Mass Communication Project Topics

The Proliferation of Radio Station on Ethical Journalism Practice

The Proliferation of Radio Station on Ethical Journalism Practice

The Proliferation of Radio Station on Ethical Journalism Practice

CHAPTER ONE 

Objective of the study

The objectives of the study are;

  1. To find out whether some radio station violet journalism ethics
  2. To find out whether radio station adhere ethical journalism
  3. To ascertain the relationship between radio station and ethical journalism

CHAPTER TWO  

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

JOURNALISM PRACTICE: THE NIGERIAN EXPERIENCE

The role of the Nigerian press or media in decolonization cannot be over emphasized, neither can their role in the struggle against neo-colonial dictatorship, military rule and imperialism. Indeed, the role of the media in the struggle for democracy since the 1980s is also well recorded and important. Out of this arose the tradition of what is euphemistically referred to as “guerrilla journalism”. There are four issues I wish to address in this article viz, the nature and state of the media in Nigeria, the professional and ethical issues, the media and political activities. As the aphorism goes, every society gets the kind of leadership it deserves, but the media all over the world have tended to violate this rule. If you want to know or gauge the level of freedom or lack of it in any society, all you needed to know is the health of the media, how much freedom the media have. However, it should be noted that there is no society in the world where press freedom ever came cheap. All through the ages, press freedom had come at a price and struggles had been waged to ensure and sustain press freedom (Oladele, 2009). In Nigeria too, since the colonial era, there has been repression of the press, resulting in the shutting of media houses and assault on journalists. This tradition continued into the military era. However, all this did not halt the campaign for press freedom. The media in Nigeria has been highly battered and highly compromised. It is now meant for the “highest bidder”. Many journalists have become so compromised that their reports are based on what butters their bread; news has now become what serves their patron’s interests. Increasingly, the proliferation of media houses, the weak supervisory role of the Guild of Editors and the Nigerian Union of Journalists, the lack of interests in building career in journalism as such and the greed and materialism of journalists have made it difficult for many journalists to maintain the standards and ethics of the profession. Worse still, some journalists do not know what constitutes minimum conduct and expectation of a professional journalist. This raises two other questions, first, the calibre and nature of those who call themselves journalists, second the induction and training offered them at recruitment by various media houses. To be sure, journalism is an all-comer profession in Nigeria. People of diverse backgrounds and disciplines with mere “interest” in journalism or who are merely seeking job opportunities, automatically become journalists when such offers are made. Many essayists or writers can easily claim to be journalists, there are no rules of entry, or to restate the same thing, there are no rules for regulating conduct and practice of journalists or better still, enforcement mechanisms are weak. Most prominent people, who are editors and news editors in many media houses today, never studied journalism or mass communication that is true. But I do not think that accounts for why they are morally wanting.

 

CHAPTER THREE

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research design

The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought to examine the proliferation of radio station on ethical journalism practice.

Sources of data collection

Data were collected from two main sources namely:

  1. Primary source and
  2. Secondary source

Primary source:

These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.

Secondary source:

These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.

CHAPTER FOUR

ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION OF DATA

One hundred and sixty (160) questionnaires were distributed and one hundred and forty (133) were returned. This figure was the sample size. Out of the one hundred and thirty-three, only one hundred and twenty (120) were properly responded to. As a result, the researcher used one hundred and twenty for this study when more than 50% of the respondents agree to the questions, the answer is taken as valid for the purpose of this study. In analyzing the data, the approach that will be adopted is to find out the percentage and positive and negative answers to the question posed.

 CHAPTER FIVE

SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

Introduction

It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to ascertain the proliferation of radio station on ethical journalism practice. In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing challenges of the proliferation of radio station on ethical journalism practice

Summary

This study was on the proliferation of radio station on ethical journalism practice. Three objectives were raised which included: To find out whether some radio station violet journalism ethics, to find out whether radio station adhere ethical journalism and to ascertain the relationship between radio station and ethical journalism. In line with these objectives, two research hypotheses were formulated and two null hypotheses were posited. The total population for the study is 200 members of NUJ, Abuja. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made production chairmen, secretaries, new members and old members were used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies

Conclusion

Major finding of this research revealed that; Nigerian journalists are not obeyed the codes; journalists are expecting to be moral-crusaders but some time they are doing otherwise. As the research exposed the reason behind this, is the complex nature of the Nigerian state. Nigeria has over two hundred and fifty ethnic group and religions. Journalist from opposite part of the country opposed each other in their publications. According to Oso, the factors that can lead to unethical practices in Nigeria are: poor technical knowledge, conflict of interests, ownership pattern and control, pressure of the market, poor pay, weak professional regulation, and loose organizational policies and control (Oso, 2007: 150). These factors that lead to unethical in journalism field is not only experienced in Nigeria, the problem is similar in many third world countries. Ethics in the media is, at its essence, about duty. It comes with concepts of freedom and responsibility. It comprises a set of principles and rules determined by members of the profession, preferably in cooperation with public opinion, to allow most if not all of the media to perform a better service. Unethical conduct, immorality or negative values are devoid of ethical benchmarks. They are dangerous social evils. They can be damaging to the society, to the extent of leading to a failed state. And, like all forms of things that are wrong, the dangers are multifaceted and some of them concrete enough (Pate, 2013).

Recommendation

The study recommends that the NUJ come to a consensus in regard to the regulation of media practice. The body statutory bodies need to be clear on the distinction between their roles, and to involve other stakeholders in addressing matters of non-conformity to regulations by media houses. Moreover, the NUJ needs to prepare separate codes for broadcast media regulations (ACMA, 2011).

References

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