ABSTRACT
This is a discourse on the place of ethics in
journalism practice in Nigeria.
The paper examines the pervasiveness of the media and the influence it has on
the public and makes a case for the imperativeness of ethical values.
It also establishes that there is a need for more
ethical practice if the journalist is to ameliorate the credibility gap that
has been associated with the frailties of the media. The paper assessed the
ethical situation of the Nigerian media and also dealt with ethical theories
that could help journalists make sound ethical judgments on the job.
INTRODUCTION.
The media are a social institution
that must make a moral contribution to the society. According to Paul Johnson [1997:102] the
media are a potentially “great secular church” and “a system of evangelism for
dispensing the darkness of ignorance, expelling error and establishing
truth”. One major way by which truth in
its entire ramification can be passed along in any modern society is
essentially through the media, and people would be virtuous and take the right
courses of actions so long as they are fully informed of the facts.
Someone once said that “after ten
years of observing government and other social institutions at work, if the
world is to be saved from selfish self-destruction it would be the journalist,
in all their objectionable practices, who would do it”. [Black, Steele and
Barney, 1999:1]
This and other such utterances
portray the media as societal agents of dissemination of information by which
people shape and mold their realities of life. Such is believed to be the
influence of the media that they have been referred to as ‘agents of power’ and
every society ascribes certain duties, rights and responsibilities to the
media. In addition, the media are also expected to operate within the context
of a high sense of responsibility and morality.[ Altschull, 1995]
Paul Johnson [1997:103] in making a
case for an ethical journalism enumerated the roles of the media in a
democracy. He quoted Noah Webster as arguing that the press is essential to the
success of a democratic government because it is the only sure way to correct
government’s abuses. The press is expected to be placed upon a “respectable
footing” by society because it is a herald of truth, and a protector of peace
and good order”. However, a dilemma seems to exist concerning the role of the
press and the responsibilities of its activities. The society needs the press
to oil its democracy but fears the damage and corruption its frailties inflict
on the people and the polity.
Hence, in spite of the various
legal restraints, there is still a need for a moral media, serving moral
purposes and being worked by moral people. This is where ethics becomes
imperative, more so, as the press above all other social institutions is
believed to have a lot of influence and power often said to be enormous and
fearsome. Such influence and power can
not be curtailed by legal restraints only but also by awareness by journalists
of the duties the exercise of such power imposes.
Johnson [1997:103-104] maintains
that people who work in the media are often insufficiently aware of the
obligations of their powerful position, much less so than say politicians. He
opines that journalists even see themselves as part of the entertainment
industry, “operating in the frivolous margins of life”. This, he says, is
false.
According to Johnson, the press
more than politicians stands right at the centre of all human activities and
touches many aspects of life that may be beyond politics, especially in a
democracy where politicians are limited by other arms of government.
“The media are
omnivorous, ubiquitous, uncircumscribed
and comprehensive. There is no nook or cranny of the world, scarcely
a hidden area
of the human spirit which they do not seek to
penetrate. And
most of us want it that way because our own
curiosity is
infinite.”
This enormous coverage and
influence on society thus bestows on the press the imperative to be moral in
order to be perceived as professional. The point being made here is that the
press has a moral duty and awesome responsibilities that go with such power and
influence it possesses.
The main focus of this discourse is
to assess the ethical ‘bag of virtues’ of journalism practice in Nigeria and to
explain ethical theories and principles that have provided the diverse pathways
to ethical dilemmas that the reporter faces on the job.
According to Lawrence Kohlberg, a
contemporary press ethicist, editors and reporters carry in their heads a bag
of virtues, and when faced with ethical dilemmas they fumble more or less in
the bag for whatever virtue seems to fit the occasion. [Meyer, 1987:7]
This is because journalistic ethics
is a slippery issue, so variable and contextual that clear clarification
becomes difficult, if not impossible.
While there are many ethical questions that are easily answered, there
are many more that are not so easy but are full of paradoxes and parallels and
are hotly debatable.
In spite of this dialectic nature
of journalism ethics it is still imperative that the practice be required to be
ethical for excellence to be achieved.
THE NEED FOR A MORE ETHICAL PRACTICE
There is hardly anyone who will
argue against the imperativeness of ethical practice of journalism. One thing
that is obvious to all today is the widespread criticism concerning the
corruption that exists in journalism practice, though it could be argued also
that this is the case in the society at large.
Criticism of journalists from
virtually every member of the society has been more or less the order of the
day. The bad journalist and indeed almost all journalists have become the
scapegoats of every Nigerian from the politician to the preacher. Journalists
are being cast as corrupt, social villains who are disseminating superficial,
trivial, negative and sensational information harmful to the health of the
country’s nascent democracy. Even where
the role of the Nigerian journalist in the chequered history of the country is
acknowledged positively, the smear of corruption and ineptitude-ness of many
reporters have tended to become the albatross of the media.
