‫الورن–نيجيريا‬،‫جامعةالحكمة‬

AL-HIKMAH UNIVERSITY, ILORIN-NIGERIA

Adeta Road, Adewole Housing Estate, P.M.B. 1601, Ilorin.
FACULTY OF THE HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
DEPARTMENT OF MASS COMMUNICATION

,Course Title: Media Law and Ethics

Week 1: Introduction
Evolution of Press Law in the World
Law is made by authority to serve as a mean of control over the members of a society so as to
ensure correct conduct or behaviour. Press law can be defined as that body of rules designed to
regulate or control the activities of mass media professionals so as to ensure correct conduct in
mass communication (Okunna, 1993:41).
The history of press law could be traced to the struggle for freedom of expression. Men and
women who tried to express their views on public policies were prosecuted in form of arrest,
detention, harassment, intimidation or outright murder. For instance, Socrates, the Greek
philosopher (470-399 B.C.C.) was murdered for teaching the youths of Athens about their rights.
During the most periods of history, civil rights granted by governments were often altered or
withdrawn at will, which led to continued struggle for freedom of speech. Even, when the
freedom is granted, they are easily denied with a change in government (particularly during
military takeover). As a result, people of the middle ages demanded that the rights be codified in
a document. The result of this agitation led to the formulation of Bills, such as: Bills of Rights as
Margna Carta, the English Bill of Rights, the Virginia Declaration of Rights of Man and the
United States Bill of Rights.
A litmus test for the freedom of the press came up in 1735 in American Colony. The case was
between the colonial Governor and John Peter Zenger, publisher of the New York Weekly
Journal, a German immigrant to America who published New York journal which was first
published in 1735 immediately ran into trouble with the colonial governor and New York
Gazette, a rival newspaper in April, 1735. Zenger was arrested and brought to trial for criminal
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libel. In the ensuing legal battle, Zenger was discharged and acquainted. The case became a
landmark for press men to now operate freely without hindrance. But authority did not agree.
Subsequently, efforts to silence the press were met with oppositions.

Evolution of Press laws in Nigeria

The emergence of the press as the Fourth Estate of the Realm to check on the functions of the
three major organs of government and as watchdog put the press in adversarial position with the
government and provided an impetus for government to view the press more of an enemy than
partners in progress in nation building.
Today, the press is described as the Fourth Estate of the Realm or Fourth organ of the Estate,
taking the pride of place with the legislature, the executive and judiciary. With its growing
power, it became a forum for the people to ventilate their grievances and for remedying them and
also as an instrument of social change. It is now known to possess the capacity to shape the
views and mold the minds of people to influence the course of events and to mount pressure on
the authorities. The power of the press can be used for both constructive and destructive
purposes.
The realisation of the enormous power of the press necessitated the battle between the
government and the press. Notwithstanding, the battle for press freedom which has been won in
the American colony in 1735 and 1791, Nigeria press had to fight vigourously for its own
freedom in the 19th century. The colonial masters turned out several repressive laws to curtail the
press, on the other hand, to safeguard the sovereignty, integrity and security of the State, to
promote friendly relations with foreign states, to maintain public order, to preserve decency and
morality, to uphold the dignity of the court, to protect the privacy of the individual’s life and to
prevent crime and violence.
The first law that was enacted was the Official Secret Ordinance in 1891 which was meant to
punish civil servants who divulge important state secret to the newspapers. Another law that was
enacted was the Newspaper Ordinance which was signed into law in 1902 and became effective
in 1903. It was a censorship over the press. The offence of the press was that the educated
natives always believed in whatever they read in the newspapers. The law required newspapers’
proprietors to deposit 500 Euro as caution fee in line with the request of colonial governor. The

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third law was the Seditious Offences Ordinance of Governor Egerton which was finally passed in
September, 1909, in line with the Indian penal code of 1860 as amended up to 1903.

