The Nigerian media is probably the most vibrant in Africa, with government –owned media services reaching all corners of the country. All 36 states run their own radio stations, and most of them operate TV services.
More importantly the Federal Government as of 1992 allowed private participation in the electronic broadcasting, while there is a long history of private participation in the print media. More recently there has been a move towards establishing an online presence by Nigerian newspapers and bloggers, but with the current low Internet penetration preventing them from fully exploiting the new media.
Besides the social and educational services they provide, the media has a role to play in Nigeria’s economy as they provide the medium for businesses to advertise their goods and services to a large audience. Well placed and structured adverts have been shown to lead to increased sales, and invariably increased profits. This has not been lost on Nigerian businesses, which have been spending an increasing amount on advertising in the media.
However, high cost of operation, tight advertising revenues, frequent government interventions and a lack of a Freedom of Information Bill, along with poor pay for journalists in the country continue to hinder progress in the media sector.
Pushing through energy and transport reforms would help in reducing the operation costs for media operators in the country, while education reforms would increase the literacy rates, and invariably push up readerships for the print media and their websites. It would be equally important for the House of Assembly to pass the Freedom of Information Bill into law, which could, if anything, give journalists the confidence they seek to carry out investigative reports on government activities.
Broadcasting in Nigeria is dominated by State and Federal Government owned outfits, which had monopolised the industry until 1992, when the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC) was formed to license private broadcasters.
The largest broadcasting companies are the government-owned Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) and the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA). The NTA has two television services; NTA 1, which is distributed among Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones and NTA 2, which is distributed nationwide and is funded mostly by advertising.
In all NTA operates about 97 stations across the country, creating the largest television network on the continent. Both organisations, NTA and FRCN, along with two other government owned media outlets, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) and Nigeria Film Corporation, have been slated for commercialisation in 2009.
Each state also has a broadcasting company that broadcasts one or two locally operated terrestrial stations. This means that there are 39 radio stations and 37 television stations owned by the different state government across the country. Most operate partially independent of the state governments.
There are currently about 17 private radio stations and 10 private televisions stations operating in the country. The likely explanation for the low ratio of private to publicly owned stations can be traced to the fact that both compete for the same pool of advertising revenue, while the state owned organisation have the luxury of offsetting high operating costs through public funding.
It also does not help that press restrictions are place on media outlets and with many viewed more as social and political tools rather than engines of economic growth.
However, such limitations are being worked around in order to reach larger audiences both within Nigeria with the growth of satellite television (which has long been preferred throughout the African continent due to the expensive nature of laying ground cables). The substantial uptake in Pay TV in Nigeria has been attributed to the broadcast of European football.
The reverse of private-public ownership can be found with the print media, with most of more than 100 national and local newspapers and publications being privately owned. There has also been a move in recent years by the state governments to divest from the state owned publications.
The newspaper sector has witnessed something of a mixed fortune in terms of size. While there has been an increase in the number of daily newspapers, the number of weeklies has declined at both national and regional level. The only increase in weeklies has been at local level.
While newspapers suffer from poor investments and political interference, the increase in the number of dailies has brought about health competition in the sector, and has led to increased diversity on the range of topics being covered in their content. However many believe that the quality of reporting in country still leaves a lot of room for improvement as a lack of professionalism and poor pay remain a bane in the industry.
Nigeria has a huge domestic media market of 150 million, and there is not doubt that with the right policies in place, the country can harness that to make itself a leading media giant on the continent and the rest of the world.
Restructure the Nigerian Press Council
The Nigerian Press Council (NPC) was established in 1992 to promote professional standards for the Nigerian Press and to treat all complaints received from the public about the conduct of journalists in their professional capacity as well as arbitrate on complaints made by the Press about the conduct of persons or organisations towards the media.
NPC basically regulates the activities of newspapers and magazines in the country, along with the conduct of journalists in general. However the NPC is far from being an independent body as it is run as a department of the Federal Ministry of Information and Communications, with many of its staff deployed from the civil service, especially from the Ministry itself.
This brings into question the decisions of the NPC and whether it would truly be able to carry out functions that do not favour the Federal Government. There are many cases in the past, where it is the clear that the NPC has acted in favour of the Federal Government rather in the interests of the Nigerian people and journalistic integrity.
Until the NPC gains true independence, it will neither have the authority or clout to direct the development of the Nigerian Press nor attract the right calibre or people and funding it needs to carry out it functions.
Merging the National Broadcasting Commission and the Nigerian Communications Commission
Due to the convergence of technologies in the telecommunications and broadcasting industries, Nigeria will be better served having one regulatory body overseeing all telecommunication activities, which will include broadcasting. Merging the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) would go a long way to preventing overlapping regulatory activities.
The merger will see to giving the resulting regulatory body independence in areas such as applications of broadcasting licenses, where the NBC currently has to forward all applications to the President, who then uses his discretion in approving the license.
There is already precedence for this around the world for a single regulatory body overseeing all the communications industries in a country. In the UK, the Office of Communications, the independent regulator and competition authority for the communication industries in the United Kingdom, was established in 2003 and inherited the duties that had previously been the responsibility of five regulatory bodies:
• the Broadcasting Standards Commission,
• the Independent Television Commission,
• the Office of Telecommunications (Oftel),
• the Radio Authority, and
• the Radiocommunications Agency.