This situation is similar across
the globe. John Merrill [1997: 1-2] said that numerous surveys in recent years
concerning media and society in the USA had shown that the public has
little faith in, or respect for, the press. He pointed out that it is not so
much that the people dislike the media; they seem to have affection for them in
a general sense, but that increasingly they do not believe them and they are
also complaining about their insensitivity, arrogance and general bad
behaviour.
Similarly, Richard Keeble
[2001:3-6] mentions the ‘moral panic over the media’ in Britain and more or
less all of Europe over the ‘dumbing down’ and ‘tabloidization’ of news and
information and cites a motion signed by 46 British members of parliament which
‘deplored the steep decline in serious reporting and analysis of politics and
current affairs in the UK, and notes that this decline has gathered pace in
recent times with increasing emphasis on personalities rather than policies and
on trivia rather than substance’.
In the UK public opinion places journalists at
the bottom of 15 professional groups in terms of credibility rating and berates
the way in which all news are being presented in the format of ‘congenial
adjuncts of show business and ‘fickle orgasmic sensationalism’.
Festus Adedayo in an article he wrote in the
Nigerian Tribune newspaper cited a social commentator who referred to
journalists as ‘a group of professionals slightly worse than hired assassins’.
[Nigerian Tribune, 5-11-2001]
Dan Agbese, himself a journalist,
confirms that certain breaches of the professional code of ethics are obvious
in the Nigerian journalistic practice and identifies such practices as ‘brown
envelope’, ‘daily returns to editors’, and conflict of interest as examples. [
Post Express, 28-2-2001]
Another journalist, Dayo Aiyetan,
said that “once vibrant and independent, the Nigerian mass media is gradually
transforming into a behemoth of corruption, a situation which threatens the
capacity of the media to report the truth objectively and perform its
constitutional role of making the government accountable to the people”.
All these criticisms, both from
within and without of the media, underpin the need for a more ethical media and
the readiness of practitioners to start a process of ethical house cleaning
that would enhance and diminish the morality and credibility gap.
The erosion of media credibility
extends to all media, print and broadcast, and there seems to be a growing
sense of guilt and despair within the profession.
The result is that there ought to
be a growing media ethical sensitivity and a new emphasis on ethical responsibility.
The media needs to be responsible
and to care more about ethical dimensions of its practices and try to remedy
their excesses and moral lapses. For a
long time, the media has pummeled the other parts and personalities in the
society as the watchdog, and has set itself up as a paragon of virtue but those
days are over. The media, itself, has been caught in the moral undercurrent
within the society. It has been sinking in the quicksand of time and it is now
basking in the spotlight of the public sphere and should prompt journalists to
clean their acts, otherwise its claim to being the watchdog of the society
would be seriously undermined and diminished.
ETHICS AND PROFESSIONAL
EXCELLENCE
There is no doubt that there is a
connection between excellent journalism practice and ethical journalism. The
daily practice in the field presents an ethical turf in which good ethical
decision making ought to be learned and utilized.
It is the belief of this writer
that good ethical practice is a craft and a skill comparable to good writing,
good editing or good reporting, and that ethics ultimately results in
professional excellence. This position is supported by most media ethicists,
some of whom include, Professor Ralph Akinfeleye, John C. Merrill, Louis A. Day
and Jay Black and his colleagues. [Akinfeleye, 2003: 39-41; Black, Steele, and
Barney, 1999: 2-4]
In what ways can ethics enhance
professionalism? When journalists embrace, and learn how to do ethics they end
up developing values and attitudes that enables them to make good ethical
judgments that may lead to excellent practices based on such moral premises as,
fairness, equity, justice, dignity and integrity.
Such moral premises are fundamental
to human values extolled by a large segment of society. Values, moral values, are the building blocks
of attitudes, that is, the ‘learned emotional, intellectual, and behavioural
responses to persons, things, and events’.
Attitudes about morality are
packages of values comprising of the individual’s feelings, thoughts, and
actions, and they are important to the extent that they form the foundations
upon which the individual’s moral behaviour are based. The individual’s moral
behaviour conforms with his or her actions whether professional or otherwise
and also forms the foundation of institutional and professional standards of
conduct. Institutions or professions do not behave morally or otherwise, it is
people who do.
Being ethical involves moral
reasoning that utilizes moral and ethical principles to guide one’s actions,
especially, when one is faced with ethical dilemmas, for example, on the job.
