THE MEDIA AND DEMOCRATIC RULE IN NIGERIA

The Media and Democratic Rule in Nigeria
By Ayo Olutokun and Dele Seteolu

Introduction
This paper analyses the watchdog role played by the media in Nigeria' s current
democratic dispensation. It discusses the role of the media in the transition period
between 1988 and 1999, as well as their championing of a cleaner and healthier
polity in exposing highly placed state officials who got into office through fake
credentials or by making bogus claims.
Case studies of the media's role in this respect include the disgrace from office of
Alhaji Salisu Buhari, former Speaker of the House of Representatives; as well as the
fall of Senator Chuba Okadigbo former Senate President, who was impeached in the
wake of allegations of corruption and misappropriation of funds.
To get to grips with the role of the media in these national controversies, the editorial
content of the publications, which championed these struggles, were identified and
collated. These were complimented where possible, by interviews with some of the
editorial personnel involved in these episodes.
The Media: An Overview
Nigeria has the biggest and most virile press community in Africa followed by South
Africa and Kenya (Park, 1993:1). Ogbodu (1996:1) conservatively puts the number of
publications (Weeklies, dailies and magazines) at 116,although a number of these
are fickle and are 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; and
National Interest springing up as well as the re-launch of moribund or prostrate titles
such as The Concord. As political competition heats up more new titles are expected
to be barn, 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 as at 1999, the combined
circulation of ail newspapers barely reach half a 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 1999 of between 50 and 70,000 copies per dlay.
Other newspapers such as the privately owned National Concord, This Day, Post
Express, The Vanguard, as well as the state-owned Daily Times, and the New
Nigerian do legs 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 of about 1 00,000, 80,000 and 50,000
respectively.
One underreported, but increasingly assertive newspaper genre are 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 (See Dare 2000). In
broadcasting, there are close to 45 television stations, with about 10 of these in
private bands, while of the 44 or so radio stations, a handful are privately owned
following the deregulation of broadcasting by the state in 1994 (Bankole 1995;
Olukotun 1996). The most successful private electronic media are AIT and Minaj
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, publications rise, fall and are sometimes reborn with dizzying regularity.
Media and Accountability: Case Studies
In this section, we consider in some depth media coverage of :
a. The transition to democracy 1998-1999;
b. The documentation controversy which led to the fall of Alhaji Salisu
Buhari, former Speaker of the House of Representatives ;
c. Media's role in the controversy which led to the impeachment of former
Senate President, Dr. Chuba Okadigbo.
It should be borne in mind that the watchdog role of the media in this period went
beyond these cases to include for instance, exposure of the irregularities in and
falsification of the biodata of Chief Evans Enwerem, former Senate President, which
led to his forced resignation, as well as the furore over the biodata of Lagos State
Governor, Chief Bola Tinubu, which triggered a political crisis. The latter, however,
narrowly survived impeachment, largely because the Alliance for Democracy –
dominated Lagos State House of Assembly ruled that the inconsistencies in his
Curriculum Vitae, arose from genuine mistakes. We only focus on three of /these
cases, however as mentioned earlier.
A. The Transition
The media, in the New World order, have emerged as a crucial part of the apparatus
for vetting and legitimising elections. Conceived here broadly as the print and
electronic organs of mass communication, they provide information to the voters
about the candidates, the electoral process, actual voting dates and the rules of the
game.
All aspects of the transition to democracy (1998- 1999) were extensively covered and
