CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The political entity called Nigeria has continued since independence under one form to the other. Especially with military rulers who have had to be rule through decrees thus suspending the constitution that guarantees the citizenry their fundamental human rights, Ellinas, A. (2010). It there makes it obvious that the basis for government, which is for the ultimate good of the people, is defeated when their rights are not guaranteed. And indeed authoritarian rule has not helped human right issues, as abuse has been recorded time and again even in the mass media bizarre manner.
This is where the mass media comes into focus , as through it, the government and the governed are better be informed about their various privileges and limitation as it is entrenched in the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria, albeit only under a democratically elected government. For a society that it’s citizens cannot be guaranteed the protection of their fundamental human rights cannot be said to be free in the real sense of the word, Cohen-Almagor, R. (2001).
The mass media has always been a channel through which human right abuses has been exposed to the public. But there are times human right abuses have been quite intractable for the mass media to manage either due to tribal or religious sentiment or outright ownership interference, Henny, L. (2012). In such cases, the citizens whose rights have been abuses are unfortunately given the short end of the stick. The mass media should be able to effectively manage the issues of human right abuses as they unfold in the society Henny, L. (2012). Considering the fact that they most times set the agenda for public discourse. They should in the process to be able distinguish what should be known and what should not be known. Expect in that case, they want to leave the role of agenda setting to the government; which is this case means that the people are indolent and as Plato stressed “they look up to the leaders of the state to say what goes”. Despite the inability of the mass media to at times manage human right abuses in Nigeria, they have at other times pre – empted the activities of human right groups in the past, thus, leading to clampdown on members of the groups, Henny, L. (2012).
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEMS
Deliberate violation of human rights is unnatural and animalistic, while its protection must be respected out of the goodness of the heart. Sadly enough however, today, there is hardly a leader or a place on the earth surface where human rights are not being grossly violated with impunity despite the efforts of the human rights activists and organizations. In fact, the world is in a regime of human rights encroachment. Such violation include: social insecurity, racial discrimination, extrajudicial killing, prejudice, forceful sterility, sale of children, women and child trafficking, sexual harassment, genocide, war crime, etc. As pointed out earlier on, there is hardly a nation or a leader who is left out.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1. This study sets out to see what extent the mass media had been able to manage human right abuses in Nigeria.
ii. It is aimed at putting in the right perspective the order of management of human right abuses by the Mass Media.
iii. This study sets out to know whether religious and ethical consideration are responsible for how the Mass Media in Nigeria Manage Cases of human right abuses.
iv. Finally, it is to find out whether ownership factor plays any role in the Management of human right abuses in Nigeria.
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The various questions, which this research sets out to answer, are as follows,
i. Has the Mass Media been able to manage human right violations in Nigeria?
ii. Has human right abuse reportage been without censor?
iii. How has government policies affect the reportage of human right abuses?
iv. Are religious and ethnic factors responsible for the management of mass Media organization in Nigeria.
v. Is the Mass Media in Nigeria free in its coverage?
If these questions are answered without prejudice then we can definitely say that professionalism will enhance. As the various problem that have plagued the profession it would have been. Resolved; thereby helping to produce objective and balanced reportage of human right violations in Nigeria.
1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
This study is out to make know the benefit of the effective management of human right by the Mass Media in Nigeria. Furthermore, it will enhance the knowledge of various players in the mass media on their role in effective and effectual reportage of human right abuses in Nigeria. Also it will now put the Mass owners in the know about the limitation of their interference on reportage of news.
1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
This study will make an assessment of mass media and the management of human rights in Nigeria.
1.7 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
This research work was without its constraints. Notable among them was the issue of gathering Materials for the work. It was a tedious process that was not helped by the non – challant or should I say uncooperative attitude of some staff of the Media houses visited.
Another constraints was time. Due to the shortness of time I could not really lay my hands on enough material since there are other class work and assignments to be taken care of.
Financial constraint did not help matters. Finance really limited my scope of converge, as I could not move around a lot. Therefore, I had not choice but to scale down on the rage or scope so that I can be able to meet with other schedules.
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