In this way ethics becomes a critically important contributor to excellent
professional practice. [Day, 1991: 9-16]
THE ETHICAL
STATE OF THE NIGERIAN
MEDIA
It has been asserted that Nigeria has the
largest press community in Africa and a survey
dated 1999 puts the number of regular newspapers at 78, magazines at 45,
television stations at 52, and radio stations at 31. Furthermore, since this
date, several more newspapers and magazines have been established and many
radio and television stations had been commissioned under the umbrella of the
Nigerian Television Authority [NTA] by the Obasanjo government. As the
political turf heats up due to the forthcoming elections in 2007, more
newspapers and magazines are expected even though such publications may not be
more than electioneering campaign journals that will predictably get off the
streets as soon as the elections are over. [ Olukotun, 2004:9-10]
In discussing about the media
capacity in Nigeria,
Olukotun [2004:10] pointed out the place of the vernacular papers, a genre that
has become increasingly assertive and popular on the streets, most especially,
in the southwest and perhaps in the north.
Even though the Nigerian media may
be the most virile in the continent, in terms of ethical practice there are
varied perspectives as to the situation. However, everyone agrees that there
exist a lot of ethical lapses generally in the media. The various shades of
opinion only differ as to the extent of such lapses.
Dayo Aiyetan[2002:32] portrays the
situation by saying that the media in Nigeria today is more unethical
than what obtained in the past, the media’s glorious epoch being the years of
military rule. According to Aiyetan, the media in Nigeria is ‘afflicted by a cancer,
which not only threatens its credibility but also its capacity to perform its
constitutional roles’. The cancer of course is corruption which has extended to
such an extreme that today journalists who hitherto used to be highly respected
by the Nigerian public, are now ‘treated with general scorn’ and are
‘derisively likened to the policeman at illegal roadblocks who extorts money
from drivers’.
Supporting this position above,
Festus Adedayo [2001:12] writing in the Nigerian Tribune, said, ‘the ethical
imperatives of accuracy, balance and objectivity which the granddads of
journalism like Herbert Macaulay, Chief Babatunde Jose, Chief Alade Odunewu and
others handed down, have taken flight.
The situation is so sickening today that various degrading epithets like
“hired assassin”, “news contactors” and sundry others have come to be affixed
on the Nigerian media practitioner’.
Reverend Father Matthew Kukah,
writing on the public perception of the press in Nigeria, epitomizes the press for
it roles in colonial and post-colonial Nigeria but also mentions the
advent of ‘junk journalism’. He opines that this type of journalism is an
‘evidence of the depth of decadence into which the society had sunk’. [Dare and
Uyo, 1996:132-136]
Corruption and other ethical lapses
have generally been identified in the Nigerian media and have been indicated in
various dimensions and practices such as, the ‘brown envelope’ which refers to
gratification accepted by the journalist in the course of duty, daily returns
to news editors from ‘lucrative’ beats, ‘headline journalism’ in which
headlines are manipulated to sensationalize so as to sell the paper, invasion
of privacy especially by soft sell magazines that concoct or sensationalize
stories of public officials and celebrities, plagiarism, ‘media consultancy’ in
which senior journalists work as public relations agents of political big wigs
even when the journalists are still employed in the media, and ‘blackmail
journalism’ which had been especially linked with the ‘beat associations’. Other ethical issues that have been
associated with the Nigerian media include, ‘junk journalism’ which describes a
paper’s penchant for sleazy, lurid and sensational stories, sycophancy,
character assassination, self-censorship, conflicting interest, ethnicity, and
undue interference of media owners on news published. [ Okunna, 1995:47-53;
Aiyetan, 2002:32-35; Adedayo, 2001:12; Dan Agbese, 2001:7; Oduyela, 2005:1-3]
In a study done by the author, it
was found that Nigerian journalists are generally strongly disposed positively
to being objective, fair and truthful, but they may not see these values being
compromised even when they accept gifts
or privileges in the course of duty.
For instance, most journalists
polled in the study say that they could accept gifts, even money, but that they
would still go ahead and do the right thing afterwards.
Secondly,
the study found that Nigerian journalists have generally internalized their
professional codes, though their commitments to such codes could be compromised
by
some
of them if their work environment is not motivating enough, and that the main
hindrance
to journalists’ commitment to the ethical codes is poor pay or poor conditions
of
work.[Kayode, 2006:12-15]
Another
factor responsible for unethical practices is the drive for money and material
acquisition which has forced many journalists and news organizations to go
outside their purview, awarding questionable awards and to individuals who
probably are willing to pay for such honours.
