Nigerian Media, A Sedated Watchdog -By Ezinwanne Onwuka

The political structure of many societies is now, more than ever, moving towards democracy – a system of government that has been popularly described as the government of the people, by the people and for the people.

However, for democracy to be fully actualized, the role of the media cannot be made light of as the mass media serves as the link between the government and the governed. It serves as a bridge of information from the government to the common citizen.

Almost everyone gets his or her information about world, national, and local affairs from the mass media. This fact gives both print and broadcast journalism important functions that include influencing public opinion, determining the political agenda, providing a link between the government and the people, acting as a government watchdog, and affecting socialization.

There is an important relationship between media reports and people’s ranking of public issues. When the media begins to place priority on a particular issue in the society, it creates a notion that the issue is important and as such causes public debates and several talks on the issue.

In choosing and displaying news, editors, newsroom staff and broadcasters play an important role in shaping political reality. Readers learn not only about a given issue, but also how much importance to attach to that issue from the amount of information in a news story and its position.

Given this, the mass media is central to the development of any democratic society. This has been generally acknowledged in developed societies to the extent that the media has often been described as the fourth branch of government.

Calling the media the “fourth branch of government” is a way of emphasizing that the press is not a mere passive reporter of the facts, but a powerful actor in the political realm.

The media therefore serves as the fourth branch of government performing the duty of society’s watchdog and ensuring government’s accountability to the people and, at the same time, ensuring the participation of the governed in the process of governance.

In other words, the mass media fulfils the important role of being the guardian of democracy and defender of public interest.

This relationship between the press and the government is something extraordinarily unique and it distinguishes a democratic society from a dictatorship and/or an authoritarian government.
At this juncture, the question to be asked is if the Nigerian media is living up to its expectation(s) as the fourth branch of government.

As the fourth branch of government in Nigerian democracy, the role of Nigerian media is to inform and educate the public, while simultaneously acting as a watchdog for elected officials.

However, the Nigerian media is not presently functioning in their full capacity as the fourth branch of government. This is due to many reasons such as: poor remuneration, high level of corruption, lack of trained journalists and lack of commitment to professional ethics.

It is no gainsaying that the Nigerian media is bedeviled by the same pathologies that have afflicted Nigerian politics and other sectors of the Nigerian state. In other words, the problems that can be found in the Nigerian media are a reflection of the problems prevalent in the Nigerian society. Thus, the Nigerian media and the journalists are only but a reflection of Nigeria’s corrupt state.

Consequently, the fall of intellectual discourse among media professionals and the catastrophic devaluation of moral currency in the profession have, in no small way, contributed to the decline of the media in performing its role effectively and efficiently.

Rather than engaging in falsification in order to claim the cheap money given to them by corrupt politicians and collecting brown envelopes in order to write stories ruining the reputation of otherwise innocent people, Nigerian journalists ought to commit to the service of the Nigerian society by exposing the impunity of those who malnourish and are bent on destroying Nigeria as a country.

Ezinwanne Onwuka writes from Cross River State and may be reached at ezinwanne.dominion@gmail.com.