 | |
| Nigeria Journalists demonstrating |
- If the traditional media is unduly restricted in reporting politics, far less reliable reporting on social media could fill the vacuum.
- An edict was designed to "check increasing cases of unprofessional handing" of live politics discussions featuring "provocative and highly divisive comments."
- Critics said the move was designed to silence opposition political parties and urged the government to rethink what it called "this anti-democracy and obnoxious decision".
- Five newspapers said earlier this month that soldiers had held up print runs and seized copies of their editions over security concerns.
- Nigeria is ranked 112th out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders' 2014 Press Freedom Index.
LAGOS,
From
nationwide seizures of newspapers to tough new regulations on live
political programming, rights groups and journalists say Nigeria's media
freedom record is falling worryingly short of international standards.
The
criticism comes after Nigeria's broadcasting regulator announced this
week that stations would now be required to provide written warning 48
hours in advance of changes to the schedules to fit in "impromptu" live
politics shows.
The edict, which follows a
controversial army crackdown on newspapers, was designed to "check
increasing cases of unprofessional handling" of live politics
discussions featuring "provocative and highly divisive comments," the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) said in a statement.
KIDNAPPED GIRLS
They
say it amounts to an authoritarian muzzling of dissent by President
Goodluck Jonathan's government, which is on the back foot over its
handling of the mass kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls by Boko
Haram militants.
"Requesting broadcast houses to give NBC
48-hour notice before airing any live political programmes would amount
to unbridled censorship and gagging of the media and it is against the
spirit and letters of all electoral laws in Nigeria," the Nigerian Press
Organisation (NPO) said.
The NPO said the move was
designed to silence opposition political parties and urged the
government to rethink what it called "this anti-democracy and obnoxious
decision".
Five newspapers said earlier this month that
soldiers had held up print runs and seized copies of their editions
over security concerns.
SILENCE CRITICS
The
government and the military have denied they were looking to silence
critics, even though at least two of the newspapers had published
damning articles about the army.
The Punch
daily described the crackdown in a scathing editorial as "a rapid
descent of a discredited government and its security agencies into
undisguised tyranny."
The operation was "reminiscent of military dictatorship in the country," it added.
Nigeria's
media came under heavy censorship during the military rule of Ibrahim
Babangida and Sani Abacha in the 1980s and 1990s.
A
number of publications were either shut down or forced underground and
editors fled abroad after printing articles critical of the government.
ATTACKS INCREASED
Nigeria's
military has been under sustained pressure in the media over its
response to the Boko Haram insurgency, which has claimed thousands of
lives in the last five years.
Attacks by the Islamist
militant group have increased, with the military apparently powerless to
prevent the bloodshed, exacerbated by the schoolgirls' kidnapping in
April.
Nigeria's response to the mass abduction of the
teenage girls has been criticised as slow and lacklustre, while a social
media campaign has prompted greater international media scrutiny of the
counter-insurgency.
The Committee to Protect
Journalists (CPJ) said 10 newspapers across Nigeria have seen their
operations disrupted, leading to the loss of hundreds of thousands of
sales.
MEDIA BLACKOUT
Peter
Nkanga, the CPJ's west Africa correspondent, described the crackdown as
"Gestapo-style government censorship," adding that "millions across
Nigeria were effectively denied their right to information".
"Nigerians
should not be denied access to news and information through media
blackouts or persecution of journalists as this only sows seeds of
rumours and distrust," he said on the CPJ web site.
The NPO said the new broadcasting regulation and the military clampdown violated freedom of expression.
Nigeria
was entering "a new chapter in the potential dangers being posed to the
citizenry and the media: a clear violation of the right of free
expression and press freedom and the right of the public to know," it
added.
Nigeria is ranked 112th out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders' 2014 Press Freedom Index.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Ralph
Akinfeleye, the head of the mass communications department at the
University of Lagos, warned that eroding press freedom was a major
threat to the successful organisation of next year's presidential
elections.
"It's clear that the media are the engine
oil that lubricates the engine of democracy. Any attempt to silence the
media will be counter-productive," he told AFP.
If the
traditional media was unduly restricted in reporting politics, far less
reliable reporting on social media could fill the vacuum, he argued.
"It's
very sad and worrisome. The military needs to stop these kinds of
exercise and work on securing the release of the girls instead of
messing with the press," he said.
"Or else the focus is going to shift in the future from 'bring back our girls' to 'bring back our press'."
Via -Nation
Via -Nation
Comments
Post a Comment
Leave your comment