The
Nigerian media situation can be seen as that of a virile widespread national
media in which corruption and ethical lapses have been found more or less due
to the influence of societal corruption and moral/ material decadence as well
as the poor work conditions of journalists.
THE CONSTITUTIONAL AND ETHICAL BASE OF THE
NIGERIAN MEDIA
The
media has come a long way in Nigeria
since the establishment of the first newspaper in 1859, but its constitutional
base can be traced from the 1960 constitution which provided for freedom of
expression under section 24 then, but became section 25 in the 1963
constitution.
In
the 1979 constitution, there emerged, apart from the freedom of expression, a
provision that gave a responsibility to the press to monitor governance and
this provision has been retained since then. The 1999 constitution which is
currently in operation provides in section 22 the duty of the press to hold
government accountable to the people and in section 39 freedom of expression
and mode of media ownership. [ Momoh, 2004:50-59]
The
ethical base of the Nigerian media could also be traced starting from a failed
move in 1962 by the Guild of Editors to produce a code of ethics and the
ratification of a code of ethics in 1998 by the Nigerian Press Organization
which is made up of the Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria [NPAN],
the Nigerian Guild of Editors [NGE], and the Nigeria Union of Journalists
[NUJ]. [Odunewu, 2000:126]
The
media ferment that resulted in the 1998 code of ethics for journalists started
from 1964 when the clamour for a press council and a media self-accounting
mechanism was raised in parliament. By 1996 the Federal Government took the
decision to set up the Ekineh Committee on the future of the press in Nigeria. The
Chairman of the Ekineh Committee was Aliyi Ekineh and other members were Lateef
Jakande, Adamu Ciroma, G.B.A Akinyede, Ibrahim Imam and A.G.S Momodu as
secretary.
From
this time on there was uproar, negotiations, and stalemate over press regulations
and the nature and role of a press council. And after two failed attempts, the
Nigerian Press Council was inaugurated in December 29, 1992. Subsequently, the Nigerian
Press Council held a National Workshop in 1996 in collaboration with the NUJ, NGE,
which reviewed the old code that was developed earlier by the NPO in 1979 and
later the NPC organized the Ilorin
forum from where the current code of ethics was ratified in 1998.
The
code of ethics for Nigerian journalists [1998] observes in its preamble that
journalism entails a high degree of public trust and to earn that trust the
media needs to operate with the highest professional and ethical standards, the
cornerstone of which is truth diligently sought.
The
provisions of the code of ethics include, editorial independence, accuracy and
fairness, respect of the privacy of the individual, observation of the
principle of non disclosure of the source of information, decency in dress and
comportment, non discrimination due to ethnic, religion, sex or handicap,
avoidance of gratification or patronage to influence news reporting, and non
presentation of news report in such a way to glorify robberies, terrorism or
vulgarity.
Other
provisions of the code includes, being sensitive to news report of minors and
children so as to minimize hurt to them, open and honest means in news
gathering otherwise except when done in the public interest, social
responsibility, plagiarism, copyright, and freedom of the press.
The
code also dealt with the issue of registration of journalists and asserts that
only qualified individuals who have undergone training in approved institutions
are entitled to be registered, especially, where they have shown good
character, not been convicted for fraud or other such crimes and must have
attained the age of 18 years. Such individuals who have satisfied the preceding
requirements are entitled to a certificate of experience after they must have
acquired on-the-job experience. [Nigerian Press Council, 1998:10-25]
ETHICAL THEORIES AND PRINCIPLES
Simply put, ethics is the study of morality. Louis Day [1991:2-3] defines ethics as the
branch of philosophy that deals with the moral component of human life. It is
the study of rights and who is or should be benefited or harmed by an action.
Stoner and his coauthors
[2002:107-109] defined ethics as the study of people’s rights and duties, the
moral rules that people apply in making decisions, and the nature of the
relationships among people. Another
definition says that ethics are rules of conduct or principles of morality that
point us toward the right or best way to act in a situation. [Dominick,
1996:434]
Alade Odunewu [2000:122] defines
ethics as the study of standards of conduct and moral judgment…… the system or
code of morals of a particular profession, of a group, of religion, etc.
Ethics is based on the Greek word ethos, meaning character or what a good
person is or does in order to have a good character. It deals with choosing
among the good or bad options that an individual faces. It may be seen as being
concerned with that which holds society or a profession together or provides
stability and security essential to social or professional cohesion. It
involves thinking about morality, moral problems and moral judgments. It deals
with what obligations we owe or to responsibilities we have toward our fellow
humans, and what we should do to make the world a better place than we find
it.[ Black, Steele, and Barney, 1999:5]
It reflects a society’s or a
professional group’s notions about rightness or wrongness of an act and the
distinctions between virtue and vice. It
involves the evaluation and application of those moral values that a society or
professional group has accepted as its norms.
