was established and how they failed to live up to its billings and the example of the Bellview Plane crash of 2005 when African Independent Television (AIT) was shut down by the NBC because of offensive broadcast of the scene of the plane crash at Lisa Village in Ifo, an outskirt of Ogun State. Because the commission felt they should have been the first to broadcast such national tragedy, they decided to wield the big stick on AIT who did their work professionally ahead of the not too serious government officials.

These are the rewards of some broadcasting organizations for doing their work diligently. The NBC was heavily criticized by stake holders in the broadcasting industry for not really performing its roll but acting as the dog of the Federal Government. For instance, when the NBC should be fully in charge of looking into granting new Television/Radio stations licenses, they leave the duty for the presidency via the Ministry of Information and only serve as advisors to the Government; this doesn’t make the commission an independent body. Besides this, many broadcasting outfits complain of high price fees charged for the granting of licenses and renewals as against the fees charge against the government owned stations.

However, deregulation also faces its own obstacles as many of the privately owned television stations never showed professionalism in terms of quality reporting, there were too many radio stations and television stations not necessarily operating professionally as far as they make their money through commercials. In a nutshell, the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission just focused on giving licenses to the stations without thinking of whether to show professionalism or not.

The political philosophy of the press in Nigeria was also highlighted in chapter 8, where many theories were looked at including the Authoritarian Theory, the Libertarian, the Social responsibility, Soviet communist’s theories, Development media theory, Democratic-participant media theory.

These theories were said to be more or less concepts of what the press should be and do, which informed the explanation of the philosophical foundation of Nigerian Mass Media.

The press freedom in Nigeria was highlighted I chapter 9. The book looked at the issue of press freedom, the need for it and why it should be encouraged. The case of Nigeria was looked at. The clamouring for the Freedom of Information bill in Nigeria which had dated back to many years until now when it has been passed.