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Nigerian Newspaper Journalism and Ethical Enigma of

Accuracy in News Reports

By

Umar Jibrilu Gwandu

Fellowship for Ethics Leadership 2013

Centre for International Media Ethics (CIME)

Edited by Carol Devay

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Tartalom

Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 5

Aim and Objectives ....................................................................................................................................... 5

Literature Review .......................................................................................................................................... 6

Methodology ................................................................................................................................................. 9

Findings ....................................................................................................................................................... 10

Summary of the findings ............................................................................................................................. 11

Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................... 12

References .................................................................................................................................................. 13

Appendixes .................................................................................................................................................. 15

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Introduction Newspaper is a medium of information delivery to the literate members of the society. It is,

therefore, considered as a medium targeting the educated who are mostly the elites and critical

audiences. Viewed from the prism of the anticipated readers, content of newspapers is mostly

seen and cherished as true, objective and dispassionate reflection of the happenings in our

world. It is on the basis of this that newspapers are considered as dependable sources of

information and trustworthy references. Newspapers are seen as platform where today's news

is consciously written and documented as tomorrow's history.

Article 5.0.1 of chapter five of the fourth edition of the Nigerian Broadcasting Code –N.B.C

(2006) succinctly recognizes this role when it notes: “News and Current Affairs provide instant

record of history. This enables broadcasting, the most powerful medium of mass mobilization

and social change, to influence democracy and social engineering”.

Paradoxically, some Nigerian newspapers fall short of the above depiction. Many of the papers

are carried away by sensationalism and a morbid search for customers in the competitive

market place of information dissemination.

To ascertain the veracity or otherwise of the fact that our newspapers are not being reservoirs

for dependable data sources, one may need not to go far. A cursory glance at the same leading

story of any single day published by major newspapers will infuse an ambivalent feeling of what

was supposed to be fact has been reduced to fabrication, concoctions or even guess work.

Aim and Objectives The main aim of this study is to reflect upon the ethical conundrums of news reporting in

Nigerian press and the distortion of truth and facts. Hence, the specific objectives are:

To explore the ethical challenges of presenting true and accurate reports in journalism

To discover how facts are presented in Nigerian newspapers

To highlight possible inconsistencies presented in news as truth

To explore how “truth” is reported in Nigerian Newspapers

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Literature Review The crux of journalism is truthful account of events. Journalists’ credibility is reflected on the

level of truth presented. Perhaps it is against this backdrop that many Nigerian newspapers

have included the word “truth” as part of their slogans. For instance, “Truth in Defense of

Freedom” is the slogan of The Nation. While Newswatch has its slogan as “Tradition built on

Truth” The Guardian chooses to have “Conscience, Nurtured by Truth” as its slogan.

Elizabeth Blanks Hindman presented an analysis of 196 US Supreme Court decisions’ relating

with media responsibilities carried out from 1931 to 1996. In the 1997 published work “Rights

Vs Responsibilities” which extensively deals with truth-telling among in journalism, the author

concludes that:

Truth-telling is the key both to the Supreme Court’s view of media

responsibility and the media’s view of their own role in US society.

Telling the truth – that is, representing various views as fairly and

accurately as possible- about society is seen as primary

responsibility of the media. (p.35)

According to her, the view of the court is that journalists “should tell the truth, for that is part

of their responsibility of enlightening the public. Journalists have a responsibility to tell the

truth, to avoid mistakes whenever possible, and to avoid conscious lies”.

Ian Richard’s work “Quagmires and Quandaries: Exploring Journalism Ethics” deals with

complex issues on intricate involved in journalism and ethics. He posits that “many of the

virtues associated with ethical journalism relate directly or indirectly to truth-telling; and truth-

telling is central to most of journalistic codes of ethics” (p18).