The key ideas or concepts that make
for a good understanding of the term ethics are: values, rights, duties, rules
or standards, relationships, and morality.
Values, or more precisely ethical
values, are relatively permanent desires that seem to be esteemed or regarded
highly or good in and of themselves, like objectivity or fairness. There are four influential sources of values:
parents, peer groups, role models, and societal institutions. All of these
contribute to the moral development of the individual through the process of
socialization.
Rights are claims that entitle an
individual the latitude to take certain actions subject to his relationship
with others. They are ‘spheres of autonomy’ or freedoms, upon which the
individual can act, though limited by such rights of other people, like freedom
of expression.
Duties are obligations to take
specific actions. They are correlated with rights and they are that which the
individual is bound to perform in the course of his professional or daily
living, like gathering, reporting and interpreting information.
Rules and standards are guidelines
upon which an individual acts and which provide resolutions in the face of
ethical dilemmas, like seeking and reporting the truth. Rules often become
internalized as values.
Relationships are connections of
one individual to another in a web of mutuality. Every one is connected to
others in such a way that actions of an individual can lead to a multiplier
effect affecting one or more people.
Morality is the way or manner in
which an individual behaves in line with socially approved customs or
practices. There is a common morality or body of moral rules and standards
governing the practice of journalism, such as would be found in the codes of
professional practice. [Stoner et al, 2002:110-112; Day, 1991:9-14]
The nature of ethics is such that
all these concepts – values, rights, duties, rules, relationships and morality
- are interconnected in a complex entity upon which many philosophers had
deliberated over time.
Ethical theories or principles can
be seen as ethical roads or maps of morality that point the individual toward
the right or best way to act in a particular situation.
Chinyere Stella Okunna [1995:9]
defines an ethical theory as a principle put forward to explain, describe,
prescribe or predict human ethical behaviour.
Over the years, philosophers have developed several general ethical
principles that serve as guidelines for taking ethical decisions or for
evaluating one’s behaviour.
According to John C. Merrill
[1997:52], there are many such theories or principles and all presumably lead
to the same destination – ethical journalism. And journalists can be ethical
when they take decisions or act based on any of the ethical theories.
The reason there are many ethical
theories is because there is no consensus among philosophers on the precise
criteria for taking ethical decisions and there are several perspectives from
which to determine morality. However,
each of the theories is a complete philosophical system from which an answer
has been provided for the question: ‘what is the right thing to do?’ It is
quite obvious that it would be difficult to provide a perfect answer to such a
question; hence the diversities of perspectives and theories.
In making a case for the need for
journalistic ethics, Merrill [1997:1-26] identifies two types of journalists:
the libertarian journalist and the communitarian, and explains the duality
of perspectives based on the desires of each one to practice responsible
journalism.
The perspectives of libertarians
and communitarians, both, give some indications as to how journalists behaving
on the basis of individual differences would likely adopt certain specific
ethical principles.
For instance, the libertarian
journalist is likely to be inner-directed opting for principles that emphasizes
personal ethics whereas the communitarian is likely to be other-directed,
opting for civic transformation and professional codes. However, this duality
in itself may not prove very helpful concerning actual normative ethical
standards that might be used by the journalist.
To this end, Merrill [1997:55-74]
propounds a binary way of looking at broad ethical theories – pragmatic ethics
and humanistic ethics.
There have been diverse ways of
categorizing theories of ethics and there is a measure of controversy about how
many dominant theoretical approaches there are, but Merrill’s typology has been
based on the premise that all these theories can be placed under two main
categories – pragmatic and humanistic.
PRAGMATIC ETHICS
This category of journalistic
ethics considers the focus of all journalistic endeavours as the investigation
and reporting of the truth so that people are given forthright and
full-disclosure of the day’s event as much as possible. The premise is that the job of the journalist
is to provide as truthful an account as possible and that the end may justify
the means; thus, it may be that unconventional ethical means could be used.
Merrill [1997:58-60] considers this
a Machiavellian but pragmatic morality in which the end justifies the means.
This is also a teleological perspective in which consideration of consequences
and professionalism is deemed paramount.
For instance, a reporter who
deceives a difficult source to unearth a story may be considered to have done
the right thing or at least, the professionally expedient thing.
HUMANISTIC ETHICS
Merrill [1997:62-63] explains that
this category of ethics is focused on either self improvement of the journalist
or on a concern for others, especially, sources and audiences. It can be divided into three main
sub-categories: deontological, or “duty to principle” ethics; teleological, or
“consequence ethics”; and personalist, or “non-rational, subjective ethics”.
