Being a keynote by MARTINS OLOJA, former MD/Editor-in-Chief, The Guardian Fellow, Nigerian Guild of Editors, at a symposium in honour Of Elder Ndubuisi Ugbede, former Director of Times Journalism Institute @ 70, thanks to Times Journalism Alumni Association, TJAA, at the NUJ, Lagos Council Secretariat, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos on Thursday 10 April, 2025
I would like to thank all the veterans and members of the Times Journalism Alumni Association (TJAA) for considering me worthy of this honour of delivering this paper at a symposium in honour of Mr. Ndubuisi Ugbede @ 70. It may not be clear to most of the members that I have been shuttling between Lagos and Abuja, my organic base since 2024 when I completed my tenure at The Guardian. So, Comrade Clifford Agugoesi might not be aware that I was actually in Abuja when I was contacted to deliver this paper. I actually returned to Lagos from my base in Abuja a few hours ago. Don’t be too concerned about the implications of that disclosure at this time. I decided to honour the invitation because ‘Journalism’, the World Bank Institute describes as “the best profession in the world” is involved.
I am always anxious any time the organic “Daily Times” Group is mentioned. I always remember that monument as one of Nigeria’s national security assets that the ‘militricians’ and politicians destroyed, which has actually diminished the stature of journalism in the most populous black nation on earth. I didn’t mean to haul any missile in the direction of those who curiously sold “Daily Times” anyhow during the Obasanjo administration (1999-2007).
I mean that if the legacy of the iconic Adeyemo Alakija who bought it over from Cecil Kings had not been destroyed by that ill-fated decision to sell the company to those who have reduced it to an online newspaper, even the digital library as a resource alone would have been a money spinner, a veritable stream of income at this time when all the institutions of higher learning and indeed the nation still don’t have any reliable library for institutional memories.
I hope most of us here are aware that even the National Library in Abuja hasn’t been completed about 50 years after Murtala Muhammed proclaimed Abuja as Nigeria’s capital. The capital of the federation will be fifty years old in February 2006 (1976-2006). The library project is still conspicuously neglected near the beautiful National Mosque, overlooking the equally exquisite National Christian Centre. Doubtless, the country would have had recourse to the “Daily Times” Library as our own Congressional Library still generally regarded as the most reliable library in global context. It is one of the critical national assets that have enhanced the powers and the glory of the United States Congress. There is virtually nothing on earth you can’t research at the remarkable Library of Congress. They make a lot of money daily from researchers. That is where you can still get all the copies of the authentic “Daily Times” publications when there was a country! I hope we are well aware that Ghana’s “Daily Graphic” remains the most influential newspaper in Ghana and the “Sierra Leonian Times”, which was also a Cecil King’s product, just like the “Daily Times” is still a newspaper of record in the war-torn West African country.
It isn’t my pleasure to invoke sad memories of “Daily Times” one of the most influential and indeed most profitable newspapers in the world then. I am quite wary of calling the DTN, a defunct newspaper. I know the consequences in today’s Nigeria where the court (of law) is no longer regarded as ‘the last hope of the common man’. ‘Do not say I told you’ as a corner gossip piece indicated in those days of the best-selling “Lagos Weekend”. Most of the ‘old soldiers’ in the print media, indeed members of the TJAA are aware of the time even the “The New York Times” visited the “Daily Times of Nigeria” for research and orientation. The historic visit is still in NYT’s library.
My dear “Daily Times” veterans, this isn’t intended to be a day to read from a piece on the day “Common Sense” died in Africa’s most populous country. I mean this is not a day to read from the book of lamentation on “Daily Times” but a day to celebrate with one of the blessed ‘survivors’ of the organic “Daily Times”, Mr. Ndubuisi Ugbede who just clocked 70. Comrade Ugbede, congratulations on your birthday. It isn’t easy to reach that milestone in this “country of anything is possible” as a former army chief once described our blessed country. It is the Lord’s doing as it is written and so it is marvelous in our eyes. May the good Lord who has blessed you to reach the 7th Floor continue to keep you strong and healthy in His pavilion!
Let’s get to the brass tacks and the object of our gathering today inside the NUJ House in Lagos. Coincidentally, the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) is also 70 years old as it has just been announced: So, Mr Ugbede and NUJ came into this beautiful world the same year and they arrived on the 7th Floor the same year. Again, congratulations to Elder Ugbede and our own NUJ. It is therefore fitting to discuss the topic:
“Ethical Journalism in 21st Century: The Missing Links”.
