The third day in May is set aside to celebrate World Press Freedom Day. The 2018 theme is Keeping Power in Check: Media, Justice and the Rule of Law. It’s interesting that the theme would mirror the realities that journalists in democratically naïve climes face. One would actively resist the temptation to talk about Nigeria’s image against the poignant 2018 theme while dwelling on the thoughts of forebears like Charles Maurice de Talley who said that ‘without freedom of the press, there can be no representative government’. Indeed, the freedom of the fourth estate of the realm should be inviolate.
History reminds us that this fundamental freedom dates back to the birth of mass media and the need for the people to be informed about what is happening to and around them. The United States in its 1791 First Amendment declared that congress shall make no Law abridging the freedom of speech or of the Press.
Freedom of the press as a principle ensures that the right to communicate and express through various mediums including printed and electronic media, especially published materials should be considered a right to be exercised freely. The freedom entails putting power within the right confines and ensuring the state does not overreach the fundamental freedom of holding opinion without interference, seeking , receiving and imparting information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers.
Like all Freedoms, it is accompanied by responsibilities. It however makes for some knowing how far this right has been overrun by recalling human experiences as opposed to sterile statistics.
Journalists Killed by their Governments Death sometimes preys on journalists while working to make available to the rest of society facts they should know . The United States which is touted as the home of free speech has sometimes had incidences of journalists exterminated while working on their beats. At least 39 journalists have died while on investigations. According to the Committeee to protect journalists, ten American journalists serving the Vietnamese, Haitian and Chineese Immigrant communities were killed in political assassinations.
Terrorism has claimed some lives of journalists. Alison Parker and Adam Ward were killed while reporting live news in 2015. It is fairly to the credit of the United States that it is not notorious for making victims of journalists who seek to report government’s inimical activities what is however disturbing is that journalists who seek to unravel immigrant-related incidences often find themselves in the line of fi re. In the land of drug cartels, journalists who cover political corruption or organized crime are almost certainly systematically targeted, threatened and often gunned down in cold blood. The murder of Javier Valdez Cardeans, aged 50 was one of such cases.
Javier was a veteran reporter who specialized in writing about drug trafficking. His Narco-journalism book for instance recounts the trials of Mexican journalists who put their lives at risk while trying to uncover the activities of drug traffickers. Javier, like ten other Mexican journalists who were killed in 2017 died trying to reveal the activities of drug cartels in order to help the Mexican government address a matter which was threatening the stability of the country.
It would be taken as given that the Mexican government would protect such journalists or atleast fish out their murderers but this assumption is far from Mexico’s reality as these murders mostly go unpunished. We would turn the searchlight on Africa and more specifically Nigeria in a while but not before we report on Syria where journalists are permanently exposed to snipper fires and improvised explosive devices. Syria has remained the deadliest country for reporters since 2012 and its ignoble reputation is seconded only by Mexico’s.
Nobert Zongo, Africa’s Metaphor for the Huge Price of Journalism. Nobert Zongo, a Burkinabe investigative journalist who managed L’índependant in Ougadougou was a courageous journalist who exposed the extortion and impunity of the President Blaise Compaore government. Husband to Genevive and father to Constant and Benjamin, Nobert, worked on a story on the suspicious disappearance and murder of David Ouedraogo, the driver of the President’s brother. The story of David’s death left too many gaps. Nobert sought to put together the puzzle.
Soon he began to receive death threats and was often trailed by a car while on transit. On December 13,1998, four bodies were found shot and burned in a Toyota Land Cruiser.The remains were identifi ed as Nobert Zongo, Nobert’s brother Yembi Ernest Zongo,Blaise Ilboudo, a colleague and Nobert’s driver, Abdouleye Ablasse Nikiema. Nobert’s death triggered a national protest in Burkinafaso. In 1999, Francois Compaore, President Blaise’s brother was charged with murder and harboring the body of David Ouedragou, his driver.The charges were soon dropped by a military tribunal. Marcel Kafando was charged with the crime but the charges were later dropped .
Reporters Without Borders declared the judgment as “Scandalous’’. It took the African Court of Human and People’s Right to order a reopening of the case and the imposition of stiff monetary sanctions. The Cost of Journalism in Nigeria From the days of snipping out Dele Giwa with a letter bomb, journalists in Nigeria have sometimes been at the receiving end of perilous governments .
According to BBC, Nigeria is among 12 countries in the world where journalists are slain and the killers evade justice. In October 2011, Zakariya Isa, a reporter for the Nigeria Television Authority was killed by Boko Haram. Ebonyi journalist Charles Out was abducted and beaten up by thugs. Kaduna state under Governor Elrufai is generously contributing to the decline of Press freedom.The governor who at various times deploys executive powers to instrument of coercion and oppression has intimidated several journalists.The Nigeria Union of Journalists accused the governor of caging the media and muffling freedom of expression.
The national body sent a stern warning to the Governor following the hounding of Dickson Onjewu of New Nigerian Newspapers, Gabriel Idibia of Union Newspapers, Midat Joseph of Leadership newspaper and Luka Binniyat of the Vanguard Newspaper who was incarcerated by the Kaduna state government for over hundred days.
Media, Democracy & The Rule of Law. With the burgeoning of the new media, press freedom has become a matter of concern as bloggers have joined the list of endangered species in the media space. A day that commemorates press freedom reminds journalists and writers not to be intimidated by the arbitrary actions of state actors. For as John Bray, US Consul General observed, democratic societies are not infallible but they are accountable and the exchange of ideas is the foundation for accountable governance. As Nigeria runs up to the 2019 elections, objective reporting is required even more to educate the people and give them the opportunity to make informed decisions.
Democracy cannot outstrip press freedom. It therefore behoves leaders to ensure that free and responsible reporting are the hallmarks of their leadership. Government officials or anyone at all who arbitrary plot to muzzle the Press must be made to answer to legal sanctions. Furthermore, journalists and opinion providers must make eff ort to report facts and not fictions that exist only in the figment of their imaginations. Nigeria’s democratic temperament stands a chance at growth. Press freedom must be the catalyst for that much needed growth and development therefore the Nigerian state must be fully invested in Press freedom.