intensely reported by the media. Following the de-freezing of the political space by
General Abdusalami Abubakar on 20 July 1998 and the release of a transition
timetable, a senior journalist, Mr. Tunji Oserri organised an agenda-setting seminar
for journalists in August 1998. Entitled "The Media and the Transition". It had the
declared aim of getting journalists to reflect on the transition programme. Oseni set
the hall rolling by listing the responsibilities of the media in a transition period. These
include, keeping the administration to its ward or promise on the hand over of Power
to civilians; being strong in the face of danger; offering where necessary, alternatives
to the transition agenda; serving as a feedback on government policies as well as
expanding the score of the transition to are as such as morality, accountability,
management of the national economy and the amelioration of poverty (Oseni,1999:
16). There is reason to believe that the media, by and large, and in spite of a few
excesses took its outlined responsibilities seriously.
To keep the transition on track, for instance Tell magazine did, week after week a
countdown to the hand over in every single issue it published between July 1998 and
May 1999. It read in its November 7edition (P7) 24 more weeks for Abubakar to
handover to an elected civilian president- in bold letters and boxed.
This was a kind of advocacy advertising for the transition programme. Indeed,
Onome Osifo-Whiskey, managing editor off Tell said that had General Abubakar
reneged on the handover date, "we would have gone back to the trenches to pick up
guerilla journalism. We left our underground paraphernalia intact for most of 1999"
(Interview, 2000).
To underline their watchdog role, the media criticized General Obasanjo's donation of
N130 Million to the People's Democratic Party (PDP) in the run-up to the December
5, 1998, local government elections.
For instance, the Tribune Editorial (24 Nov. 1998: 8) called on Obasanjo to supply to
the public "a full disclosure of the identities of those involved (In aiding him) - to help
members of the public in establishing the real character and motives of the
contributors - in the final analysis, however, the authorites most seriously consider
setting a ceiling on, the amount individual aspirants could spend in the course of
seeking public office".
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was put on its toes by the
media in the interest of fair elections. The Guardian Editorial comment of August 19,
1999 (P.16) suggested that INEC should put in place measures to avert rigging of
elections, it also counseled that INEC should distance itself from manipulation by
security agencies, state administrators and bureaucrats.
Inn terms of balanced coverage, the 3 competing parties got fair coverage, although
the effect of bigger advertising spending by the PD P was felt in enhanced coverage
(See Olukotun, 2000b). However, the regulatory guidelines of the Press Council and
the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission prevented any serious excesses.
Abuses and irregularities were fully documented and monitored by the media. In its
report of January 25, 1999 (P .27) Newswatch reported irregularities in the run-up to
the state Assembly /Governorship elections. These include underage voters in
Katsina, multiple voting in Abia State as well as bribery stories in Delta and Ekiti
States. Most print and electronic media did the same.
The Presidential elections of February 1999 were intensely covered by both national
and international media. Confronted with a choice, between accepting a flawed
election and its cancellation, the media mostly advised a grudging acceptance of the
results - without glossing over the hitches and the flaws.
Doubtless, the watchdog role of the media was at work throughout the transition and
beyond.
B. Alhaji Salisu Buhari vs the Media
Alhaji Salisu Buhari, a business tycoon dealing in computers typifies the prosperity of
a military-assisted “contractocracy” under Nigeria' s rentier political economy. Taking
advantage of a flawed transition; especially the horse trading and politics of zoning
that went on in the PDP in the months immediately before and after the Presidential