The blurring boundary between local journalism and communications
I am persuaded that the older news professionals’ views on the ethical challenges that ensue from emerging and intertwining forms of local professional journalism and communications may have informed the choice of this topic. I believe that the elders would like to listen to a deconstruction of the current situation of ethical journalism. They want me to talk about how news professionals anticipate the relationship between journalism and communications evolving in the future. It seems to me that the elders who created the “Daily Times” paradise and brand reputation we lost, have perceived a blurring of the boundary between local journalism and communication transactions with businesses. They may have also observed economic pressures creating incentives for news media to compromise their journalistic ethics and ethical concerns arising from professional communications’ adoption of journalistic practices.
I can look into the seeds of time and conclude that our elders are beginning to see an ambiguous, even grim, future of local news media in the same country where ethical journalism once paved the way for this democracy that has been violated and desecrated by a crop of some strangers in power. Besides, I think our elders want to know if local news media may have a positive future if they become distinct, attractive and relevant again to citizens.
In this regard, we need to examine news and news institutions in relation to democratic theory and practice, within the context of the economic crisis that affects so many news organisations today and in relation to recent discussions of “fake news” that has become so rampant with the advent of this strange phenomenon called citizen journalism, a concept whereby every telephone handset holder becomes a reporter and editor.
I know our veterans would like to ask if those who suggest that journalism has had its day and argue that journalism has become more important than ever for liberal democracies as the keystone institution in a web of accountability for a governmental system that would like to be taken seriously.
Are we witnessing the downfall of media ethics even in global context?
As someone with more than 37 years of experience in journalism, it pains me to think that media ethics have slipped since I covered the highest levels of government, edited a newspaper of record and stepped aside as MD/EiC a few months ago. I once served as the External Examiner of the NIJ. Sadly, there is no doubt that media ethics have tumbled farther downhill than I care to think.
Meanwhile, the growth of blogs and news websites has intensified the pressure to “get it first,” with less regard than ever for “getting it right.” When I was a newspaper reporter, it would have been hard for me to fathom how a media outlet could have mistakenly reported that a Chief Justice of Nigeria had $3 million in his foreign account and 55 houses to his name. This was what happened to the then CJN Hon. Justice Walter Onnoghnen when the authorities in Abuja didn’t want him as CJN sitting over 2019 election petitions. They curiously tried him in an Administrative Tribunal instead of a Law Court. A major newspaper’s senior editor who anchored the false story credited it to an official anti-corruption agency. The lead story on page one was later discovered to be false during trials. There have been no consequences for the false news. I would have been mortified if I’d made such an egregious error. Of course, I spent a good chunk of my career reporting news in the pre-digital era, so the chances of such an error occurring were not as great. There have been more false stories sponsored by even state actors and business moguls to de-market competition but no consequences anymore even as we remember Tunde Thompson and Nduka Irabor’s case.
Mistakes Are ‘Amplified’
Today, it’s all too common for media outlets to misstate information in breaking-news situations. Don’t get me wrong; we still have a vast majority of journalists who are ethical and conscientious. I understand the pressure to be out in front with breaking news. I do not understand the disregard we often see when it comes to accurately reporting that breaking news. I would rather be right than be first, but many media outlets seem to have given short shrift to that philosophy.
In my view, news outlets are obligated to give much more weight to reporting breaking news in an ethical manner than to being first to share breaking news. In today’s media environment, amplified by the speed and viral nature of social media, they’re likely to spread farther and faster than ever before.
Unfortunately, I don’t think there’s any way to escape the news steamroller that the Internet and the 24-hour news cycle have created. If anything, the news steamroller will only gain steam as news websites, social networks and other electronic media keep dominating how we consume news, while newspapers, TV stations and radio stations are diminished as their advertising revenue falls and, as a result, their news staff dwindle in size.
While the proliferation of electronic media should heighten the need for media ethics, I fear that media ethics will not be given their due amid the continuing emphasis on speed over accuracy and the continuing decline of traditional journalism. Our veterans here are aghast at the beating that media ethics has taken in recent years.