Deontological Ethics
Deontologists (derived from the
Greek Deon or duty) are sometimes referred to as ‘non-consequentialists’
because they emphasize acting on principle or according to certain universal
morality without much regard to the consequences of their actions. They follow
maxims that have been acquired from religion, reason, universal norms, moral
mentors or employers. Their main focus is that the ends do not justify the
means rather there are absolute principles that must be adhered to. There is an
emphasis on the intent or motive rather than the ends. The most famous
deontologist is the philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804).
A deontologist journalist would not
subscribe to using deception in ferreting out a story because to him, the end
does not justify the means. In the same vein, he will be obliged to tell it as
it is even if some people are hurt because he is committed to telling the
truth.
Teleological Ethics
The teleological theory postulates
that it is the consequence of an action that ought to determine the morality.
Thus, it is called consequence-based theories in that the ethically correct
decision or action is the one that produces the best consequence.
Teleologists, unlike deontologists,
do not ask whether a particular practice is right or wrong based on certain
specific principles they hold to, but whether it will lead to good results.
Thus the journalist who is a teleologist would want to take the action that
would result in good consequences to the person deemed most important in a
particular situation.
There are variations of teleology.
At one extreme are the egoists, who believe that the journalist should seek to
maximize good consequence for himself; at the other extreme are the utilitarian
who believe that one should promote that which is good to the greatest number
of people. The person best known for this version of this theory is the
nineteenth-century British philosopher John Stuart Mill.
When journalists appeal to the
public interest in justifying their actions they are acting as utilitarian. In
the same vein when a journalist acts in such way as to minimize hurt to a third
party such as a source or audience it is also utilitarian.
Personalist Ethics
The personalist justifies actions
on the basis of some kind of feeling or insight that are intuitive, spiritual
or emotive. For the most part, personalists are non-rational; they would rely
on conscience or other such transcendental parameters. Journalists who follow this path may rely on
their religious convictions in making ethical decisions.
This school of ethics is best
exemplified through philosophers such as C.S. Lewis or Danish philosopher,
Soren Kierkegaard.
Another aspect of ethical
principles are the virtue theories best articulated by Aristotle’s golden mean
which says that the proper way of behaving lies between doing too much and doing
too little. In other words, moderation is the key to morality.
Virtue theories are directed at the
building of moral character and the premise that virtuous conduct involves
learning to avoid the extreme in any given situation.
Examples of golden mean are often
found in the media, when news organizations cover riots and disasters and try
to exercise moderation or restraint in the report so as not to inflame public
sensibilities.
NEW MEDIA
TECHNOLOGIES AND ETHICAL CHALLENGES
There
is no doubt that the new technologies are impacting on the practice of
journalism such that today a wide array of possibilities are emerging in the
way journalists investigate, research and write stories as well as produce
content either on television, radio or the press.
The
possibilities that are emerging are not without their various ethical
consequences, and in some areas these consequences are quite novel that legal
implications are as yet without precedence and ethical implications are at best
hazy and controversial.
In
the area of investigative journalism, technology has made possible the use of
hidden cameras and tape recorders. Should a journalist use these gadgets so
long as it enhances the investigative capabilities? The ethically pragmatic
journalists would answer in the positive and argue that every thing ought to be
done to get at and publish the truth because of integrity and the public’s
right to know. On the other hand, the ethically humanistic journalist may
answer in the negative arguing that these gadgets are instruments of deception
and the invasion or intrusion of people’s privacy. Should undercover reporting be accepted as a
standard in journalism? Are there any ways in which deception, and or intrusion
be justified in practice? Are there ways that hidden cameras and tape recorders
are used responsibly?
The
Society of Professional Journalists and the Poynter Institute of Media Studies
have provided some kind of ethical guidelines for the use of hidden cameras and
tape recorders and they say that such gadgets can be used where the information
obtainable is of profound importance, or where there are no other ways of
obtaining information, or when the good resulting from the use far outweighs
the hurt caused by the act of deception.
These
guidelines stated above, profound as they sound, still leave the ethical
dilemma to the personal ethics of the individual journalist and his subjective
definitions of the context in which the gadgets are used. These are some of the ethical dialectics
that are emerging as a result of the impact of technology on news investigation
and reporting. [Lissit, 1997:111-115]
Another
aspect of this discussion is the ethical dimensions of computer assisted
journalism. Computer-assisted
journalism, refers to the use of the computer by journalists not only for
gathering materials for reporting stories but also for more far reaching
research through online or internet databases, to gather facts and records from
governmental and other agencies as well as other sources, to analyze those records,
and to use such analysis as background for writing news stories and in-depth
reports. [Roat and Gotthoffer, 2001:31-35; Callahan, 2003:1-18]
The
main ethical dilemma concerning computer-assisted journalism is the credibility
of information and facts accessed on the internet. According to Callahan [2003:19-32] the
stunning growth of the internet has provided journalists with unprecedented
reporting opportunities, and unprecedented peril. This is because of the proliferation
of ‘rumours and misinformation on the internet’.