Constitutional provisions on the Nigerian media

The Nigerian press is a hundred years older than Nigerian independence. The first newspaper in
Nigeria “Iwe Irohin” was published in Abeokuta in 1859, while Nigeria achieved independence
in 1960. The constitutional base of the press should be traced to 1960, which provided the
freedom of expression under section 24. This section becomes section 25 in 1963 constitution
when Nigeria became a Republic. The section was retained in 1979 constitution.
The 1995 Draft constitution which was handed over to General Sanni Abacha on June 27, 1995
was not promulgated before he died in June 1998. In this draft, a new vast field was open to the
press to argue its case for freedom. The obligation of the mass media in section 21 of the 1979
constitution was retained in section three of the 1995 draft constitution. Not only that, the same
section was reproduced as a right under chapter IV.
The press under the 1999 constitution
Various sections from chapter two and four of 1999 constitution make provision for the
Nigerian mass media. These include section 22 (Obligation of the mass media), section 35 (Right
to personal liberty), section 36 (1) (Right to fair hearing), Section 37, (Right to private and
family life), section 39 (1) (Right to freedom of expression), section 39 (2), (Right to own press),
Section 39 (3) (Right to confidential report), Section 45 (1) (Restriction on and derogation from
fundamental human rights)

Week 2: Evolution for agitation of press freedom in Nigeria

Mass media are the tools for the creation of linkages between the society and the type of socio-
political ideology—whether democracy, autocracy or meritocracy. In the quest to meet the above
expectations, media practitioners get involved in serious contention and controversy over the
public’s interest. However, journalists must seek a balance between what the people ought to
know and what the Government wishes to prevent them from knowing because of the risk to
national security. But journalists prefer to dig into rumours of boardroom, scandals in high places
or some important decisions which are yet to be announced; while on the other hand, government
and business leaders naturally wish to keep their secrets to themselves.
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Mass media officers believed that they had political power and influence over the minds of their
readership-- defining national interest and published what would interest the readers or
audience. And that was the circumstance that compelled government to make laws that would
curb the excesses of mass media to protect national security. To media practitioners, freedom of
information is a fundamental human rights and it is the touchstone of all freedoms to which the
UN is consecrated. . In protection of this fundamental human rights, it is essential that the press
should be free to gather news without obstruction and to publish the news and comment
thereon.
For instance, in 2006, Gbenga Aruleba of the African Independent Television (AIT) was arrested
and detained several days by the civilian regime of Olusegun Obasanjo for allegedly inciting the
public against the government, an allegation that could not be substantiated. The inability of the
constitution to guarantee the right of journalists to perform their roles as Government watchdog
is a major reason responsible for the initiation of FOI Bill which is designed to empower any
Nigerian in his or her quest to access information from Government or private individual.
The reaction of Nigerians to the request by Nigerian journalists for a special clause which would
guarantee freedom of the press led to the agitation of press freedom. The idea of a freedom of
information Act was conceived in 1993 by three different organisation—the media Rights
Agenda (MRA), Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) and the Nigerian Union of Journalists
(NUJ). In 1994, judge Adesumbo Ajibola (SAN) produced a draft bill titled “Draft Access to
Public Records and Official Information Act”. This translated into the Freedom of Information
Acts after undergoing several modifications. The Act was revived in 2003 and passed by both
Chambers in the first quarter of 2007, but did not receive the presidential assent. It was
eventually passed into law on the 28th May, 2011.

The Freedom of Information Act (FOI) is a law that gives individuals the right to access
information or request for information without restriction to the individual’s nationality, age or
residence.
Summary of the contents of the Bill
The bill seeks to make public records and information more freely available, provides for public
access to public records and information, protects public records and information to the extent
consistent with the public interest and the protection of personal privacy, protects serving public
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 officers from adverse consequences for disclosing certain kinds of official information without
authorisation and established procedure for the achievement of those purposes. Section 1,
2,4,7,14 and 27.

National Security and Press Freedom

Security simply means freedom from danger, fear, anxiety or uncertainty. Security is not limited
to freedom from danger, it also concerns with economic state of living i.e. job security and
protection against health hazards and social threats. A security state is therefore, a state that is
reasonably free from or not expose to external aggression and internal sabotage. State security
can be categorised into two: Internal and external security.
 Internal security is concerned with the protection of lives and property of every citizen and even
foreigners living within the state against internal crises and threats.
 External security is concerned with its relationship with external environment. A state external
affairs determine the benefit, support, aids or otherwise it gets from outside. This implies that a
state that has good relationship with others is likely to be secured than the one that does not have
good record with neighbours
It is however, sadden that Nigerian dailies are bloody with news about killings, bombings, wars,
religious chaos, curfew, suicides, accidents, looting, bribery, boarder dispute and many others.
All these are pointers to the state of security in the country.
The media in safeguarding the state security
Media professionals are guided by the journalistic principles to ensure that the state is secured
through the following:
1. Media should not publish or broadcast any information that undermines public safety and public
interest.
2. Media should not publish or broadcast any information that would ridicule the culture and
traditions of the people of the state.
3. The media should not publish or broadcast classified information which may expose the state of
security of the country to the outsiders.
4. The media should not publish or broadcast untrue information for financial gain or any other
reason.

