Press freedom under attack

NO good system of government can exist without press freedom. This is because the media remains an independent body where societal battles are fought and rectified. However, the provisions of the law of the land limit press freedom somewhat. All the rights given to the media under Section 39 were also collected in section 45 of the same 1999 constitution. Look at the provision of section 45 which states that “Nothing in this constitution shall invalidate any law that is reasonably justifiable in a democratic society.”

Arguably, the rightist and the leftist provisions fuel questions in the minds of journalists and thus create an unfavourable environment for the operation of journalists in Nigeria. This is very sad to witness in a democratic society. Under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which was promulgated on December 10, 1948 by the United Nations, Article 19 guarantees press freedom without interference and regardless of frontiers. The 1999 constitution, in section 39, subsection one, provides for freedom of expression and information dissemination by the press. According to the 2017 World Press Freedom ranking complied by Reporters Without Borders, press freedom in Nigerian has recorded a decline in the International Press Freedom Index, with six per cent regression between 2016 and 2017.

The report further reveals that press freedom in Nigerian came down from 111 in 2016 to 122 in 2017 out of 180 countries graded. What this means is that press freedom in Nigeria is under attack, which in a way is affecting the success of democracy in Nigeria. As Amartya Sen, a Nobel laureate, pointed out, no democracy with a free press ever endures famine.  It is also on record that Nigeria experienced horror in 2012 when Lagos-based Channel TV reporter, Enenche Akogwu, was targeted and killed by Boko Haram agents during the coordinated attacks on Kano, North-West Nigeria. This was long after the parcel bomb that killed Newswatch magazine co-founder, Dele Giwa in 1986, and Bagauda Kaltho of The News in 1996 in Kaduna at the height of the mayhem that followed the annulment of the June 12 presidential election in 1993. Till date, the agents fingered for the deaths are still at large.

Reporters in Nigeria who investigate crime or corruption are often tortured and sometimes murdered. Not long ago, a local journalist, Amran Parulian Si-manjuntak of Senior Weekly newspaper, was murdered by a group of unidentified people after dropping his child off at school. However, the case had no follow up, proving the government’s negligence about journalists’ safety. As a consequence, more violent acts against journalists have emerged. What remains a million dollar question is how the performance of the watchdog function by journalists has become a crime.

The United Nations’ Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, said: “I am deeply concerned about the failure to reduce the frequency and scale of targeted violence that journalists face and the near absolute impunity for such crimes.” Paraphrasing the words of Harizal, “This could be a bad precedent for our law enforcement and at the same time shows how our country has made little to no effort to protect journalists”. To be able to curb these attacks on the press, media organisations have to define the zones where their reporters operate. Also, for those who cover war and criminal gangs, their organisations need to provide insurance cover in the event of injuries or death. Government also has a big role to play. They have to ensure that the non-state actors who attack journalists are swiftly brought to book.

• Msughter writes in from Bayero University, Kano