elections of 1999, Buhari defeated Alhaji Sadiq Yar' adua, a journalist to emerge as
the nominee of the North-West zone for the office of the Speaker of the House of
Representatives. Given that the office, had been 'zoned' by the party to the North-
West, complaints about irregularity in his bio-data were brushed aside at this stage.
However, the young politicians luck ran out, when Sani Kabir a founding member of
The News Journal got wind of the allegations leveled against Buhari.
The News, one of the publications that survived underground under General
Abacha's despotic regime at first treated the issue with relative levity, when it was
first brought up by Kabir at its Sunday afternoon editorial meeting. Two weeks later,
however, and partly due to a dry spell in the flow of stories, the editors revisited
Kabir's juicy scoop, and found it a most shocking revelation.
In the best tradition of investigative Journalism, The News thoroughly researched
Buhari' s claims about his age, which was lower than what the constitution stipulated
for the office he now held; as well as debunked his claims to have attended the
University of Toronto. The American angle of the research was conducted by Dapo
Olonmyomi who had lived in the U.S on exile, since 1996 as well as Kunle Ajibade,
who was also in the U.S to recuperate, after his release from a 3 year detention
(Interview Kabir, Ajibade )." Entitled "The Crook in the House ", the story was on the
cover edition of 12 July 1999. The nation was aghast. Other newspapers and
magazines as well as human rights groups across the country enlisted in the moral
crusade to get justice.
Buhari, on his part denied the allegations, slammed a hefty multi-million naira libel
suit on The News, employing the services of Mr. Rotimi Williams, a well heeled legal
luminary, and played the ethnic card by insinuating that a Southern (Yoruba)
newspaper was out to get him, a Hausa-Fulani politician. Neither The News or the
other sections of the media relented nor were deterred by the threats.
In its second editorial on the issue within a week, The Comet(July 16 1999: 14)
advocated that:
“Meanwhile we reaffirm our position in an earlier comment. The Honourable
Speaker should climb down tram his high office until investigations are
concluded"
The more influential The Guardian newspaper in a similar vein argued in its editorial
comment of July 20, 1999 entitled "Buhari: The Path of Honour" that:
“The House of Representatives has a constitutional responsibility in the
matter. The members should now rise up to the challenge by conducting a
thorough investigation to ascertain the veracity of the allegations. It would be
awkward for the embattled speaker to preside over the affairs of the House
during the course of the investigation. He should vacate his office until the
matter is over. This is the honourable thing to do ".
The News followed up its scoop by another cover story on 26 July, entitled "Buhari
Gate - An Inside Story". Neither was it deterred by the purchase by Buhari or his
supporters, of virtually all the copies of The News which originally came out with the
story, in Abuja, the Federal Capital. It was a gimmick, too late, for the issue had been
put on the national agenda. As a result of the media' s watchdog role, Buhari on 22nd
July dropped his bravado, pleaded guilty to the allegations and resigned his office;
thus paving the way for his prosecution.
C. Dr. Okadigbo vs the Media
The impeachment by 81, to 11 votes on August 8, 2000 of Dr. Chuba Okadigbo as
Senate President, over allegations of corruption and misappropriation of funds, had a
lot to do with media advocacy of a sanitized National Assembly. Okadigbo, it should
be recalled assumed office as Senate President on November 18,1999, following the
resignation of his predecessor, Chief Evans Enwerem, in circumstances similar to
that of Alhaji Salisu Buhari.
Although the media had generally put a spotlight on the National Assembly, which it
fingered for truancy, and for approving extravagant allowances for itself, no serious
allegation was levelled against Dr. Okadigbo until Senate itself in July 2000, partly as
a result of its own internal politics set up the Idris Kuta panel to take a closer look at