To better understand the journalistic practices of Nigerian media- a global account of ethics in

the media can be used as a barometer of expectations. For instance, as cited in Richard (2006),

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United States’ Society for Professional journalists urges journalists to carry out their functions

“by seeking truth and providing a fair and comprehensive account of events”. The German code

asserts that “respect for the truth and accurate information of the general public are the

overriding principles of the press”. The Netherland journalists’ code of ethics provides that

“respect for the truth and for the right of public to truth is the first duty of the journalists”. An

emphatic statement is decaled to the Brazilian journalists that “the fundamental obligation of

the journalist is with the truth of facts”.

In the same vein, the Australian Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance Code posits that truth is

“one of the fundamental principles of journalism” while the Belarus code emphasizes that “a

journalist is obliged to give truthful description of reality through detailed and comprehensive

information” (Richard, 2006).

It is imperative to note that the credibility and trust enjoyed by the media cannot be

unconnected with the truthful dissemination of unbiased reports. Coleman et al, (2009) notes:

The believability of media messages largely depend on their credibility rating by

the public which in a way is a function of individual and collective perception of

the content, behaviour and quality of these outlets. Credibility is at the heart of

message believability and by implication media believability and action and

reaction. In communication, credibility has four components that include truth,

competence, relevance and dynamism. Without the feeling that the source is

truthful, one can hardly believe the messages from such a source.

The preamble of the code of ethics for Nigerian Journalism noted the imperative nature of truth

when it says: “truth is the cornerstone of journalism and every journalist should strive diligently

to ascertain the truth of every event”. Article 2 of the code of ethics for Nigerian journalists

talks about accuracy and fairness.

"The public has a right to know. Factual, accurate, balance and fair reporting is the

ultimate objective of good journalism and the basic of earning public trust and

confidence.

Every journalist should refrain from publishing inaccurate and misleading information.

Where such information has been inadvertently published, prompt correction should be

made. Every journalist must hold the right of reply as a cardinal rule of practice.

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In the course of his/her duties every journalist should strive to separate facts from

conjecture and comment".

While it is clear that truth-telling is a globally accepted dictum in journalism, upholding to this

ethical provision becomes more challenging especially in reporting relating to conflict, violence

and causalities.

Okunna (2003) delves into Mass Communication ethics in Nigeria while Orotonla (2005), Oso

(2000) and Okoye (2007) wrote about Nigerian press law and journalism ethics. The available

literature is generic and left a vacuum for case-specific issues on challenges attached to the

adherence or otherwise of the ethical provision of giving truthful reports.

This study seeks to reduce the dearth of literature in the area and stimulate researches that

highlight the challenges with a view to mapping out ways of having properly oriented society.

Study Limitations

The study is a cross-sectional case specific. It is carried out to examine how a single news

item was reported by ten leading national dailies in Nigeria. The outcome does not in any way

suggest a blanket judgment. However, it serves as a pointer to other studies in the area.

Similarly, the qualitative descriptive method opted and adopted in the study, despite its

numerous advantages may, according to Wimmer and Dominic (2011), often be a “primary step

for further investigation rather than the final phase of the project”. In the words of Kothari

(2012) “the case study methods is based on assumptions which may not be realistic at times”.

Another limitation of the study, perhaps, has to do with the choice of news relating to a

complex and perplexing issue bothering on conflict and casualties. It is difficult for reporters to

ascertain the number of dead, injured or affected victims as the figure may change (likely to

increase) within span of time.

The spontaneous nature of the event, the need to gather information within limited period

of time, difficulty in contacting the right sources, and market competition are among issues

which make dissemination of “single universal truth” difficult. This is in contrast with news

generated from press conferences, press releases and public functions.

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Similarly, the intricate nature of the political class and public communication professionals -

who want to hide or dilute the magnitude of negative news, is an essential factor which was not

discussed in the article.

