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LAGOS, MONDAY, MAY 3, 2004:
On The World Press Freedom Day 2004
Today, May 3, 2004, the world celebrates a
decade and three years of the World Press Freedom Day. Media Rights Agenda
(MRA) celebrates with the Nigerian and world press on this all important
media day and calls on the government and people of Nigeria to put in
place structures that will enable the establishment of an independent,
pluralistic and free press in the nation in line with the Windhoek
Declaration of 1991.
MRA is also using this
occasion to call attention to the renewed and increased onslaught on the
Nigerian media. It is sad to note that a substantial percentage of these
attacks on the media are carried out by government officials, their
security aides as well as by men and officers of its security agencies.
The renewed attacks re-enact the gloomy days of military dictatorship when
there was no respect for the rule of law. Today journalists and media
workers face same, if not worse attacks including death threat and sadly,
perpetrators are neither investigated nor brought to book where known. For
a democracy just being established, this situation is totally unexpected
and unacceptable.
MRA would like to remind
Nigerians, especially our leaders, that the media is an integral and
indispensable part of democracy and rather than harangue its
practitioners, it must be nurtured with democracy. The media, as the
fourth estate of the realm ensures transparency and accountability in any
democracy. We therefore use the opportunity of this year’s celebration to
call on government to provide the enabling environment: legal,
institutional and economic, for the practice of journalism. It should seek
to eliminate attacks on the press and bring perpetrators to book. Our laws
and environment must conform to the principles elucidated by
internationally accepted covenants on freedom of expression as well as the
1991 Windhoek Declaration.
We also use this
opportunity to bare our mind on the current controversies between the
National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) and operators of the broadcast
industry. For the purpose of clarity, we want to identify the issues under
contention thus: ban on live retransmission of foreign news and news
magazine programmes; airing of miracles on religious broadcasts; and
disparity in licence fees.
On the ban on live
retransmission of foreign news and news magazine programmes, MRA believes
that broadcast stations, radio and television, must have editorial control
over all their news and news magazine programmes and if they must
retransmit any such programmes, they should be prerecorded before
retransmission. This way, stations can take responsibilities for whatever
they transmit or retransmit having listened to and/or watched them.
On the ban on miracles in
religious broadcasts, we believe that the NBC Director General should not,
with executive fiat, ban them. Miracles and belief in them are essential
characteristics of Christianity and banning miracles in religious
broadcast will therefore tamper with the totality of the Christian faith
as presented in such broadcasts. We believe that miracles are of such
nature that they are not easy to verify. Again, if the certificates
presented by and testimonies by close relatives and associates of those
who claim to have been healed are not enough verification of the miracles,
the NBC should come out with clear details of how it should be done.
In addition, religion is
a very sensitive matter in Nigeria and any decision affecting the
broadcast of any aspect of it must be taken with caution so it does not
create room for further crisis in a nation already overwhelmed by a state
of insecurity. With this in mind, we recommend a meeting of stakeholders
to include officials of the NBC, lawyers, experts in international best
practices in broadcasting, and clerics to look at what obtains in other
countries and decide on the manner such broadcast should take in Nigeria.
Before that is done, miracles in religious broadcasts should not be
hindered.
MRA asserts that licence
fees charged private stations are too high and are an impediment to the
development of the industry. In addition, there is an inexplicable and
illogical disparity between the fees paid by private and government owned
stations thereby making the playing field uneven for the different
categories of players. The fees paid by private stations also do not
reflect the NBC published fees for the various categories. A situation
where government stations, which receive government subventions and
compete with private stations for advert revenue, pay substantially less
than private station is in every manner unfair to private stations.
MRA therefore calls on
NBC to drastically reduce as well as harmonise these licence fees.
For further information, please
contact:
Ayode Longe, Programme Officer
Media Rights Agenda
Tel: 234-1-4936033, 234-1-4936034
Fax: 234-1-4930831
E-mail: pubs@mediarightsagenda.org
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