A call has again gone out against any planned regulation of media practice in the country.
Speaking in Abuja on the topic: “The Media and the Defence of the Civic Space,” organized by the Kukah Centre in conjunction with OSIWA and the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Foundation, the panelists submitted that the media had enough mechanism to regulate itself and did not need any new law.
The team of panelists included respected professionals, Executive Director/CEO, Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism, Motunrayo Alaka, Former Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief, The Guardian and Fellow, Weatherhead Centre, Harvard University, Emeka Izeze, Managing Director, Arise News, Christian Ogodo, Head of Current Affairs, DAAR Communications Plc, Amaechi Anakwue, Digital Media Strategist and International Speaker, JJ Omojuwa.
Izeze said Nigeria’s civil space predated government as the nation had been having civilized conversations that made Nigerians despite social, cultural and religious dichotomy.
He said Nigerian civil space had grown in leaps and bounds, and had been responsible for the political development of the country, from colonial rule, through first republic to military rule, then second republic back to military rule until the New democratic governance.
Izeze said the civil space unfortunately was threatened now even more than under the military dictatorship and there was now need to return to the vibrant Nigerian civil space which made Nigerian different and distinct from any other nationalities.
On his part, Christian Ogodo said the universe was made smaller by technology which had brought everybody together and had changed the civil space, making everyone a professional.
He said it had become impossible to clamp down on the media like it was done in the past when journalists could easily be locked up.
He said with the advent of the social media, everyone was now a journalist on the move, insisting however that many with the prerequisite training had brought new challenges that needed to be addressed.
He however said that both traditional and social media had mechanisms to weed off the chaff and should be allowed to grow unimpeded.
Anakwue said Nigeria used to have active civil space before independence which continued to expand until 1999 but now “we have witnessed a space that is shrinking,” lamenting that “corruption has affected everything and the media is being swallowed.”
He added that the pressure that had made it difficult for traditional media to effectively function was now taking up by the social media.
Alaka said the civil space was now tensed and facing uncertainties at the moment in the country, calling on the media being the oldest institution of democracy to come out to play the role assigned to it by the constitution.
She said: “The fact we see today is that the legislators despite the fact that they should be representatives of the people are representing themselves.”
She however said: “Good that we have the social media to broaden the civil space but it has brought with it its challenges.”
Omojuwa said there should be accountability for the active participants in the civil space, insisting that “you cannot asked for accountability when you cannot yourself be held accountable.
All the panelists, however admitted that the media had in-built mechanisms to regulate its professionals and needed no external control or new laws.
In his keynote address, the Bishop of Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Rev. Fr Matthew Hasan Kukah said the advent of the social media which had created “journalists” all over was not necessarily a bad thing.
He likened journalists to the faith community, insisting that “journalism and faith community are the same, just like the faith community where we have churches all over, the advent of social media has created journalists and editors everywhere.”
He however said there was no need for government to introduce regulation as it was left for the people to decide which medium to be trusted.
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