Methodology

Case study method of qualitative content analysis is adopted in the paper. Kothari (2012) says

that the case study method focuses on full and in-depth analysis on issues. “The object of the

case study method is to locate the factors that account for behavior-patterns of the given unit

as an integrated totality”. Odum (1929) cited in Koul (2012) posits that “the case study method

is a technique by which individual factors whether it be an institution or just an episode in the

life of an individual or a group is analyzed in relationship to any other in the group”. It involves

careful and a fairly exhaustive observation of a unit – person, family, institution, cultural group,

community or issues, for the purpose of drawing inferences and possible generalization (Young,

1960). Yin (2003) views the case study method as an empirical inquiry that uses multiple of

sources of evidence to investigate a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context, in

which the boundaries between the phenomenon and its context are not clearly evident.

According to Wimmer and Dominick (2011) the case study method is the “most valuable when

the researcher wants to obtain a wealth of information about a research topic. The case study

and provides tremendous details”. Citing Merriam (1988), Wimmer and Dominick presented

four characteristics of case study research:

Particularistic: Case study focus on a particular situation, event, programe or

phenomenon.

Descriptive: The final product of a case study is a detailed description of the topic under

study.

Heuristic: A case study helps people to understand what’s being studied. New

interpretations, new perspectives, new meaning, and fresh insights are all goals of a

case study.

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Inductive: Most case studies depend on inductive reasoning. Principles and

generalization emerge from an examination of the data. Many case studies attempt to

discover new relationships rather than verify existing hypothesis.

Therefore, the study content analyzes 10 of the leading Nigerian newspaper of Sunday 7th July,

2013. On 6th July 2013 there was an attack at a school in Yobe state, the newspapers published

a variety of conflicting and contradicting reports on the same event. This is not only inimical to

journalism ethics but also will jeopardize the readers’ interest that may turn to the next paper

to verify facts. Instead of getting informed a reader may end of getting confused as to the facts

and figures regarding the same incident were inconsistent in the papers.

Findings 1. What is the number of causalities?

Sunday Sun says 29 students and one teacher, Sunday Vanguard reports 29 students, one

teacher and 3 policemen while Sunday Mirror claims 41 students and a teacher. As The Nation

Sunday says 20 students were killed and death toll may top 40, Sunday Tribune says 42 (did not

qualify them as students or pupils) were killed just like Sunday Leadership says 30 (lives) but

Sunday Newswatch headline says 42 kids where Sunday Trust reports 30 and Sunday Punch

says 29 while The Guardians says atleast 29.

2. Who are the victims?

The issue does not stop at conflicting and contradicting figures it goes beyond lack of

consistency as to the description of victims –students, kids or pupils. Although, the words may

be considered as having close meanings but everyone knows the words do not mean same as

each one has different meaning and is to be used appropriately. Out of 10 newspapers only

Vanguard, Sun and Mirror find it worthy to state that a teacher was killed in the mayhem.

3. Who are the actors?

At the time of the report there was no clear evidence of the real actors of the incident as no

group immediately claimed the responsibility of the act at the time. Some newspapers went

ahead using the experiences of similar incidents to guess and state the perpetrators of the act.

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Four newspapers – Mirror, The Nation, Punch and Newswatch cast their headlines in such a way

that the act was attributed to Boko Haram though in the body of the stories mostly the paper

use the phrase “gun men suspected to be Boko Haram members”. The Guardian chooses to call

the actors as terrorists while Tribune, Leadership, Vanguard and Sun described them as gun

men and Sunday Trust described them as sect in their headlines.

4. Word choice

The level of sensationalism in journalism is palpable through the use of words like catalogue of

woes, massacred, roasted, fresh terrorist attack, horror in Yobe, body burnt beyond recognition

among others as mostly used by Sunday Mirror. Words like “kills, fresh attack, death toll,

bomb, more troops deployed” were used by The Nation while Sunday Tribune chooses to use

“attack, bereaved, wails, condemn” for instance. The Leadership appears to be more

economical in its choice of words: “kill and attack”. Seven of the newspapers (The Nation,

Punch, Newswatch, Leadership, Sunday Trust, Sun and Vanguard) use the word “kill” or any of

its forms. In adition to that, the Punch included “bloody school attack”; Newswatch added

“massacred, dawn attack”.