In the opinion of John Egan a U.S-based journalist, as noted in aWashington Post storyin 2012, “constant deadlines, intense competition, reduced news staffs and instantaneous transmission via social networks” would almost guarantee that we would see a repeat of reporting gaffes on the scale of the ones we witnessed in coverage of the shooting of then-U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and coverage of the school massacre in Newtown, Connecticut. Indeed, a year after the Post published that story, CNN, The Associated Press, Fox News and other news outlets mistakenly reported that a suspect had been arrested in the Boston Marathon bombings, according toThe New York Times. Users of Twitter and other social media networks perpetuated this serious error.
“Breaking news is broken,”Slate.comdeclared at the time.
President Obama might agree with that assessment.
“In this age of instant reporting and tweets and blogs, there’s a temptation to latch on to any bit of information, sometimes to jump to conclusions,” the Times quoted Obama as saying in the aftermath of the Boston bombings. “But when a tragedy like this happens, with public safety at risk and the stakes so high, it’s important that we do this right. That’s why we have investigations. That’s why we relentlessly gather the facts.”
As it stands now, though, not everybody is relentlessly gathering facts or strictly adhering to media ethics. Yes, it’s important that we “do right” in situations like the Boston bombings, but it looks like some folks — thankfully, they’re in the minority — will continue to do wrong in the rush to spread the news.
Ethical journalism still matters
Ethical journalism still matters because it is the foundation of a healthy democracy, and its importance has only grown in the 21st century. With the rise of social media, fake news, and propaganda, the need for ethical journalism has become more pressing than ever. In this discussion point, we will explore the principles of ethical journalism, the challenges faced by journalists in the 21st century, and the importance of ethical journalism in maintaining a well-informed and functioning democracy.
Principles of Ethical Journalism
Ethical journalism is still guided by a set of principles that prioritise truth, accuracy, fairness, and transparency. These principles include:
- Seeking the truth: Journalists have a responsibility to seek the truth and report it accurately, without bias or distortion.
- Minimising harm: Journalists should strive to minimise harm to individuals, communities, and society as a whole.
- Being transparent: Journalists should be transparent about their methods, sources, and motivations.
- Being accountable: Journalists should be accountable for their actions and decisions, and be willing to correct mistakes and apologise for harm caused.
Major Challenges Faced by Journalists in the 21st Century
Journalists in the 21st century face numerous challenges that make it difficult to uphold the principles of ethical journalism. Some of these challenges include:
- Fake news and propaganda: The rise of social media has made it easier for fake news and propaganda to spread, making it difficult for journalists to distinguish fact from fiction.
- Pressure to meet deadlines: The 24-hour news cycle and the pressure to meet deadlines can lead journalists to compromise on accuracy and fairness.
- Commercial pressures: The commercialisation of media has led to a focus on sensationalism and click-bait headlines, rather than in-depth reporting and analysis.
- Threats to safety and security: Journalists around the world face threats to their safety and security, including harassment, intimidation, and violence.
Importance of Ethical Journalism
Despite the challenges faced by journalists, ethical journalism remains essential for maintaining a well-informed and functioning democracy.
Ethical journalism:
- Holds power to account: Ethical journalism holds those in power accountable for their actions, ensuring that they are transparent and responsible.
- Provides accurate information for civic competence: Ethical journalism provides accurate and reliable information, enabling citizens to make informed decisions.
- Promotes critical thinking: Ethical journalism promotes critical thinking and analysis, encouraging citizens to question and challenge the status quo.
- Supports democracy: Ethical journalism supports democracy by providing a platform for diverse voices and perspectives, and by promoting transparency and accountability.
From the foregoing, we can deduce that ethical journalism as it has always been, is essential for maintaining a well-informed and functioning democracy. Despite the challenges faced by journalists in the 21st century, it is crucial that they uphold the principles of ethical journalism, including seeking the truth, minimising harm, being transparent, and being accountable. By doing so, journalists can provide accurate and reliable information, hold those in power accountable, promote critical thinking, and support democracy.
Some Recommendations
To promote ethical journalism in the 21st century, I would like to recommend:
- Media literacy programmes: Media literacy programs can help citizens to critically evaluate the information they consume, and to distinguish fact from fiction.
- Journalism training programmes: Journalism training programmes can help journalists to develop the skills and knowledge they need to uphold the principles of ethical journalism.
- Independent media outlets: Independent media outlets can provide a platform for diverse voices and perspectives, and can help to promote transparency and accountability.
