Lingering threat to press freedom

As the world continues to celebrate this year’s World Press Freedom Day, the highly volatile security situation in Nigeria presents a grave cause of worry for journalists, who, given the unsafe environment, have watched the difficulties attached to the practice of their profession multiply several folds.

The Federal Government that has an onerous responsibility to secure lives and property in the country must go beyond rhetoric in this regard and prove its commitment to press freedom.

The day provides an opportunity for journalists, civil society representatives, national authorities, academics and the broader public to discuss emerging challenges to press freedom and journalists’ safety, and to work together on identifying solutions.

The UN General Assembly proclaimed World Press Freedom Day in December 1993, following the recommendation of UNESCO’s General Conference. Since then, on May 3, the anniversary of the Declaration of Windhoek is celebrated worldwide as World Press Freedom Day.

In commemorating it, media professionals have rightly taken stock and expressed concern that the free space is being compressed by strangulating laws and the absence of journalists’ safety leading to a decline in the civic space. Surely, if the trend continues, journalism may be endangered in Nigeria!

In particular, the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) said that the regular attacks on journalists carrying out their legitimate editorial assignments by overzealous security agents, the current attempts to criminalise journalism practice in the country through obnoxious proposed laws, the suffocating economic environment and harsh political/economic policies of the Federal Government, have in the past few years, made it almost impossible for the media sector to carry out its constitutional responsibility for the benefit of the citizens.

The Guild observed that the inalienable right to access and disseminate information through an independent press is under attack, and called for an urgent need to protect the media, adding, that democracy is in danger when a free press is threatened.

There is no denying the fact, as enunciated by the NGE’s President, Mustapha Isah and the General Secretary, Iyobosa Uwugiaren that the threat to media freedom in Nigeria is real; and the potential impact on the state of democracy in the country will be dangerous if the threat is not checked.

Considering the sacrifice that the press has gone through to bring about the country’s democracy, elected leaders in Nigeria should be press freedom’s dependable protectors; not making attempts to stifle media voices through proposed legislation that, in the guise of checking journalists’ excesses, seek to criminalise journalism practice in the country. Nigerian journalists deserve a better deal in the discharge of their constitutional duties.

The media like the other three arms of government – executive, legislature and judiciary has constitutional roles; and that is why it is referred to as the Fourth Estate of the Realm, and Nigeria’s watchman. Government thus has the duty of watching over the Realm, while the press keeps watching over other arms of government as enshrined in the Nigerian Constitution.

Section 22 of the 1999 constitution as amended, states that “the press, radio and television and other agencies of the mass media shall at all times be free to…uphold the responsibility and accountability of the government to the people” while S.39 provides for freedom of expression which is safeguarded by the press.

Any political office holder, especially in a democracy, who arbitrarily or unjustly imposes any sanction on the press outside of the law is an enemy of the people, because it is not for nothing that the press is given a direct and expressly stipulated role in the Constitution – to hold all other arms of government and officials accountable to the people who hired them all!

Political office holders in the country should recognise that the fiercest enemies of the country’s democracy are those attempting to gag the press and attacking journalists for carrying out their constitutional responsibilities.

Strangulating the press is killing one of the institutions that won democracy for Nigeria and constitute a violation of Sections 22 and 39 of the 1999 Constitution as amended. Again, not protecting journalists is a violation of an unwritten, but moral and legal duty to protect lives.

Unless and until this fact is recognised, democracy will not thrive, because the media plays a critical role in promoting good governance; ensuring optimal deployment of public resources; facilitating the protection of the rights of citizens, and ensuring that corrupt practices are exposed. Press freedom in Nigeria will only improve public trust and confidence in governance; hence deepening democracy in Nigeria.

So, for the government to attempt to cow the media through strangulating laws and not protecting journalists is a show of the absence of the rule of law; and for the duty bearers, it ‘invalidates’ the constitutional oath sworn to upon assumption of office. Furthermore, it presents a picture that journalism in Nigeria may be under ‘siege’, which is not healthy for the nation’s democracy.

Therefore, every attempt to prevent the media from performing its constitutionally assigned role by any arm of government is condemnable. Political office holders have no business thinking they have more stakes in the success of ‘Project Nigeria’ than the press, which has a long history in the ‘Project’ having fought alongside nationalist leaders for independence and also fought for the revival of democracy in 1999!

Public officers should equally recognise that good governance requires opposing views; and governance is about the people, not about the interim occupant of the seat of power. They must recognise that their discomfort is the merit badge of a good press, especially when the press does its job truthfully and objectively.

There may indeed be cause for government officials to be concerned about some deficiencies in the performance of the press, including non-verification of some news which may turn out to be incorrect in part or in whole; but that is no reason to gag the institution, especially as there are enough provisions in the statutes to deal with journalists’ misdeeds or mistakes. The media has always been engaged in self-improvement measures. It is important that practitioners and stakeholders keep this up regularly, given the pressure of producing the news and the propensity for mistakes.

Media rights groups should remain resolute in the defence of press freedom and independent press in the country. Also, the law enforcement agencies should thoroughly investigate and prosecute all pending cases of attacks against journalists and cases of those who lost their lives in the line of duty. A threat to media is a threat to democracy.