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5. The media should expose individuals, groups or organisations that break law and others through
their reports.
6. The media should support development within the state by reporting developmental programme.

Week 3: Media laws : Reputation and Dignity of Persons

One of the regulatory institutions in the Nigerian mass media is laws on the Nigerian media. Law
can be defined as the rules designed to regulate or control the activities of mass media
professionals so as to ensure correct conduct in the society. Laws are made by authority to serve
as a means of controlling over the members of a society so as to ensure correct conduct or
behaviour.
Media law can be classified into many ways depending on the criteria for classification. We have
media laws that protect individual citizen such as defamation (1961), law of privacy, obscene,
indecent and harmful publications, copyright. We also have law that protects the state
(government) such as sedition (1961), official secret Act (1962), Newspaper Amendment Act
(1962), and counterparts. Laws that protect the press such, as sedition and official secret Act.
We can also have laws that protect reputation and dignity of persons such as defamation,
privacy, obscene, indecent and harmful publications. Laws that protect intellectual and
institutional properties, such as copyright, contempt as well as laws that protect new media.
We can also classify media law based on when it was enacted. For instance Momoh (2002)
categorised all the laws that have been enacted to regulate the media in Nigeria from 1917 to
1999 under four categories. They are: as at independence in 1960, the newspaper Act, 1917,
printing presses registration Acts, 1933 and the criminal code Act and schedules.

Between 1960 and the Coupd’etat of 1966

 Children and young persons ( Harmful publications Act , 1961)
 Defamation Act 1961
 Emergency Power Act , 1961
 Obscene Publication Act 1961
 Official Secret Act, 1962
 Newspaper Amendment Act, 1964
Between 1966 and 1979
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 Circulation of Newspaper Decree No.2, 1966
 The defamatory and offensive publications decree No. 44 ,1966
 Newspaper [prohibition of circulation] decree No 2,1967
 Public officers [protection against false accusation] Decree No.11,1976
 News Agency of Nigerian ,Decree No.19,1976
 Nigerian Television Authority Decree N0. 24, 1977
 Newspaper (Prohibition of Circulation) (Validation) Decree No.12, 1978
 Nigerian Press Council, Decree No.31, 1978
 Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria Decree No.8, 1979
 Daily Times of Nigeria ( Transfer of certain shares) Decree No.101, 1979
 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Certain consequential Repeals etc) Decree
No.115, 1979
From 1979 to return of the military in December, 1983 and beyond
 Constitution (suspension and modification) Decree No.1,1984
 The Federal military Government (Supremacy and Enforcement of power0 Decree No.13, 1984
 Stat Security (Detention of Persons) Decree No 2, 1984
 Public officers (Protection Against False Accusation ) Decree No.4. 1984
 Nigerian Media Council Decree No. 59, 1989
 Nigerian Press Council Decree No. 85, 1992
 National Broadcasting Commission Decree No.38. 1992
 Treason and Treasonable Offence Decree No.29, 1993
 Offensive publications (prescription) Decree No.35, 1993
 Newspaper etc. (suspension and modification) Decree No. 107, 1993
 Newspaper Decree No. 45, 1993
 The constitution (suspension and modification) Decree No. 107, 1993
 State Security (suspension of persons ) (Amendment) No. 2, Decree 14, 1994
 Nigerian Press Council (Amendment) Decree No. 60, 1999
The criminal code such as
 Sedition , section 50 and 51 (417 of penal code)
 Injurious falsehood: Section 59
 Criminal Defamation
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 Power to prohibit importation of publications
 Seditious publication against foreign head of state
 Contempt of court section 6, criminal code Act and section 133
However, some of these laws have been repelled, i.e. some of them are no longer effective.
There are some that were being repelled and they are still applicable in Nigerian situation such
as Official secret Act, edition etc.