- Protection for journalists: Protection for journalists is essential for ensuring that they can report freely and safely, without fear of harassment, intimidation, or violence.
The political economy of press freedom as the main issue
We may want to ask the dominant element in the ethical journalism question in Nigeria, our Nigeria. I have been speaking to and researching this complexity and sensitivity about the state of media practice here. We need some introspection on managing media outfits here at this time. As I have noted several times, media management hasn’t been a significant module in the curriculum of journalism in this part of the world.
In 2018, I raised the question at a seminar I addressed at the Bayero University attended by most of the Heads of Departments of Journalism and Mass Communication in Nigerian Universities and Polytechnics (156) of them). I had then suggested a disruption of the mass communication and journalism curriculum to include management and business education modules. Reason? Media boards of directors have always moved journalists from newsrooms to boardrooms without concomitant training in management of even finances. This will be a discussion point on the state of the media in our milieu, shortly. The point I am making here is that ethical journalism is possible in Nigeria because Editors and News Directors are educated enough but the operating environment isn’t favourable for ethical or good journalism. I have been involved. Most of the media organisations are poorly capitalised and most of the proprietors aren’t adequately educated about what corporate governance system they should adopt. They don’t know how to recapitalise to rebrand. They depend solely on the poorly capitalised banks and only Dangote and a few irregular and seasonal advertisers. Now only two regular advertisers are sustaining the newspapers: the FCT Minister and the proprietor of Tantita, pipeline security firm, through sometimes more than 40 pages of advert in one fell swoop and ‘wrap around’. The implications of this patronage shape the political economy we are talking about. We will return to that later.
Here is the thing, I would like to reiterate this inconvenient fact: where the economy is solely dominated by public sector engagement, there can’t be press freedom, no matter how brilliant you are as editor. Let’s read some excerpts from some of my presentations on the points at issue: ethical journalism in 21se century: matters arising.
Role of the media
“…The role of the media is clearly spelt out in Section 22 of the constitution – to monitor governance and hold public officers to account. Only good and independent journalism can deliver this tough job. This is where people will feel that the news media actually promote public good. In other words, development agencies should not lose sight of this fact: that only a truly independent news media can monitor governance, lest they become lapdogs. How can the Abuja press corps, for instance, monitor the governance in Abuja and hold the FCT Minister to account when the minister is much sought after by even publishers who want the sometimes more than 50-page advert regularly? Who can monitor and evaluate what Tantita is doing with the pipelime security business in the Niger Delta region where oil theft is still rife?
That is why Sina Odugbemi, former Programme Head, Communication for Governance and Accountability Programme (CommGAP) at the World Bank (Institute) once observed in a (World Bank) publication titled, “Public Sentinel: News Media and Governance Reform” that, ‘A focus on strengthening institutions like the news media is not yet seen as a core business in many development agencies’.
That is therefore why opportunities to strengthen the news media will always depend on the situation in each country and will always depend on the interplay of forces within each country. Odugbemi in the same vein believes that, ‘the political economic realities will always determine what can be achieved’. What that means is that those who want to improve media systems in their own countries must learn to build effective coalitions. That is where work is really needed. In that treatise, Odugbemi says nonetheless, it is possible to bring together what we know right now about how news media can contribute to good governance outcomes. Second, it is possible to draw the necessary policy implications. This is where the political economy of a free press is relevant.
Gatekeeping and fostering of civic competence
Gatekeeping we simply call the art of editing is a vital process, which determines the silencing or expression of various voices. Those who control the conduits for expression have the power to filter what kind of information, or whose gets into the public realm and hence gets attention or shapes the public discourse. The media have a significant influence on the public sphere, through the exercise of this control. Depending on how they exercise this control, the media can help shape civic competence among citizens.
What is civic competence?
Civic competence is the citizens’ ability to understand, engage with, and make appropriate demands on the state while meeting their responsibilities and obligations as citizens, for example, through voting and public service.
The Ford Foundation raised the following questions in a summer 2003 Forum on media diversity and public interest:
Regarding the responsibility of media
The current media system in the United States and other Western nations is manifested by giant cross-platform conglomerates dominating the printed, spoken and viewed news. Does this system promote the diversity of perspectives and viewpoints (the ‘market place of ideas’) essential for citizens to function in an informed way within their participatory government and social environment?