the award of contracts in the Senate between 4th June 1999 and 17th July 2000. The
other terms of reference of the panel include, (a) Identify the officers of the Senate
and other Senators that participated in the exercise of contract awards, (b) Identify
those to whom the contracts were awarded, the amounts involved and the purposes,
(c) Determine the extent to which laid clown procedures were observed in the award
of the contracts (CDRR Annual Report, 2000: 131).
The media's watchdog role of intently monitoring the proceedings and giving
prominence to the allegations of irregularities, corruption and perfidy should be
noted. Beginning from the stunning revelations of Alhaji Ibrahim Salim, clerk of the
Rouse at the Kuta Panel on July 24, the media consciously mainstreamed the issue.
Interestingly, even after Dr. Okadigbo was indicted for spending an unauthorised
N30M to purchase cars and another N37.5M to furnish his official cars among other
misdeeds, he continued to maintain his innocence and threatening not to resign.
At this point, especially following the release of the Kuta Panel report, the media piled
pressure on Okadigbo to vacate his office. They did this by giving front-page
coverage to the issues involved and the resulting controversy.
This apart, columnists and opinion writers condemned Okadigbo in strong terms,
calling on him to quit office. One of them, Segun Adeniyi, editor of This Day on
Saturday wrote in a representative article entitled "Just Go!" (This Day, 3 August
2000, back page) that:
"Okadigbo allowed himself the indulgence of situating his power and
responsibility within the number of contracts he could award to himself and his
cronies – it was even more tragic that the man would lie so blatantly to the
probe panel-If by now somebody has not surrendered his medal' (I did not say
mace) then he should be told in clear terms that the market is over" .
In spite of waving the ethnic card by rallying many Igbos behind him and making
threatening calls to editors, Okadigbo had to vacate his office, principally as a result
of media advocacy. Although in Nigeria' s fractious polity, Okadigbo' s faIl may have
been partly engineered by his political opponents, who made the most of his debacle,
the media insisted on a minimum standard of decency for high state officials. In the
next concluding section, we tie the issues together and look forward.
Conclusion
As a recent study eloquently puts it:
"Without information, there is no accountability. Information is power and the
more people who posses if; the more power is distributed. The degree to
which a media is independent is the degree to which it can perform an
effective public watchdog function over the conduct of " Public Affairs" (Pope,
2000 : 119-120).
As we have seen, the Nigerian media with a lively tradition of independence and
outspokenness take their watchdog role seriously, and have insisted on it under both
military and civilian governments. In the three cases examined, the transition; the
Buhari and Okadigbo affairs; we see the media providing information of a critical
nature, and shaping the discourse agenda in ways that deepen the quality and
content of Nigeria' s burgeoning democracy. In the three cases highlighted the media
were crucial to opinion fom1ation and to the eventual outcome of the events reported
and highlighted. There is every reason to believe, given Nigeria' s plural and robust
media, that this will continue to be the case in the foreseeable future.
The media is not immune to corruption, ethnicity or factionalism, all of which afflict the
Nigerian socio-polity. And this bas necessarily detracted from their moral profile and
consequently weakened their watchdog role. Self-cleansing, internal regulatory
mechanisms such as The Press Council as well as keen commercial competition,
help to restrain, in a measure some of these abuses. In any case, the committed
segment of the press, is still by and large free from the rot while the possibility of
disrepute or business failure serve as a check against grossness.
Our case studies show that the media remains a. cardinal institution for consolidating
and extending Nigeria' s young democracy, in view of their oversight functions with
respect to the three arms of government as well as their own ranks.