One
of the things that makes the internet so appealing is that anyone can pull off
the net so much of information, but the other side of the coin is that anyone
can also put anything on-line. The internet has both useful and truthful
information as well as trash and idle gossip, and many reporters using it have
no clue as to which is which. The internet has no gatekeepers therefore
information on it may be untruthful while it carries a seemingly
authoritativeness usually ascribed to the written word. This calls to question
the ethical value of using information culled from the internet. Internet
sources must be evaluated for their integrity and journalists would do well not
to believe all information gotten on-line. A healthy skepticism is imperative
here when quoting or culling from the net.
Another
aspect of the ethical dimensions of new media technology is the fact that the
internet itself has become a haven for people to publish whatever they deem fit
for public consumption. Any one with a little bit of computer knowledge can
create a website either by himself or through the help of a professional
webmaster and provide information on the World Wide Web, like any of the well
known and well organized news media organizations or other such social
institutions. The freedom to publish
on-line by just about anybody, laudable as it is, can be grossly abused and has
been so done through the availability of objectionable material, such as racist
literature and obscene literature and pictures.
Today
hard core pornography can be accessed almost without any hindrance by anyone
including the adolescents, teenagers and children. While some believe that such
obscene material should be banned, others believe that the materials should be
restricted and made unavailable to minors.
Opponents
argue that banning any materials violate the right to free speech and that the
express freedom now enjoyed by the Web should not be curtailed in any way. [
Shelly, Cashman, Vermaat and Walker, 1999:14.23-14.27]
Today’s
technology of digital photography has also brought about better production
possibilities as well as ethical problems through digital retouching of
photographs and animation.
Digitalization
is quite a laudable technological breakthrough in print and broadcast
journalism resulting in crispier pictures, sharper and fuller colours, and
better shots can be achieved than used to be possible. However, the other side
of the coin is the capability to retouch photographs such that they can be
manipulated to show pictures in whatever way desired by the skillful reporter.
In
other words, technology has made the adage ‘pictures don’t lie’ false –
photographs can now be manipulated such that pictures can now lie. To retouch photographs especially with a view
to distort information on them is unethical and journalists should be
discouraged from such a practice.
Another
aspect of this is the capabilities made available through animation. While
animation has resulted in greater possibilities for film and cinematography as
well as for television commercials, it has also made possible the abuse of
falsifying images with its attendant ethical implications.
By
and large, new media and communication technologies have brought hitherto
unimaginable possibilities and capabilities to the practice of journalism and
so have they brought hitherto unheard of ethical problems.
CONCLUSION
Media
ethics is a complex topic. The issues are so variable that there often appears
to be no recourse but to handle them one at a time as they arise and this seems
to be what journalists do that make them susceptible to the ferments that
follow on the trails of ethical issues.
Journalists
who study ethics for the first time are often disappointed to find that the
theories and principles can not give clear directives upon which they can solve
everyday on-the-job ethical dilemmas.
The
best everyone can do is to reach a better self understanding and a moral
reasoning process that can be applied as one comes face to face with the
realities of the job. Journalists should
be able to see more clearly the connections between their morality and the
ethical judgments they make.
In
the ethos of journalism, there are two kinds of codes. One kind is written by a
professional body such as the NPO, is made public, and fairly honestly
represents how journalists think they ought to behave. The other kind is
unwritten, hidden sometimes from the consciousness of journalists themselves,
but more powerful in its influence on the practice.
Professional
practice would be better enhanced when the external codes have been largely
internalized by individual journalists to create for each one, his or her own
personal ethics.
Journalism
is one profession that can only be practiced excellently only when it is
anchored on clear moral and ethical moorings. Also, every democratic society confers some
level of social reasonability on the media and this has always resulted in the
public having certain expectations of the journalist, as the fourth estate of
the realm, which makes it imperative for every journalist to strive to live and
practice above aboard.
References
Alade Odunewu
(2000), Ethics of Journalism, in History of the Nigerian Press
Council, Lagos:
Nigerian Press Council.
Ayo Olukotun.
(2004). Media Accountability and Democracy in Nigeria, 1999-2003, in African Studies Review, Vol.47, No.3
(December 2004).