Regarding the responsibility of journalism
Modern media corporations seem far more interested in profits than they are in news dissemination. Because of this, or in spite of this, do they provide sufficient content services to adequately address the local news and information needs of citizens and communities?
These are two momentous questions. They have never had to be asked before in quite this way. We need to deal with these questions and their many ancillary questions, debating if the present conglomerates are meeting the responsibilities of both the media and journalism, and if not, whether anything can be done about it.
Some historical perspective of the media in other lands
Early journalist Lincoln Steffens warned about the corporatisation of newspapers as early as 1897 declaring, ‘The magnitude of the financial operations of the newspaper is turning journalism upside down. Big business was doing two things in general to journalism: it was completing the erection of the industrial institution upon what was once a personal organ; and it was buttressing and steadying the structure with financial conservatism’.
Former Des Moines Register editor and Washington Post Ombudsman Geneva Overholser sees a weakening of journalism under most chain ownership. ‘In an era that cries out for entrepreneurialism and a belief in the future, she wrote, ‘newspapering is risk averse and dispirited, cowed by the over-emphasis on the short-term profits, and steadily bleeding the commitment to public service that animates us’.
In other words, the market-driven journalism genre has long been with us. That is why modern researchers on media management such as Dennis Herrick, author of. ‘Media management In the age of Giants…’ are now focusing on ‘the business dynamics of journalism’, which is threatening press freedom in our country that unfortunately cannot boast of a robust private sector, which should be the oxygen of a free press.
Undoubtedly, the relevant question is: in this age when citizen journalism practice, which tends to empower everyone as a journalist through investigative journalism, can public office holders and stockholders be monitored and held to account? Breaking news items, most of which are press statements and official pronouncements can be newsworthy. They are most times public relations. Why do I say that? The classic definition of news is: News is something, somebody somewhere is trying to hide, the rest is advertising. This is what viewers, readers and listeners want from the news media – revelations. Public officials even in global context, would always want to hide something from the public. And so a journalist’s capacity to dig out something the public officials want to hide is the way to hold them to be accountable.
That is why experts tend to agree that investigative journalism is capable of pricking at public capacity for outrage. Some even call it ‘journalism of outrage’. That form of journalism is now being nurtured by data (data journalism). It has measurable elements and has persisted and endured everywhere as a way of ‘seeking reform within a system’.
To understand the role of the media, let’s share some thoughts on newsgathering, which is the focal point of journalism. “News is something somebody doesn’t want printed; all else is advertising.”― William Randolph Hearst. Oscar Wilde said, “Speaking the truth that somebody wants you not to publish is journalism. Everything else is marketing.” “Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed: everything else is public relations.” Yet we found another similar quote from Horacio Verbitsky (in Spanish): “Journalism is to spread what someone does not want you to know; the rest is propaganda.” A version of this quote first appeared on 30 November 1918, on page 18, column 4 of The Fourth Estate: A Newspaper for the Makers of Newspapers, Ernest F, Birmingham, Fourth Estate Publishing Company, New York. The quote is as follows: “Whatever a patron desires to get published is advertising; whatever he wants to keep out of the paper is news,” is the sentiment expressed in a little framed placard on the desk of L. E. Edwardson, day city editor of the Chicago Herald and Examiner. You can now see why Nigeria’s Information and Culture Minister is just doing what he is paid to do: ‘public relations and advertising’ for his employers. But the point is: no power on earth can stop the role of the press and mass media in any political system in monitoring governance and holding public officers to account.
Ordinarily good journalism should be one of democracy’s safety valves. Without it, journalism can become sterile and barren. Without it, these days, a newspaper can become uncaring and bloodless. Without it, it becomes easier for government and our society to develop hardening of arteries and the heart. But the question today is: will investigative journalism survive what seems to be an inexorable trend toward concentrated corporate ownership of news-media organs? Some of our newspapers are set up by serving politicians.
As it is often noted, investigative journalists the world over are no strangers to controversy. By exposing abuses of power, media muckrakers have had to endure frequent legal challenges, ethical critiques and political attacks. Yet in most parts of the world, investigative reporting has survived and even prospered in this often-hostile environment.
