Repeal Anti- Press laws- Shamusi tells FG
A former
Assistant Director at the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), Shamusi
Tiamiya has disclosed that the Freedom of Information Bill (FOIB) as endorsed
by Nigeria Government may not work to the advantage of journalists until a
number of anti- press laws which tend to render the freedom worthless are
repealed. He said this during a lecture on “The Challenges of News Gathering
and Documentation: The Radio Experience” which he delivered at The Nigerian
Institute of Journalism, Lagos recently.
According to him, “every profession has its own
measure of problem and hazards and journalism is no exception. Of course, there
are peculiar problems which journalist have to contend with that are alien to
other professionals”.
According to him,
these challenges include anti-press laws, news censorship, stone walls,
commercialization of news, and non-invitation to news events, logistics, and
apathy on the part of the public. These challenges, he said are mostly
encountered in the process of beat coverage
President Goodluck Jonathan.
Anti-
Press Laws
NUJ's President, Mohammed Garba
The retired veteran journalist said one of the
greatest headaches of any reporter in this country is the highly limiting legal
framework within which he has to operate. “In spite of the much vaunted
official claim that Nigeria is one of the freest in terms of press freedom in
Africa, many draconian laws which make it almost impossible for journalist to
practice, still adorn the nation’s statute book”.
He listed these laws to include; the state
security (detention of persons) Decree 2 of 1984; treason and other offences
(special Military Tribunal) Decree 1 of 1986; constitution (suspension and
Modification) Decree 107 of 1984; Offensive Publication (prescription) Decree
35 of 1993, Sedition Offences Act of 1962; Defamation Act of 1962; Printing
presses Regulation Act 1958 and Obscene publication act of 1962.
News
censorship
Shamusi states that censorship which can come in
form of institutional and self-imposed is also a major challenge to the
journalist. He said the institutional censorship is imposed on the by some laws
of the land. A journalist, he said would be committing hara-kiri by publishing certain stories( that
is if it ever get across to them) no matter how good or of interest to the
public they may be.
Stone
walls
Also, retired editor revealed that stone walls
come to play when a reporter fails to penetrate through the official wall built
around some highly placed government functionaries from whom he wants to obtain
certain vital information. Oftentimes, he said, there are instructions that no
government officials should talk to the press even when the information the
journalist is to clear seeking is necessary clear the air on certain
misconceptions about a particular official action by the public.
Commercialization
of news
Shamusi
said that under true democracy, the public should have unhindered access to
information which is necessary for survival and for the pursuit of happiness.
Ironically, he said a big punctuation mark on this freedom of access to
information is the commercialization of news by some broadcasting stations in
the country.
“ As a result of commercialization as for example
in Radio Nigeria, many news stories a reporter
comes in contact with or those that find their way to the editors desk
are spiked because oftentimes, they are considered as commercial stories and
the people concerned are not prepared to pay for what they considered being in
the interest of the public. The problem is that the editor or reporter is left
with a very small room to maneuver in sourcing materials for his bulletins”.
Possible
solutions
The retire journalist said to proffer solutions to
these myriad of operational problems,” we must go back to where we started
from, and these are problems posed by anti-press laws. The solution here is for
government to accede to calls already being made on it to repeal these
legislation.”
He maintained that there are enough provisions in
the country’s judicial system to take care of any breach of the law. He said
these extra-tough legislation are superfluous and there, unnecessary, “with the
repeal of these laws, the problem of institutional censorship of news will be
taken care of while the self-imposed censorship will also disappear by-and-by
as media practitioners, especially those in government owned electronic media,
realize that they are doing themselves more harm than good by their
over-cautious and timid approach to news presentation”.
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