THE ROLE OF MEDIA IN PROMOTING GOOD GOVERNANCE

Role of Media in Promoting Good Governance By Lal Babu Yadav "One of the objects of a newspaper is to understand the popular feeling and give expression to it, another is to arouse among the people certain desirable sentiments; the third is fearlessly to expose popular defects"-Mahatma Gandhi. The foregoing statement by Gandhi explains the importance of media in upholding freedom, and in expanding education and social reforms and change. Media can inform people giving them the voice to be heard and heeded to. Democracy requires that people should have the right to know the activities of the government, especially the decision of the government that affects their life, liberty and property. Information is important for people to make choices regarding their participation in the State, the market and the civil society. Sufficient information helps people to decide rationally and take the right course of action beneficial to them. Media-both print and electronic-thus helps people to know what is happening around the world, socialize them with the values of pluralism and equip them with the elements of modernity. By publicizing information the media also make public services more responsive to the people. A responsible media equally helps in socialization of people into citizenship, democratization of the State and political society, institutionalization of civic culture through unfettered flow of information, and rationalized use of power in social relations. In a nascent democracy like Nepal, media can also help voters with the contents of civic and political education and strengthen the culture of democracy. This is the reason political scientist Karl Deutsch has called that the system of communication proves a "nerve of the polity," and any breakdown of the nerve may cause dysfunctional impact in the performance of the polity causing governance decay. Realizing this the Article 16 of the Constitution of Nepal 1990 says:; every citizen shall have the right to demand and receive information on any matter of public importance". This implies that the right to information has become a human and constitutional right of the Nepalese people. The denial of this right can be contested under Article 23 of the constitution. The Supreme Court of Nepal under Article 88(2) holds tremendous power to enforce this right. This suggests that free access to information on matters of public importance has become a core of the governing process. In fact, the key element of good governance postulates three essential features: legitimacy; accountability and transparency-the last element being the core basis of media culture. This article deals with three sections: The first section deals with the elements of good governance. The second section elaborates the right to information as a key to good governance in Nepal. The third one deals with the precondition for media freedom and media culture in Nepal. The last section draws a brief conclusion presenting a synthesis of the whole analysis. Right to information as a key to good governance in Nepal: Governance is conceived as the capacity of the state, the market and the civil society, media included, "to sustain itself under the constitutional setting" in order to move "towards avowed goals, reduce the inherent cleavages among social, cultural, ecological and political systems and communities, concert sound policies, mobilize resources and maintain the sufficient level of legitimacy, transparency, credibility and accountability before the public"'. A governance that steers in normative order to achieve its goals-law and order, human and national security, voice and participation and the promotion of public goods is called good governance. The World Bank defines: " Good governance is epitomized by predictable and enlightened policy making; a bureaucracy imbued with a professional ethos; an executive arm of government accountable for its actions; a strong civil society participating in public affairs; and all behaving under the rule of law". "Transparency guarantees, including the right to disclosure, can thus be an important category of instrumental freedom. Limiting the powers of the State by providing the citizens the fundamental and human rights. Article 12 of the constitution guarantees the right to freedom. These freedoms include: Personal liberty under law of the land and abolition of capital punishment; Freedom of opinion and expression; Peaceful assembly; Freedom to form unions and organizations; Freedom to move and reside in any part of the country and Freedom to practice any occupation, profession, trade and industry. But these freedoms do not limit the sovereignty of the State to legislate and act if they lead to chaos and anarchy and undermine: the sovereignty and integrity of the Kingdom of Nepal; jeopardize social cohesion or harmony among the people; facilitate into an act of sedition, defamation, contempt of court, instigation of offense, and act contrary to decent public behavior or morality. The State can formulate laws and acts to constitutionalize the behavior of citizen and help them in conforming to the ideals of constitutional patriotism implying a kind of balance between the public order and individual freedom. Similarly, Article 13 provides provisions for press and publication right so as to make the functioning of governance as transparent as possible. This is the way to bring the institutions of governance closer to the people and allowing them to make choices on public and political matters. Article 13-1 clearly stipulates that "'no news item, article or other reading material shall be censored". Similarly, clause 2 and 3 provide that "'no press should be closed or seized for printing any news item, article or other reading materials", and "the registration of a newspaper or periodical shall not be canceled merely for publishing any news item, article or other reading material." These provisions suggest that there is freedom to the press and publication. But again they are subjected to the vision, spirit and principles of the constitution. The arrangement tries to set an equilibrium between the sovereignty of the people to enjoy their press and public right and the sovereignty of the state to make laws so that citizens do not violate the sovereignty and integrity of Nepal, create disharmony in the society and disobey the laws of the land. This suggests that rights are tied with duties and accountabilities. Article 16 of the constitution of Nepal provides also the right to information. It says: "every citizen shall have the right to demand and receive information on any matter of public importance". This article establishes that: # Citizens are not the