CHAPTER
ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND
TO THE STUDY
Journalism
practice wields such enormous powers and calls for the highest standards of
ethics and commitment to truth. Ethics and truth in journalism have assumed
global concern as scholars recognize that their basic constituents of
objectivity, accuracy, fairness and balance have merely assumed mythical
qualities as journalists battle to assign credibility to their news stories.
Akinfeleye (2001).
Tuchman
(1978: 2) describes objectivity as `facility' (a mechanism which allows the
journalists to hide even from themselves the `constructed' and `partial' nature
of their stories). This view seems to have garnered force as increasingly,
scholars suggest that news even when professionally `selected' is guided more
by organizational needs than by professionalism.
The
journalist thus becomes `a walking paradox' (Nordenstreng 1995) as one cannot
fail to see that journalism is so full of contradictions that "we have to
question even the most fundamental dogma of the profession - truth seeking -
because the way it has been conceived and practiced in journalism serves as a
deceptive filtering device preventing as much as helping the truth being
discovered" (Nordenstreng 1995:117). News commercialization practice in
Nigeria media industries adds to this contradiction and deception, creating a
continuous dilemma for ethics and objectivity in journalism practice in
Nigeria.
In the
same manner, in our noble profession of journalism, when a journalist gets
hooked on the ‘brown envelope’ malaise, or a media house engages in ‘cheque
book journalism,’ professionalism and ethics get crucified.
While
the definitions are wide, within the media, they have precise applications as
defined by the Nigerian Union of Journalists’ Code of Ethics Clause 4 of the
Code says: “A journalist shall not accept bribes nor shall he/she allow other
inducements to influence the performance of his/her professional duties.
The
Nigerian Guild of Editors concurs in Clause 7 of its Code of Ethics for
Nigerian Journalists where it says emphatically that, “A journalist should
neither solicit nor accept bribe, gratification or patronage to suppress or
publish information.” It further states that “To determine payment for
publication of news is inimical to the notion of news as fair, accurate,
unbiased and factual report of an event.
Terje S.
Skjerdal of the Gimlekollen School of Journalism and Communication, Norway. In
a research article titled, Research on Brown Envelope Journalism in the African
Media, (African Communication Research Vol. 3, 2010) states: “The term ‘brown
envelope journalism’ is applied to denote journalistic activity which involves
transfer of various types of rewards from sources to the reporter” (p. 369).
He
further identifies the “three characteristics” that are commonly involved in
the disturbing phenomenon. One, it usually occurs at a very personal level;
two, it involves a reasonable degree of confidentiality to succeed. That is, it
is not usually done in the open.
And
three, it is an informal contract. This presupposes that there is a willing
source who is ready to give ‘something’ to influence the processing of the
information gathered by the reporter; and a reporter, willing or reluctant to
take but who collects all the same for his/her personal use and the ‘deal’ is
wrapped up in utmost confidentiality (pp. 369-370)
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Critics
have identified distortion of news, imbalance report and the growing tendency
for the publics not to believe the media news (lack of objectivity) as major
problems inherent in most of the media houses in Nigeria.
Objectivity
as an ethical standard is one of the most persuasive in all of journalism.
Objectivity, fairness, accuracy and balance in news gathering and presentation
is the reporters aim and objective. The research is focusing on the impact of
ethics on the contents of Nigeria newspaper with a reference to the Osun
Defender Newspaper, Osogbo.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
i.
To examine how Osun
Defender journalists maintain the ethics of journalism in their daily
activities.
ii.
To analysis the challenges
facing Osun Defender in upholding the ethics of their work.
iii.
To know how ethics of
journalism promote objectivity and accuracy of Osun Defender newspaper.
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
i.
Do Osun Defender
journalists maintain the ethics of the profession in its daily activities?
ii.
What are the challenges
facing Osun Defender in upholding the ethics of journalism in Nigeria?
iii.
How do Osun Defender
journalists uphold fairness, accuracy and balance in its report?
1.5 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
Although,
the primary aim and objective of this project is to examine the impact of the
ethics of journalism on media practitioners. This cannot be effectively talked
without considering the demographic factor of the Osun Defender since the work
cannot be carried out in all the media outfits across the country, and as a
result of this the scope of this work shall be narrowed to the Osun Defender in
Osogbo.
1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
Media Practitioners: The
study will benefit the media practitioners and mass communication students on
the Impact of ethics on media and professionalism.
Journalists: The study will assist
journalists to know its role in enhancing the success of failure of print
industries.
Government: The study will as well benefit the government to see how ethics of
journalism affect the society by passing more law that will provide freedom for
media.
Media Owners: Other beneficial of
the study are the media owners, who will know how their action and reaction is
crippling the success and public credibility of the media outfit.
1.7 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
Time: Time constraint has
posed a lot of limitations to this work as it took me a lot of time to gather
enough literature materials while it was stressful to travel to my case study
area i.e Osun Defender as they asked to come repeatedly before I could get
background history of the Osun Defender.
Inadequate Finance: inadequate finance
for this project is another hindrance, there was no enough money to travel to
Osun Defender several time as the management demanded a lot of money was spent
in borrowing for the materials online.
Materials: At present there is less materials available on this subject
matter, although many scholars have writing extensively on press freedom but
less attention is paid to the ethics of the profession.
1.8 DEFINITION OF THE TERMS
Press: This is a collective
name for mass media such as Osun Defender.
Ethics: It is the principle
or code of conduct that governed a particular association or group, especially
as it governed the practice of Journalism
Brown envelope: It is a term in the
media sphere which means bribe given to journalists?
Journalism; This is a profession of or act or writing, editing and
dissemination of information to the wider audience such as Osun Defender
Content of Newspaper: These entail the
entire write up, advertisement, articles, features and others that contain
inside magazine.
Credibility: Credibility is the
believe of trust which audience have on the contents of the broadcast media.
Gatekeeping: Any person or
formerly organized group directly involve in relaying or disseminating
information from one individual to another mass medium. Gatekeepers can add or
reduce the content of the message.