In the United States, for instance, the notion that investigative reporting can be a powerful catalyst for change has gained widespread acceptance in post-Watergate America. For more than two decades, the public has been inundated with news stories by crusading journalists who expose alleged misconduct and right reputed wrongs. The reformist image of investigative reporters has been further reinforced and embellished by movies and books. This is how that accountability works: vigilant journalists bring wrongdoing to public attention. And then an informed citizenry responds by demanding reforms from their elected representative. Policy makers in turn change by taking corrective action.
Still on the power of investigative journalism:
Where is the capacity to hold the powerful to account? If News in its classic form is what somebody, somewhere is trying to hide, and the rest is advertising, let’s ask more questions: Do today’s media organisations in Nigeria have capacity or enough capitalisation to hire investigative journalists that can hold public officers to account without caring a hoot about advertising support from organisations or agencies run by them?
Why do the state actors in Nigeria seek to criminalise journalism, which they always demonise as threatening national security and the media managers don’t often write robust editorials and investigations that can expose them?
As I was saying, the political economy of a country refers to its political and economic systems, together. The term political economy refers to a branch of social sciences that focuses on relationships between individuals, governments, and public policy. It is also used to describe the policies set by governments that affect their nations’ economies.
Investigative Journalism Power
Let’s examine this catchphrase from a United Nations MacBride Commission report in 1977: Under Rights and Responsibilities of Journalists, the Commission reiterates the role of investigative journalists this way:
‘Those in authorities often tend to conceal that which is convenient or likely to arouse public opinion against them… Active pursuit and disclosure of facts which are of public interest is one of the criteria to judge a journalist’s professional capacities…The role of the investigative journalist is to question and probe the action of those in authority and to expose them whenever there is abuse of power, incompetence, corruption and other deviations….’
Let’s look at how some practitioners define that genre of journalism. ‘The Philippine Centre for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ)’ defines Investigative Journalism as journalism that targets systemic errors, aiming to right a wrong. This is how one of the founders of the Centre Ms Sheila Coronel summarises the definition in a case study for World Bank Institute:
‘The PCI always addresses systemic problems. We never look at individual cases or incidents unless we can put them in a wider context of important issues such as the environment, corruption or social disintegration. We are always looking at the specific case as part of a bigger pattern in order to point out what is wrong in the system. This is what makes these investigations possible… For us investigative journalism is not just techniques, it is very important to understand investigative journalism-on a philosophical level-as journalism, which holds powerful individuals and institutions for their actions. We are very conscious of the role investigative journalism can play in a young democracy in terms of enriching public debate, catalysing reforms and holding the powerful to account….’
Let’s examine journalism in this context as defined by a practitioner in a book on ‘The Press and Public Policy’ by Dr Dokun Bojuwade, former executive of the Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ) who retired from the old MAMSER (now NOA) in the early 90’s. An unidentified expert in Bojuwade’s book defines the role of the press this way:
‘The ideal press is the First Estate of the Realm, not the Fourth…that keeps a watchful eye on the judiciary if the institution is wrongly interpreting the law…that moderates the activities of the executive if found to be presiding over a tyrannical mandate…that keeps the parliament on its toes if the body is putting out repressive legislation…’
We need to get it right here as they did in the Philippines that thorough, investigative reports are capable of:
- Arousing public opinions against authorities or governments.
- Questioning actions of those in authorities.
- Exposing them whenever there are traits of corruption, incompetence and deviations.
- Drawing attention to tyranny, oppression, wrong interpretation.
- Exposing hypocrisies, double standard and allied matters…
- Exposing something somebody in power or office wants to hide.
This actually is the World Bank’s Framework on Investigative Reporting
The world-class investigative story the World Bank Institute has been showcasing and advertising to the world in the Philippines took the investigators eight months. Tagged ‘Journalistic Legwork that Tumbled a President’, the report documented by Lars Moller and Jack Jackson for the World Bank Institute is about how a handful of Filipino journalists pulled the red carpet from under their powerful President Joseph Estrada in January 2001.
The World Bank has recommended the legwork in the Philippines as a brilliant case study for journalists around the World. It is therefore pertinent for young journalists to understand the fact that newspapers can only be influential by the quality of regular investigative reports it publishes. It cost the Filipino investigative journalists eight million US dollars.
So, do we have the financial capacity and capitalisation to do investigative journalism, a weapon of monitoring and accountability in our country?