passive spectators of politics but they are active participants; # The government should be transparent in most of its activities and decisions related to the public except in areas of 'secrecy as demanded by law'; # Institutions of governance should be accountable to the people and; # Free flow of information should be ensured so that the legitimacy of the government is established before the eyes of the public. The constitution has thus established three critical elements-rights to freedom, press and publication right and the right to information-a crucial ground for good governance. Media as a key component of the civil society is testing the rights given to them in public affairs. The question then arises: Is the right to information context free? And closely connected to this question is : Are the available acts sufficient to provide the public access to information on matters of public interest? The second question can hardly be answered in a definite tone, but the first question can be answered clearly in a negative light. Knowledge about the right to information is not context free. In Nepal where public literacy is just about 40 percent and functional literacy is about its half, one can easily guess how many people know about their fundamental rights and duties. Secondly, like per capita income, the instruments of media are unevenly distributed among the various geographic regions. The access to media of the people of Far-Western region and remote districts is virtually nil. This means they are less "visible" in policy and decision making affairs. Thirdly, the pervasive poverty syndrome of the Nepalese society and mal-development of the nation as a whole reflect certain imbalance. While Kathmandu and some areas are debating the "''globalization", and "information highway" and the links of the "'web-society"'' to outside world, the rural public in general debate the mundane matters, such as the basic needs, education, primary healthcare and irrigation. The exploitative nature of the urban class has thus dissociated itself from the "diffusion effects of modernity" and, consequently, concentration of power, resource and communication implies a poor linkage with the life of ordinary citizens. Fourthly, the Information bill, which deals with comprehensively information access, is still pending in the parliament and has yet to be passed as an Act for legislative action. Fifthly, while the government media are controlled by the party in power and tend to produce "biased news and views"', majority of private media are run by individuals, business tycoons and politicians which articulate "private and partisan news and views", and therefore, fail to illuminate and enlighten the public. Any reader of Geroge Orwell clearly knows what the Ministry of Information means. This means that media must act as a "public sphere", aimed to educate the people. Only then the people can be socialized into "citizenship" and then finally into "public" that is capable of making governance transparent and accountable. Preconditions for media freedom and media culture in Nepal: In Nepal there is still dearth of empirical research to clarify whether: a) media have promoted freedom in the country; b)0 media have promoted education; c) media have curbed corruption; d) media are owned by independent persons; e) there is a real competition among media for content improvement and quality and; f) media have broadened their reach to capture the diversity and complexity of Nepalese life and provided access to public information. There are however, seminar proceedings, official compilations and secondary source data that suggest that the "magnitude" of media access and content coverage have grown in size and dimensions. But, what does it mean for the majority of the rural poor? Has their income increased to have access to media?/ This brings us to a pause. In Nepal, the formulation of laws also does not mean much unless material resources, hardware, human development and training to enable the people to participate in knowledge-based economy support it. This means right to information is connected to "political power, authority, resources and institutions", especially those institutions like courts which protect citizen's fundamental rights. In the right to information invoked by citizens regarding privatization of industries, Arun III, and appointment of Ambassadors by the late King without the recommendation of the cabinet, the court versions of justice appear very confusing. The role of the press regarding "event-provocation" rather than objective reporting and promotion of business interest constitutes another issue. The politicization, polarization and sectoralization of Nepalese media culture suggest that the "code of ethics" must be brought out so that media does not indulge in the "manufacturing of consent" as Noam Chomsky said and become an instrument of assimilation, power, domination and indoctrination. But, it should help in "democratic will-formation"', public opinion and enlarge the sphere of the public to rationally debate, argue and reach conclusion for social change. Associated with the "'code of ethics" is that media persons should be given proper training on democratic principles so that they do not violate the laws of the land and the "life-world" of the nation. Only a media culture rooted in the public life of the nation can adequately articulate the right to information, which is also the essence of good governance. Conclusion: Freedom of citizens, a free and responsible press, an independent judiciary and government's data information are the system which can be perceived to be the key to the enhancement of right to information and make the institutions of governance transparent and accountable. The right to information, guaranteed rights and press and publication right are three vital means for establishing "open society" visualized by the Nepalese constitution. An information Act must be brought out as soon as possible both to help in the way of freedom of information, enforce the accountability of information as well as to endow substance and quality in democratic debates so that citizens can monitor the day to day functioning of public institutions and actors. The right to information is closely tied to the accountability mechanism, for monitoring every action of government which leads to good governance, places the dominant actors of governance-the state, the market and civil society in balance, and monitors their performance as per the boundaries for action defined for them. Media thus perform vital tasks of informing, socializing, communicating and articulating the power of the public and preparing them for social transformation and good governance. .