Chinyere Stella
Okunna (1995), Ethics of Mass
Communication, Enugu:
New Generation Books.
Clifford
Christians and Michael Traber, eds. (1997), Communication Ethics and Universal Values, London: Sage Publications.
Christopher
Callahan (2002), A Journalist’s Guide
to the Internet: The Net as a Reporting Tool, 2nd ed. Boston: Pearson Education
Inc.
Computer-Assisted Journalism: journalists
Resource Guide on HIV/AIDS, Family Planning, Reproductive Health & Sexual
Rights, (2003) Lagos: Development
Communication Network.
Dan Agbese
(2001), Ethics in the Press: An Insider View, in the Post
Express, 28/2/2001.
Dayo Aiyetan
(2002), Corruption in the Media, in the Tell, May 6, 2002.
Dennis McQuail
(2000), McQuail’s Mass Communication
Theory, 4th ed. London:
Sage Publications.
Ford Risley
(1998), Ethics, in Christopher Harper (and the Indiana Group), Journalism 2001, Madison: CourseWise Publishing.
Festus Adedayo
(2001), Ethics and the Media, in the Tribune, 5/11/2001.
Gary B. Shelly,
Thomas J. Cashman, Misty E. Vermaat and Tim J. Walker (1999), Discovering Computers 2000: Concepts for a
Connected World, Cambridge:
International Thomson Publishing Company.
James A.F Stoner,
R. Edward Freeman, and Daniel R. Gilbert, Jr. (2002), Management, 6th ed. New Delhi:
Prentice-Hall of India.
John C. Merrill
(1997), Journalism Ethics:
Philosophical Foundations for News Media, New York: Bedford/ St. Martins.
J. Herbert
Altschull (1995), Agents of Power: The
Media and Public Policy, 2nd ed. New York: Longman Publishers.
Jay Black, Bob
Steele, and Ralph Barney (1999), Doing
Ethics in Journalism: A Handbook with Case Studies, 3rd ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Joseph R.
Dominick (1999), The Dynamics of Mass
Communication, 6th ed. Boston:
McGraw-Hill College.
Jimi Kayode.
(2006). Ethics and Professional Practice of Journalism in Nigeria.
Accepted for publication by the Nigerian
Journal of Social Research (NJSR), Nasarawa State
University, Keffi, Nigeria.
Lanre Idowu
(1996), Ethical Crises In the Nigerian Press: A Socio-economic Review,
in Olatunji Dare and Adidi Uyo, eds. Journalism
in Nigeria: Issues and Perspectives, Lagos:
Nigeria Union of Journalists, Lagos State Council.
Louis A. Day
(1991), Ethics in Media
Communications: Cases and Controversies, Belmont, California:
Wadsworth Publishing Co.
Melvin Mencher
(1993), Basic Media Writing, 4th
ed. Madison:
WCB Brown & Benchmark.
Matthew Hassan
Kukah (1996), Public Perception of the Press In Nigeria,
in Olatunji Dare and Adidi Uyo, eds. Journalism in Nigeria: Issues
and Perspectives, Lagos:
Nigeria
Union of Journalists, Lagos State Council.
Nigerian Press
Organization. (1998). Code of Ethics for Nigerian Journalists.
Abuja: NPC.
Paul Johnson
(1997), The Media and Truth: Is There a Moral Duty? In Mass
Media, Annual Edition 97/98, Guilford,
CT: Dushkin/McGraw-Hill.
Philip Meyer
(1987), Ethical Journalism: A
Guide for Students, Practitioners, and Consumers, New York: Longman Publishers
Richard Keeble
(2001), Ethics for Journalists,
London:
Routeledge.
Ronald Roat and
Doug Gotthoffer (2001), Mass
Communication on the Net (2001 edition), Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Ralph A.
Akinfeleye (2003), Fourth Estate of
the Realm or Fourth Estate of the Wreck: Imperative of Social Responsibility of
the Press, (Inaugural Lecture
Series) Lagos: University of Lagos Press.
Robert Lissit
(1997), GOTCHA! In Mass Media, Annual Edition 97/98, Guiford, CT:
Dushkin/McGraw-Hill.
Seyi Oduyela, The
Media In Nigeria
– Part 1, serosa1966 @ yahoo.com.
June1, 2005.
Stephen P.
Robbins (2001), Organizational
Behaviour, 9th ed. New
Delhi: Prentice-Hall of India.
Sean MacBride,
ed. (1980), Many Voices, One World,
Ibadan: University of Ibadan Press & UNESCO.
Stanley J. Baran (2004), Introduction to Mass Communication: Media
Literacy and Culture, 3rd ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
No comments:
Post a Comment