|
TEMPO OF NEWSGATHERING RISES
Lagos, Tuesday December 4, 2001:
The tempo of newsgathering and news dissemination by
Nigerian media rose significantly between August 1 and 31, according to
two reports recently released by Media Rights Agenda (MRA). The reports,
which were published in September, are products of MRA’s Media Monitoring
Project. The reports, however, noted that there were only marginal
differences between the cumulative news reports and those which were
evaluated.
The print media report which was tagged “Print Monitor”
noted that the number of monitored news reports increased from 15,217 in
the previous months to 16,610. similarly, the reports, which fell under
the project’s topic/variables climbed from 1851 to 2264. However, the
percentage ratio of evaluated items to total reports, which was 12.2% in
August, remained stable at 12% in September.
Said the Print Monitor: “the implication of this is that
while there was appreciable increase in the tempo of newsgathering and
publishing, the ratio of reports relevant to this monitoring project has
remained stable.”
In a general assessment of the print media’s performance in
August, the report observed that the 15 publications which were reviewed
did not pay enough attention to important issues of public interest,
considering the low proportion (12%) of news reports which were relevant
to the project’s four main topic/variables.
It will be recalled that the four issues including
Democracy Issues, Political Issues, Human Rights and Public
Accountability, were deliberately chosen to encompass critical issues of
public interest. Bearing this in mind, the report argued that there was
considerable room for improvement in the media’s day-to-day coverage of
these important matters. The findings also constituted a question mark on
the general performance of the print media.
As for the evaluated categories, 1.120 items were recorded
for the Democracy variable alone. If the figure for Political Issues
variable (737) is added to it, politically related news items will be
1,857. However, the figures for Human Rights and Public Accountability
variables were far less impressive, in fact, they were worrisome.
The 15 publications evaluated in the project published a
total of 190 human rights-related items in the month. For public
accountability, there were 205. it was clear that the editors did not
regard human rights and public accountability matter as being important
enough to require much editorial space.
The report noted that: “Without a doubt, the print media
provided a useful platform (in the month) on which the educated citizenry
engaged in robust, even heated debate on governance issues and related
matter. But the news coverage of the publications themselves was often
shallow, one-sided and riddled with errors of fact or errors of judgment.
The cases of excellent sometimes let their readers down by applying double
standards or practicing self-censorship. Apart from this, the desperate
scramble for advertisement patronage has continued to make nonsense of
journalistic ethics.”
The print media report advised newspaper owners and
managers not to set aside legitimate journalistic pre-occupations because
of revenue from advertisement.
Pertaining to the broadcast media, virtually all radio
stations gave the various governments massive and positive publicity to
the extent that the stations had become official mouthpieces.
Unfortunately, issues of public accountability and human rights were
grossly under-reported.
The political issues variable received the most attention
with 1531 reports compared with 1072 for democracy; 174 for human rights
and 195 for public accountability. Most reports were derived from the
Federal Capital Territory, followed by Rivers and Lagos States, in that
order.
The use of sound-bites and actualities actually declined on
all the stations including Channels Television and NTA 2 Channel 5 which
used employ them to a significant extent. Poor reception, bad pictures
and various technical faults were constantly experienced during the
month. Also, viewers continued to be confused by the infusion of normally
commercial material into news broadcasts.
On the whole, six radio stations and six television
stations spread throughout the country were monitored. Overall, 10,084
reports were monitored, divided into 6440 (radio) and 3644 (television).
The Airwaves Monitor conclusively advised the station managers to procure
the necessary equipment, which would ensure smooth transmission of
signals. It also urged increased use of sound bites and actualities.
Contact:
Banji Adeyanju
Project Manager
Tel/Fax: 01-4930831
E-mail: pubs@mediarightsagenda.org |