The following chart gives an in-depth analysis as to the differences in word usages according to

each of the papers in this study.

Summary of the findings S/No. Newspaper Slogan Actors Number of

Victims

Words Choice

1 Sunday Mirror All facts, all sides Boko Haram, 41 students,

Teacher

Horror in Yobe, roasted

alive, sets ablaze,

Catalogue of woes,

gunshots, gun, burnt

beyond recognition,

fingers shot off

2. The Nation Truth in Defense

of Freedom

Boko Haram 20 Students

May top 40

Kills, fresh attack, death

toll, bomb, more troops

deployed

3. Sunday Tribune Nigeria’s most Gun men 42, Attack, bereaved, wails,

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informative

Newspaper

1000 missing condemn

4 Leadership The most

influential

Newspaper of the

Nation’s capital

Gun men 30 kill, attack

5 Punch The most widely

read Newspaper

Boko Haram 29 Pupils Bloody School attack, Kills

6 News watch Tradition built on

Truth

Boko Haram 42 Kids Kills, massacred, dawn

attack

7 Sunday Trust The Newspaper

you can trust

Sect

30 Students Kills

8 Sun Voice of the

Nation

Gun men 29 students,

teacher

Killed, Massacred,

9 The Guardian Conscience,

Nurtured by Truth

Terrorists Children, teacher

Killed

Fresh Terrorist Attack

10 Vanguard Towards better

life for the people

Gen men 29 Students,

1 teacher,

Kill, Short dead

Conclusion What is clear is that the newspaper proprietors, Nigerian Union of Journalists, Guild of Editors,

journalism training institutions and many stakeholders have a responsibility of sanctifying and

salvaging our newspapers from becoming an avenue for spreading speculations and glorified

rumors. Otherwise, our newspapers will be seen as fictitious presentation of facts only to be

bought and read as such.

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References Coleman, S., S. Anthony and D. E. Morrison (2009) Public Trust in the News. A constructivists

Study of the Social Life of the News, Oxford: Reuters Institute for the Study of

Journalism.

Hindman, E.B (1997) Right vs Responsibilities: The Supreme Court and the Media, Greenwood

Press, Westport, Connecticut.

Koul, Lokesh (2012) (4th Ed) Methodology of Educational Research, New Delhi; Vikas Publishing

House PVT LTD

National Broadcasting Corporation (2006) Nigeria Broadcasting Code (4th edition) The Regent:

Abuja

Okoye, I (2007). Nigerian Press Law and Ethics. Lagos: Maithause Mass Communication Books.

Okunna, C.S (2003). Ethics of Mass Communication Mgbowo: New Generation Books.

Oluruntola, S. (2005). "Media Ethics: The problem facing Nigerian Journalists" in Malam and Ali

(eds) Perspectives on Mass Communication Issues: A Book Reading 1. Kano: Gidan

Dabino Publishers

Onabajo, O. (2002). Essentials of Media Laws and Ethics Lagos:

Oso, L (2000). "Inculcating Ethical Standards through Education and Retraining" in Ethics and

Regulation: Formulating a working agenda for journalists and the Media. Lagos:

International Press Centre.

Oso, L and Pate, Umaru (2011) Mass Media and Society in Nigeria Lagos; Malhouse

Richard, Ian (2006) Quagmires and Quandareis: Exploring Journalism Ethics New Delhi; Anmol

Publications PVT Ltd.

Wimmer, R. D and Dominick, J. R (2011) (9th ed) Mass Media Research: An Introduction,

Canada: Wadsworth.

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Yin, R. (2003) Case Study Research (3rd ed.) Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.

Young, P. V (1960), Scientific Social Surveys and Research (3rd Ed), New York: Prentice-Hall

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Appendixes

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