BACKGROUND
One sure way of keeping in touch with our contemporary world is through the media. Communication is a vital component of our lives and existence and no society has been known to exist without it. It is the exchange of ideas, views, information, experiences and the sharing of meanings between persons, nations, societies and cultures. This necessitates the continuous study in the area of mass communication and how it affects different societies and people. The media are often in liberal theory referred to as the “Fourth Estate” and the “watchdog of the society”, meaning that the media exist as an organ of information sourcing and dissemination, educational promotion, surveillance, social enlightenment and mobilization. These functions set the media apart as an important link/factor in the relationship between the government and the governed and make them a sine qua non to societal growth and development.
The understanding of the place of communication becomes more imperative in the 21st century for obvious reasons. The 21st Century is the Age of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) powered by the developments in computer technology. The Age of ICTs has taken science and technology to another level. Nations, societies, peoples and even businesses are now run with the help of technology; those that are not technology complaint lose their touch, influence and essence. Most of these developments are made possible through the instrumentality of the media of communication.
The understanding of the place of communication becomes more imperative in the 21st century for obvious reasons.
The 21st Century is the Age of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) powered by the developments in computer technology. The Age of ICTs has taken science and technology to another level. Nations, societies, peoples and even businesses are now run with the help of technology; those that are not technology complaint lose their touch, influence and essence. Most of these developments are made possible through the instrumentality of the media of communication.
With this theory in mind, the media is expected to raise conflicts to the plane of discussion and should do everything possible to see that the public gets the right information that will enable them take an informed decision.
For this to be possible, news reportage must be free from bias, partiality, and partisanship. Hence, Objectivity comes to play.
OBJECTIVITY AS AN IMPERATIVE IN MEDIA PRACTICE AND MORALITY
McQuail (2005: 200) highlights three basic features of objective journalism. One is
that it adopts “a position of detachment and neutrality towards the object of reporting.” Secondly, there is a lack of partisanship, which he explains as “not taking sides in matters of dispute or showing bias.” Thirdly, objectivity “requires strict attachment to accuracy and truth. McQuail (2005: 203) is quick to add that these ideals are “not unanimously regarded as possible to achieve but in so far as we aim to understand the world we cannot get along without assuming both the possibility and value of objectivity”.
In his x-ray of Nigeria’s political and media history, Igboanusi (2006: 46) highlights how a number of Newspapers fizzled off the news stand because they were unabashed in expressing partisan views. In his words, the political bigwigs of the time “deliberately used the press as a major machinery in their mutual propaganda against each other, playing up their people against the others”
Such use of the media, besides its damaging effect on the credibility of the press, yielded the gory repercussions of the infamous 60’s. Instead, Igboanusi (2006:45) advocates for media that is founded on the principles of “truth and objectivity which would make for greater national concord, identity and integration.”
AN OVERVIEW OF THE NIGERIAN EARLY PRESS
In the Nigerian First Republic for instance, the late multi-billionaire, Chief MKO Abiola established the National Concord to advance his political interest in the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) in 1979-1983. The newspaper was then used to demystify the person of Chief Obafemi Awolowo who was politically anointed to win the Nigerian Presidency when and if it was zoned to the South-West of the country. This objective was to pave the way for the emergence of Chief MKO Abiola as leading candidate in the elections. The Zik group of newspapers was also established to advance the political interest of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe who openly used the newspapers for his political ends. There are many other instances that suggest a link between the development of Nigerian democracy and the press. The Nigerian Tribune of Chief Obafemi Awolowo and the New Nigeria were some on the media organizations established to advance certain parochial political interests. However, they all contributed in one way or the other to the development of the Nigerian democracy.
Furthermore, the nationalists used the press as an instrument of struggle during the pre independence and military era. Since then, the Nigerian press has continued to participate in the political setting of the country. The opening up of the political space with the introduction of MacPherson constitution of 1951 also opened up ethnic and sectional politics which was sparked off by a feud between the Daily Service of Ernest Okoli and S.L. Akintola and West African Pilot of Nnamdi Azikiwe between 1939-1944 (Galadima and Ehighe, 2001:64). Graham
Mytton (1983) cited in Galadima and Ehighe (2001) also notes that when the British colonial government assured Nigeria of political independence, further party newspapers appeared as it became clear that publishing a newspaper was part of a successful political campaign. This made Nnamdi Azikiwe of NCNC to control 10 newspapers while his closest rival, Obafemi Awolowo of Action Group controlled 14 newspapers.
The question that arises from this assertion is how does the press do this? The press all over the globe is regarded as a political instrument and in advanced societies, the mass media are actually an integral part of political life, serving for most people as their major and only link with the
government and providing for them the information which they require to make political judgment on the basis of their political attitudes. In every society, the mass media plays important roles in the society or social system. That is why no government can do without the mass media. In addition to providing information about the political process, the mass media can confer status and legitimacy on political leaders and issues. This is known as status conferral function of the mass media. The mass media can also set the political agenda for the society by
deciding what political topics the people talk about. The agenda setting function of the mass media is an important aspect of the institutional linkage between the mass media and politics (Umechukwu, 2001).
From the discussions so far, it is obvious that the mass media have a lot of influence on politics through the presentation of politically crucial information to huge heterogeneous, transitory and anonymous audiences.
Decisions made by media professionals determine what information becomes available to the media audiences and what remains available. By putting stories into perspective and interpreting them, media personnel assign meaning to information and indicate the values by which it ought to be judged. By creating and sustaining political values, the mass media are also important tools for political stability and social equilibrium. The Nigerian mass media are expected to avoid the practices of fraternization with political aspirations of their owners. They are expected to eschew all forms of subjective or biased reporting of political events and issues.
YELLOW JOURNALISM: A LIMITATION TO MASS MEDIA OBJECTIVITY IN NIGERIA
Many Tabloids have undertaken this reporting technique all in the name of staying in business and selling their papers, yellow journalism helps to make visuals out of captivating headlines which in turn attract a potential consumer to the article. When extravagant perspective triumphs over the core essentials of journalism-to inform-, objectivity is downplayed.
Objectivity is the state of being as factually true as possible, however, to be objective in journalism, one needs to completely toss out all personal perspective. The legacy of yellow journalism should be minimal because it is the responsibility of the press to be faithful both to professional responsibility and reportage.
Objectivity in journalism is important even though it is hard to obtain, however it is the obligation of the press to report truth to the masses, it must be a goal to strive for. In the words of lehmann said the fact that journalist cant achieve objectivity doesn’t mean it should be thrown out as a goal. It is a virtue every journalist must live up to.
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