Let’s examine the data below to illustrate how a robust private sector in a jurisdiction nurtures press freedom even in global context:
Nigeria’s 2020 budget: N10.51 trillion or $29.19 billion
Nigeria’s 2021 budget: N13.6 trillion or $35.66 billion
New York State budget: $212 billion
US 2021 budget: $6.8 trillion
UK 2021 budget: £1.053 trillion pounds or $1.4 trillion USD
Google Market Capitalisation: $1.95trillion after entering $2 trillion two weeks ago
Apple Market Cap: $2.64 trillion
Microsoft: $2.55 trillion
Amazon: $1.81 trillion
Nigeria’s Dangote Group Market Capitalisation: *$14 billion USD
BBC’s earnings from TV and radio licences: £159-a-year per household. It is most times up to *Ten billion Pounds
The updated 2025 budget figures and market capitalizations:
Government Budgets
- Nigeria’s 2025 Budget: N54.9 trillion ($36.4 billion), revised from N49.7 trillion
Corporate Market Capitalizations
- Google: $2 trillion
- Apple: $2.64 trillion
- Microsoft: $2.55 trillion
- Amazon: $1.81 trillion
Nigerian Corporate Market Capitalization
- Dangote Group: $14 billion
Media Revenue
- BBC’s TV and Radio Licences: £159 per household per year (approximately $200 USD), contributing to around £10 billion ($12.7 billion USD) in annual revenue 
A black-and-white advert in the U.S. edition of TIME (magazine) ranges from $77,600 for one-third of a page to $172,400 for a full page. A colour ad costs $119, 300 for one-third of a page and $265,100 for a full page. You’ll pay anywhere from $265,100 to $357,900 to get on one of the covers of the magazine.
Full Page in U.K’s Daily Telegraph is as high as £68,000 and #88, 000 in U.K’s Financial Times ‘10 x5’. In contrast, Black and white in Nigeria full page is around N500k and colour is below N700- N800k and the advertisers collect as much as 35% commission or more. This is instructive.
McManus’s model of market-driven journalism developed in the 90s expanded Shoemaker and Reese’s model by providing an analysis of the various influences on mass media production and on microeconomic theory (Curtin, 1999).
The model states that competition and exchange in four distinct markets—for consumers, advertisers, sources, and investors drive news production. The model explained further that such exchanges take place within a cultural, technological, and legal or regulatory environment external to the media, although the external environment and the stages of news production stand in a reciprocal relationship, with influence flowing in both directions.
In essence, the media cannot be isolated from influences within the context in which it operates, which further reflects the symbiotic relationship that exists among players involved in the news production activities.
Depending on the environment, there exists a hierarchy of influence among the identified influences. While socio-economic and political factors determine the colouration of the contexts, the need to sustain a business enterprise profitably however makes advertisers and investors rank top influencers rather than consumers and sources in many climes, especially in developing economies like Nigeria.
The ability of news sources to wield high influence, Ojebuyi and Adekoya (2020) have argued, is reinforced by the notion that many of them also wield economic power by not just providing subsidised contents but also providing revenue to the media in form of advertisements and paid contents. With capitalism gaining ground in most parts of the world, the disruptive nature of the business environment in Nigeria and many other countries has led to dynamism in the area of business ownership and operations of such entities.
It is now commonplace to find news sources such as public relations practitioners and stakeholders equally acting as advertisers thus influencing contents to be published in the media. The commercial pressure on the media is captured by Carlson (2015:856) below:
‘Even if journalists escape concern with revenues, news hierarchies must include managers tasked with both allocative power over newsroom resources and enhancing revenue. Decisions over the provision of resources affecting news content – bureaus, sections/desks, new positions, terminations, technological innovations and so on – are all driven by revenue…’
Even with structural divides in place, we can surmise that journalists internalise the need to attract audiences – and perhaps to avoid irritating advertisers – in their decision- making.
