Politics
UNITED Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, underscored the need for press freedom when he said: “A press that is free and independent is the globe’s greatest ally in combating misinformation and disinformation.”
Unarguably, it is the desire to check `misinformation and disinformation’ that the House of Representatives Committee on Information, National Orientation, Ethics and Value, embarked on the amendment of the Nigerian Press Council (NPC) Act.
Stakeholders in the media on June 17, stormed the National Assembly for the public hearing.
The amendment is seeking to remove bottlenecks affecting the performance of NPC, according to Mr Francis Nwosu, the Executive Secretary of NPC.
He said that the amendment would provide the NPC regulatory and institutional framework that would be in tune with current realities in regulating the press.
Nwosu noted that the Act has been a subject of controversy and litigation since 1999.
He said that efforts to resolve perceived disagreements have been carried out by former ministers of information and former members of the National Assembly, but some issues continued to linger.
In the proposed amendment, Nwosu is suggesting that the NPC should regulate the print and online media, unlike in the former law, which clearly stated that the NPC should regulate the “print media and related media houses.”
He said that the term “related media houses,” should be limited to “online media,” and should now read “to regulate print and online media.”
He further noted that the inclusion of fake news in the new amendment is a welcome development, adding however that the proposed Act should define what would constitute fake news for easy interpretation.
He suggested that a provision against hate speech should be included in the amendment, noting that freedom of the press should be amended as “freedom of expression and the press,” as guaranteed by the constitution.
Nwosu reiterated the commitment of the NPC to foster cordial relationship, adding that the NPC serves as people oriented democratic, efficient and inexpensive forum for hearing complaints.
He said that the NPC would provide an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanism that would help in reducing the barrage of litigations in courts,
Nwosu also said that the NPC would continue to maintain and promote high professional standards for the Nigerian press.
Mr Chris Isiguzo, the National President, Nigeria Union of Journalists(NUJ), decried the proposed amendment and accused the committee of not appropriately inviting stakeholders in such a critical bill that will have direct effect on practitioners.
According to him, you cannot undermine the importance of the media, the media play strategic roles be it print, electronic and online media.
He stressed that stakeholders’ engagement is critical for the success of the proposed bill.
To him, media regulation is important, especially the social media that have served as harbinger of fake news, hate speech and other vices that had led to the death of many, noting that unregulated social media can culminate in crisis, war among other vices.
Isiguzo said: “If the media decide to report panic, there will be panic, if the media decide to report tension, there will be tension, and if it is fear that the media decide to report, there will be fear. The media is strategic to inform, mobilise, entertain and shape society, which is why the media set agenda.”
The NUJ president emphasised that the discussion about media regulation should not be the sole responsibility of government.
“It must involve all critical stakeholders coming together to fashion strategy to curtail some of the worries expressed by practitioners.’’
According to Isiguzo, currently, there is no media house without an online presence, so everybody must be involved in the move to regulate the media both off and online, so it is imperative to involve all practitioners because “we all have an online platform.”
He said that if the government was allowed to completely take charge of the amendment, there will be a huge problem as the power of the media to checkmate government activities will be completely eroded.
“We understand we need some level of responsibilities in the media, but the stakeholders should be involved in any decision in the course of amendment before it becomes a law,’’ Isiguzo emphasised.
Mr Lanre Arogundade, the representative of International Press Centre (IPC) in his contribution, urged the committee to throw away the issue of defamation in order to forestall unnecessary litigation in courts.
“As media, we fought for this democracy, we want this democracy to survive beyond us, we should not look at today but tomorrow when we are no longer in office,” he said.
He said that members of the NUJ, Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria and Nigerian Guide of Editors should be on the board of NPC to ensure effective performance.
He said that the power to sanction any erring media house should be vested in the court and not on NPC because it could be subjected to abuse and witch hunt of perceived political enemy.
Mr Sanni Zoro, a former NUJ President, said that it will be a misnomer if the NPC is saddled with the power to withdraw the licence of media practitioners at will as being proposed in the bill.
He said the word, “online print media” should rather be changed to “online news organisation’’ because virtually all the media organisations now have an online media platform, while Face book, Twitter should be referred to as online blogger.
Zoro also expressed displeasure over the way and manner journalism is being practised in the country, preferring to call journalism in Nigeria a “craft” and not a profession.
To him, journalism goes with certain qualification that must be attained, adding that a professional journalist must have a requisite qualification and belong to organisation such as NUJ, with a regulatory body that will enforce the code of ethics.
According to Zoro, medical doctors, lawyers, engineers all have functional bodies, saddled with the responsibility of enforcing code of conduct.
He said that nothing should stop journalists from having a functional body with power to sanction.
Zoro said he believed in dialogue between the executive and the media to serve as a better platform before the amendment takes effect.
He stressed the need to reach compromise between the government and media practitioners. (NANFeatures) (NAN)
– June 22, 2021 @ 12:56 GMT|
Tags: Issues in amendment of Nigerian Press Council Act