DO THEORIES OF MEDIA CONVERGENCE SUBSIST?



A MEDIA CONVERGENCE NEWS ROOM

Media convergence theories entails corporate, content of the news, producer, consumer, investment drive and environment. Media convergence is an innovation that is alien to Nigeria and a lot still need to be done to achieve this.
Media convergence is putting resources together into one unit.

Corporate convergence is relatively existing Nigeria but it has not really be maximized. However, as time goes on it will be fully put into use.

Content of the news as a theory of media convergence has been in existence in Nigeria for sometime now. This aspect of theory is being use by News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)

Producer theory of media convergence does not really exist per se in Nigeria. The issue of egoism on the part of individuals has not help matter.

Consumer as one of the theories of media convergence is a serious issue as regard consumer knowing their right and expressing their displeasure whenever they feel short change. This has not been the case in Nigeria.

Investment drive of theories of media convergence has to do with the urge of cutting down cost. This can only exist where there is corporate convergence.

Environment can be likened to infrastructure, people, government poilicy etc. This has been one of the challenges militating against media convergence.

In conclusion, media convergence theories does not subsist in Nigeria due to largely personal interest.     

FRANCIS OLAGBUJI.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TRADITIONAL JOURNALIST AND CITIZEN JOURNALIST

INTRODUCTION Defining a journalist is both elusive and problematic. It is quite difficult to figure out who is covered by the term. Most especially, as journalism undergoes a profound shift towards the electronics and new media. WHO IS A JOURNALIST?  A PROFESSIONAL JOURNALIST As contained in the Nigeria Press Council Law, a journalist is “any person (not being less than 18years of age) engaged in the collection, processing and dissemination of information for us in the press and who has been accredited by the Nigeria Union of journalist”. It should be noted that press here includes radio, television, wire services, newspapers, magazines and such other channels of communication involved in the collection and dissemination of information. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, “a journalist collects and disseminates information about current events, people, trends and issues. They include; ·        Reporter: who creates reports as a profession for broadcast or publication in the media ·        Columnist: who writes pieces that appear regularly in newspapers or magazines ·        Editors: ·         Visual journalist: such as photographers, graphic artists and page designers etc  According to The News Manual, “Journalists are principally men and women who present that information as news to the audience of newspaper, magazine, radio or television stations or the internet”. Encarta Dictionaries defines a journalist as “somebody engaged in journalism; a writer or editor for a newspaper or magazine or for television or radio”. WHO IS A CITIZEN JOURNALIST? A CITIZEN JOURNALIST According to Wikipedia, Citizen Journalism “is the concept of members of the public playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information”. It is otherwise referred to as “public, participatory, democratic or street journalism”. Citizen Journalism should however not be confused with “community journalism or civil journalism”, which are practiced by professional journalism. Again, it is not to be seen as “collaborative journalism” which is practiced by professional and non-professional working together. It is a specific form of citizen media. Thus, a Citizen Journalist is a freelance journalist who frequently writes on new media issues. A person who without professional journalism training uses the tools of modern technology and the global distribution of the internet to create augment or fact-check media on their own or in collaboration with others. For example, such a person can write on a topical issue on his/her blog or in an online forum or could fact-check a newspaper article from the traditional media and point out factual errors or bias on the blog or may snap a digital photo of a news worthy event happening in his/her town and post it online or might video tape a similar event and post it on site such as YouTube. It should be noted that the intent of this participation is to provide independent, reliable, accurate, wide-ranging and relevant information that a democracy requires. Suffice me to say that in comparism, a Journalist is a professional who has undergone training in journalism while the Citizen Journalist is a non-professional. Traditional journalists are journalist that acquired basic knowledge in journalism in other words they are professionally trained to carry out specific duties that pertains to the profession while citizens journalist does not acquired any knowledge as regard journalism profession. They are road  side journalist so to speak. Traditional journalists are very familiar with  the ethics of journalism that guide the profession while carrying out their duties, while citizens journalists are ignorant of ethics of journalism, Traditional journalists are mindful of danger associated with reckless misinformation while citizens journalist are oblivious of such danger. Traditional journalists in carry out their professional duties knows the best style of writing to communicate to his or her readers while citizens journalist just write for the fun of it. Traditional journalists are journalist recognized by law to work in media houses while citizens journalist are not recognized by law. Traditional journalist knows the pros and cons of journalism profession while citizens journalist are not privilege to know it.   In conclusion, the difference between traditional journalist and citizens journalist is very clear and cannot be overemphasized. FRANCIS OLAGBUJI.