One of the PR practitioners interviewed in Ojebuyi and Adekoya (2020) noted that:
‘…One of the biggest problems that Nigeria faces is that the media have outsourced a lot of their responsibilities to those who are not holding that media space in trust for the public and I cannot stand here to judge them because it is difficult running their businesses in Nigeria. A lot of them are poorly funded and so poorly run. So, they are not able to do the kind of investigations or make the type of editorial investment that they would have wanted to make. But I will not say that they have solely outsourced their responsibilities to PR agencies, I will say that they have outsourced it to government, media offices across all government, multinationals and corporate organizations; because at the end of the day, he who pays the piper dictates the tune…’
Newman Predictions for 2021…
Accountability journalism continues to get tougher as politicians look to take advantage of concerns about misinformation to tighten restrictions on freedom of speech. These trends will also be apparent in some liberal democracies (as illustrated by the controversy around France’s new national security law). The price of talent goes up as subscription-focused platforms like Substack demonstrate the value of exceptional journalists working in a niche. But will growing pay disparities between stars and the rest create new tensions in newsrooms? 5G rollouts gather pace across the world, along with a proliferation of new devices including wearables and smart glasses. All this suggests publishers will need to prepare for a future that involves taking content and brands across more and more devices and distribution channels.
One of the key trends we highlighted in last year’s predictions report was the push towards digital subscription and other forms of reader payment. COVID-19 has given a big boost to that trend, with subscription specialist Zuora reporting that media publishing was the second fastest growing segment – after video streaming services such as Disney+, Netflix, and Amazon Prime. Average subscriptions across news, according to Zuora, were around 110% higher than the year before, when comparing the months March to May 2020.
The New York Times alone added more than a million net digital subscribers in 2020 – citing unprecedented demand for quality, original, independent journalism – and the Swedish publisher Dagens Nyheter offered open access to its website and apps for the first few months of the COVID-19 outbreak in return for an email address – subsequently converting record numbers to boost its subscriber base by a third. In the United Kingdom, The Guardian has been another beneficiary of the so-called ‘Covid bump’. It now has over a million regular subscribers and ongoing contributions – with subs for its paid-for apps growing 60%.
Can subscription models eventually work for all or just for a select number of high-quality titles?
The missing link…
What this shows is my conclusion that we are too poor in the media industry to hold the powerful to account in Nigeria. The political economy of press freedom is too weak to support good and accountability journalism. And so the conclusion of the whole matter is that ethical journalism will continue to suffer reverses here because of the operating environment that is so economically dominated by the public sector. It is a robust private sector that can support press freedom but in our operating environment, the multidimensional poverty, high inflation rate, foreign exchange crisis and high interest rate can’t enable press freedom to thrive. How many newspaper houses can import now very expensive newsprint from Sweden or Germany or Canada to publish five thousand copies daily? You require about N2 million to buy a reel you need to print fewer that 2000 copies daily. Where will you get money to buy diesel daily as we can’t rely on public electricity to print a newspaper in Nigeria. What of cost of other operations and salary owners’ and directors’ maintenance allowances?
Lest we forget…
That is why you always find these days unethical practices of print media houses giving awards to the sources we should monitor and hold to account. Tonight, a major newspaper owned by one of our icons will organise very elaborate media awards. One did in Abuja yesterday. Others did theirs last month. The Governors who are generally regarded as major critical failure factors of our country and other key state actors we should question are the award winners. What of our user-friendly and unethical legislators? They too will win awards most of them have duly paid for. What of the unethical businessmen and women here who are supposed to be investigated for unethical practices? They too are award winners? What kind of ethical journalism do you expect on the beats of such award winners? After today, will you now wonder why most newspapers can’t report the odd, the ugly and the unusual happenings in Rivers, Osun and even Lagos States? Is it now clear why we can’t probe further why the Lagos state government collected $100 million USD from Dangote for the plots of land for Refinery and Fertilizer Plants? Are you still wondering why energy editors can’t probe further why there is more importation of PMS despite the commissioning of the Dangote Refinery where even the United States now import jet fuel? Is it clear now why Nigerian journalists can’t investigate why elimination of landing costs haven’t led to lower cost of fuel? There are more unreported issues that have enhanced low patronage for our newspapers and even digital organs. It is a customer-centric business. But India, Israel and even Kenya still sell more print editions of their newspapers we can’t sell here anymore as we blame the social media. The readers and even viewers here can’t get value for their money. What of our NTA, a public broadcaster? The president just appointed the National Publicity Secretary of the ruling party as the Chairman of the Board of Directors. What kind of ethical journalism can we expect from what is supposed to be our BBC (U.K) or SABC, Africa (South Africa)? And so our elders, ethical journalism is a mirage for now, yes a bridge too far. Here is the thing, we are too poor to practise robust and ethical journalism for now.
May God bless our country with a good economic environment where ethical journalism can thrive to monitor our democracy and be able to hold our duty bearers to account!
Thank you for listening.