While in the United States, the Federal Communications Commission regulates interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite and cable, including wireless telecommunications.
We would also recommend that new regulatory body seek to achieve the following;
• Establishing and securing the independence of publicly owned media.
• Encourage and support the establishment of community-based media outfits.
• Cater and push for the establishment of independent media.
• Establish a media development fund.
• Oversee the establishment of the Nigerian Media and Film School
• Oversee the digitalisation of radio broadcasts in Nigeria.
Independence of Publicly Owned Media
The newly restructured regulatory bodies will work to ensure the independence of all publicly owned media outlets. While they might get their funding from the various levels of government, they should still be allowed to operate without any interference from those in political office.
Any evidence of political interference, such as being overly critical of the political opposition or failing to give them any coverage, should be met with serious sanctions. In the case of persistent and heavy handed interference, the license to broadcast or publish should be suspended. Publicly owned media should be run to serve the public who pay for their funding and not be used as political tools by those in office.
Community-Based Media Organisations
The establishment of community based media, which will complement, rather than duplicate the activities of commercial media outlets, should be encouraged. The community media outlets will have to 60% of local content targeted at the community they serve, with 50% of the content produced by the members of their local community.
The community based media outlets will be allowed to carry sponsorship messages, with some restrictions, as a means of funding their activities but will be prevented from carrying full blown adverts as that would mean encroaching on the ground of commercially operated outlets.
Community based outlets have a two fold advantage as they provide relevant and tailored content for the communities they server and have also acted as an excellent training ground for many award winning journalists and media personalities in countries that have well established community based media.
The only operational community media outfit is the non-profit, campus-based, UNILAG FM, which has been granted an experimental licence only.
Independent Media
Independent or alternative media are media (newspapers, radio, television, movies, Internet, etc.) which are alternatives to the business or government-owned mass media. Independent media tend to provide a different viewpoint than that provided by major mainstream and corporate newspapers, magazines, and other print media.
Independent media is also sometime referred to as citizen media, where ordinary members of the public can also become participants in the media using the different resources offered. This form of media reporting has bloomed with the advent of technological tools and systems that facilitate production and distribution of media. Of these technologies, none has advanced citizen media more than the Internet.
In some countries, the success of small, independent, private journalists have begun to rival corporate mass media in terms of audience and distribution. Citizen produced media has earned higher status and public credibility since the 2004 US Presidential elections and has since been widely replicated by corporate marketing and political campaigning. Independent media websites like the Huffington Post and Politico, which did not exist four years ago, gained enormous popularity and credibility covering the 2008 US elections.
With Internet penetration set to increase in Nigeria, there is no doubt that independent media will have a role to play in the Nigerian society.
Media Development Fund
The Media Development Fund (MDF) will be created a fund dedicated to the developing and training of Nigeria’s media talent. The fund will awards grants to organisations to create, deliver or facilitate media specific training. The aim is to address the skills shortage in the Nigerian media industry and promote its professions as viable career choices.
MDF will be funded by:
• Subsidies levied at all media companies in the country.
• Grants from governments, organised private sector and international donors.
• Capital market investments
The Fund will be registered as a company limited by guarantee and operate independently of the government and regulatory bodies.
The Fund will be administered and managed by a Board of Trustees representing various interests in the public and private sector and will be completely isolated from the management of the NCC and NPC.
The Fund will be required to release quarterly reports on the how much of its funds are being spent and how is being spent on any of the operations is it financing.
Nigerian Media and Film School
The Nigerian Media and Film School will be established mainly to train new talent in the areas of media and film production. The idea behind the school is to have a nurturing environment dedicated specifically to training students for the media industry.
The school will be equipped with its own studios and will form alliances with various media schools around the world such the National Film and Television School in the UK. The school will be partly funded by Media Development Fund and grants from governments and international donors. The school will also seek funding by striking sponsorship deals with key local and international media corporations.
The school will be registered as a company limited by guarantee and managed by a Board of Trustees representing various interests in the media industry.
Digital Radio
While 2012 has been slated for the conversion from analogue to digital terrestrial transmission for television services in Nigeria, not decision yet has been made for digital radio transmission.
This is probably due to the vast array of digital radio technologies out there in the market.
Digital radio broadcast offers many benefits, such as allowing for the broadcast of many radio stations offering more choice to listeners, better sound quality and the potential to introduce new data and information services that will be displayed on the radio’s small screen. For example, a station could send background information about a band when that band’s music is playing. Advertisers could send information about discounts and sales. Listeners could program their radios to receive customized weather reports, news, or stock quotes.
Efforts should be made in selecting a digital radio technology that would be suitable in Nigeria, and plans drawn up to roll out the services in country.
Privatisation of NTA and FRCN
As the two largest media organisations in the country, the Nigerian Television Authority and the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria are far from setting the pace in the media industry. Both organisations are in need of investments and restructure to achieve their potential.
It is unlikely that this will be achieved under the current commercialisation plans. Both organisations have been running commercial activities for most of their existence, so unless the government plans to invest heavily in new equipment, especially with the pending transition to digital transition for terrestrial broadcast, it is unlikely the quality of broadcast will change.
Privatising both outfits will bring in the much needed investments they crave as well as instil a level of professionalism that a lot of state owned organisations lack. It will also hopefully bring in new management, who will provide new direction in broadcasting standards for both organisations.
Posts
it si a tragic for Nigeria media
ReplyDelete