critique of 5 media websites

NAME: Olagbuji Francis

MAT. NO: PGD/10/04/2105

LEVEL: PGD PUBLIC RELATIONS & ADVERTISING III

COURSE: ONLINE JOURNALISM (MAS 777)

ASSIGNMENT: DO A CRITIQUE OF FIVE MEDIA WEBSITES RADIO, TELEVISION, NEWSPAPER, JOURNAL AND ANY OTHER AND NUJ.

A CRITIQUE OF THE FIVE WEBSITES

1)      http:/www.stv.com/global – Silverbird Television

·         Homepage: Does not contain enough information about the Station.

·         Aesthetics: Attractive color graphics and combination. A good blend of red, white and sky blue (the Channels TV color).

·         News Style: formal, well structured sentences, use of “Nut graphs”, “Straight-news lead” usually starts with “WHO”.

·         News Presentation: Good use of News elements; balanced and fair reporting but late update of news on site (24hrs late). Good representation of various sectors of the economy and the segments of the offline news on Television (Local News, Election News, Politics, Business, Health, Sports, Infotech Update, Travels and Entertainment). Use of Headlines, Sub-head, Lead or Intro (Lead-and-Summary Design). Good use of News in Brief, News Bar, Wrap up, Slugs and Datelines. Fair use of Advisory line (EDS NOTE or Trash line).

·         Pictures: Good use of pictures (a picture to every story), good motion (active) pictures, but not so bright pictures.

·         Links/Transition: Effective links to other pages/sites. Quick auto- transitory images. The Live Broadcast online un-accessible (continuous loading)

2)      http://www.nextng.com – Next newspapers

·         News Style: formal, well structured sentences, fair use of “ Nut graphs”

·         News Presentation: Application of the elements of News (especially timely update of news online), fair use of slugs, a good representation of the segments of the hard copy.

·         Pictures: A fairly good use of pictures to stories. Creative use of active (motion) pictures in “photos of the week”. Bright pictures.

·         Links/Transition: Links open directly to fresh pages rather than first display on the homepage. A creative use of Blog. Experiences transition delays.

·         Aesthetics: Bright pages but not so colorful (less color graphics). A good use of punch red (dominant).

·         Homepage: Contains enough information about the organization and links.

3)      http//www.broadstreetjournal.com- Broad Street Journal

·         Style: Well structured

·         Presentation: Logical arrangement of information

·         Pictures: Good picture quality

·         Links/Transition: Effective links with quick transition. Excellent use of Social Network platforms (Skype, Face Book, Flickr , youtube, blogger)

·         Aesthetics: Less attractive, Use of dull color, over dominance of brown color

·         Homepage: Sufficient information. 

4)      http://www.rythmn.com – Rythm 93.7FM Lagos

·         Pictures: Lacks pictures

·         Links/Transition: A good number of links but with security checks, making online listening to Live Radio from the desktop not easily accessible

·         Aesthetics: Not attractive

·         Homepage: Mainly text containing links

5)      http://www.lagosnuj.com – Nigeria Union of Journalists

·     Presentation: Creative use of audio National Anthem to usher the Homepage. Lacks sufficient information and links.

·     Pictures: lacks pictures

·     Links/Transition: Few links with sluggish transition.

·     Aesthetics: Not so attractive/colorful. Over dominance of Green color.

·     Homepage: Contains enough information about the organization.

CONCLUSION:

It should be noted that a good Website contains the following elements; URL (web address), Category/classification (.za, .net, .org, group.com etc), Homepage, Aesthetics, Content, Content Information, regular update etc.