The Influence of Government Policies on Broadcasting
CHAPTER ONE
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
This research assessed how journalists manage conflict of editorial values in the discharge of journalistic functions. To achieve this, the specific objectives are:
- To examine the strategies which journalists in NTA Abuja employ in adhering to the government policy of serving government interest and the policy of being fair, balance and factual in broadcasting.
- To determine whether NTA-Abuja government policy of serving government interest affects the professional ethics of balance in news selection by journalists.
- To determine whether government policy of Radio Nigeria Abuja affects the editorial decisions of journalists.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
This chapter looks at works done by media practitioners and communication scholars on media ethics, media policy, implications of government policy of the media, policy and objectivity of the media, why media organizations have government policy, policy influence on government policy, implication of policy influence on government policy, the challenges in enforcing and monitory government policy, journalists compliance to government policy, impact of government policy on journalistic activities, and related empirical works on government policy and objectivity in the media.
Ethics as a Moral Concept
The term “ethics” is coined from the Greek word “ethikos” meaning the discipline dealing with what is good and bad, and with moral duty and obligation (Merill, 1975). Ethics however is an integral part of human existence primarily concerned with an individual‟s duty to self and duty to others (Egbon, 2007). It is a branch of philosophy that deals with what is morally good or bad, right or wrong, desirability or undesirability, approval or disapproval, or acceptability or the unacceptability of our actions and deeds (Nwabueze 2009, Ekeanyanwu and Obianigwe 2012). Ethics can also be seen as a branch of philosophy that deals with the principles of good or bad conduct in a society or organization using the societal or organizational norms and conventions as the basis for evaluating human conduct as either acceptable or unacceptable.
Similarly, Akpede (2011) say, ethics can be explained as the criteria by which decisions about rights or wrongs are made. It involves individual, organizational and societal values that are morally acceptable and are used as the basis of human behavior. Merill (1975) say, “ethics is a normative science of conduct which lays down principles, norms, and codes that serve as guide to moral behavior”. Omole (2000) note that, ethics is the shared normative values which any society holds dear, and are used to judge the behavior or performance of any member of that society. On the same vein, Thiroux (1980) say,
When we speak of people as moral or ethical, we usually mean that they are good people and when we speak of them as immoral or unethical, we mean that, they are bad people. When we refer to certain human actions as moral, ethical, immoral or unethical, we mean they are right or wrong (pg.40).
Contributing on the foregoing Wimmer and Dominick (2010:65) say, “ethics involves distinguishing right from wrong and proper from improper”. It is however worthy of note that, “ethics is voluntary by nature (Okunna, 2003). A voluntary action is an action that an individual chooses to take rather than one that he or she is forced to take (Akpede, 2011). On this note,
Merill (1975) state that ethics is self-legislation personally determined and personally enforced. This means, ethics is a personal thing for people including journalists.
CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
Introduction
This chapter presents the research design, population of the study, research instruments, validity and reliability of the research instruments and method of data analysis.
Research Method
The study assessed how conflict of editorial values is managed by journalists in the discharge of their journalistic functions, the study adopted cross sectional descriptive design and the Survey research method (under descriptive research) to gather data that provided answers to the questions of the study. The reason is, descriptive research helped the researcher to gather much data in describing how conflicting government policy is managed by journalist in NTA Network Centre Abuja.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
Introduction
This chapter presents, interprets, analyses the gathered data and discusses findings of the study. Ninety six copies of questionnaire were administered and ninety one copies were returned giving a response rate of 94.8 per cent. On-spot technique was employed to administer copies of the questionnaire and that may be the reason why four copies of questionnaire were not returned.
CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Conclusion
The essence of professionalism in journalism practice cannot be overemphasized. Thus, the study after thorough research, came to the conclusion that the government policy of Radio Nigeria either written or unwritten need to be revisited with a view to have an government policy free of conflict of values and to improve the credibility of the station.
The findings reveal that against their conscience, journalists in Radio Nigeria are made to dance to the tune of their in-house policy without consideration to professional demands in order to manage two opposing principles. It was also seen that editorial decisions of Radio Nigeria Network Centre, Abuja is under government influence as media output contrary to government interest are queried.
Based on the foregoing, the study concludes that most of the problems journalists encounter in Radio Nigeria Network Centre, Abuja are not only peculiar to it. State owned media stations suffer the same so also the private media stations. As such, media autonomy where stations will generate revenue and pay their staff will be a viable option to ensure credibility and strengthen professionalism in Nigeria media industry. Also, Government needs to put measures in ensuring that its media stations take public interest broadcasting as the watch word hence it is a public property under their watch.
Recommendations
In regard to the findings of this study, the following recommendations are made;
- Government policy should be defined based on public interest and professional demand
- Government policy should be devoid of conflicting provisions as such, professional hands should be vested with the responsibility of making government policy
- There should be media autonomy in government owned media outfits by giving
journalists the free hand to do their job and generate revenue and pay themselves.
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