Defamation
The media while discharging its constitutional duties of informing, entertaining and educating
the public have to, as an obligation to ensure that it does not infringe on the rights of individuals
by publishing words that are capable of causing them harm, injury, hatred or rejection by right-
thinking members of the society. According to Justice Dore in Swindler (1955), defamation is
any written or printed article published of and concerning a person without lawful justification
or excuse and tending to expose him to public contempt, scorn, ridicule, shame or disgrace or
intending to induce an evil opinion of him in the mind of right thinking persons, or injure him
in his profession, occupation or trade is libelous and actionable perse. Similarly, the constitution
of Nigeria also clearly explains what defamation according to Section 391 of the Nigerian penal
code states that” whoever by words either spoken or reproduced by mechanical means or
intended to be read or by signs or by visible representations makes or publishes any imputation
concerning any person intending to harm or knowing or having reasons to believe that such
imputations will harm the reputation of such person is said to defame that person.” (Penal code
means a system of law connected with crime and punishment).
In addition, Articles 512-514 of the Nigerian criminal code also said, “Defamatory matter is
matter likely to injure the representation of any person in his profession or trade by an injury to
his reputation. Such matter may be expressed in spoken words or in any audible sound or in
words legibly marked on any substance whatever or by any sign or object signifying such
matters or otherwise than by words and may be expressed directly or by insinuation or irony.” It
is immaterial whether at the time of the publication of the defamatory matter; the person
concerning whom such matter is published is living or dead. Therefore, plaintiff’s relative can
sue someone after the demise of the plaintiff. For instance in Nigeria, Aham Njoku cited a case
of defamation between Chief Saliyu Bolaji Bakre vs Baba Oluwide (Editorr of a newspaper
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 called “The Nigerian Socialist), the sketch publishing company limited (printer) and Ola Oni (the
publisher of the newspaper) where the plaintiff ( Saliyu Bolaji Bakare) brought an action against
the defendants jointly and severally claiming the sum of S10,000 ( ten thousand pound) as
damages.

Forms of Defamation
There are two forms of defamation
1. Libel: Any publication of defamatory matter in a permanent form is libel at common law. It is
libel to publish, print or write words, a picture which carries defamatory meaning.
2. Slander: It is a publication of defamatory matter by spoken words or in any transitory form,
whether audible or visible and it may take the form of significant sounds, looks, signs or
gestures.
A libel is actionable perse, i.e. without the necessity of proving special damage while slander is
not actionable perse unless the plaintiff proves that he has suffered special damage. Special
damage means definite and actual loss—for instance, loss of employment or refusal of persons to
enter into contracts with the plaintiff as a result of the slander.
Generally, libel falls into two; libel perse and libel per quod.
1. Libel perse: These are words that are defamatory on their face and thus, presumed to damage
reputation, e.g. words that falsely accused someone of committing crime or having a contagious
disease.
2. Libel per quod: these are words that are not ordinarily defamatory but become damaging by facts
or circumstances extrinsic to the story. E.g. to publish an incorrect date for the granting of a
divorce so as to appear that someone had re-married before the divorce became final.
Libel can also be classified into two: criminal libel and civil libel
1. Criminal libel: It is any intentional false communication in permanent form that harms a person’s
reputation, decreases the respect, regard or confidence in which a person is held; or inducing
disparaging, hostile or disagreeable opinions or feelings against a person. Those accused of
criminal libel must establish that the words were true and that they were published for the public
benefit.
2. Civil libel: It is the opposite of criminal libel. The penalties for the matter of a serious libel are
harsher for criminal libel than civil libel.
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 Essential of Defamation
Defamation can either be libel or slander. Libel is when an article is in permanent form while
slander in in temporary form.
Kind of Imputation
 Imputation of illness
 Imputation of incompetence or unfitness for office
 Imputation of financial embarrassment
 Imputation of immorality
For a statement to be regarded as defamatory, the word must clearly depict the plaintiff in a way
that will generate or arouse hatred, scorn, ridicule, contempt and cause him harm in his
profession and relationships and lower him in the estimation of right thinking members in the
society. If the words do not clearly depict defamation, then the plaintiff will have to prove that
beyond the overt meaning, the way the words has been used has injured his prestige and image
in the mind of right thinking members in the society. To do this, the plaintiff has to allege
innuendo. A plaintiff pleads innuendo by giving the meaning which he attributes to the words
and proving the existence of facts and circumstances which would convey such a meaning to the
person to whom the words were published. An innuendo may be true or false. A true innuendo is
one which derives support from extrinsic facts, but a false one is only implied from the words
themselves.

Defences against defamation

After a plaintiff has successfully proved before a court that the accused made a defamatory
statement against him, the statement referred to him and it was published to a third party, the rest
of the case is then up to the defendant to defend himself. There are numerous defence options to
the press and individual against defamation: justification, privilege, fair comment, unintentional
defamation, apoloy and payment to court, accord and satisfaction, res judicata, statutes of
limitation and volenti non fit injuria.
1. Justification: It protects the freedom to tell the truth. In order to raise the defense of justification
successfully, the defendant must prove that the defamatory statement is true in both substance
and fact or is substantially true.

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2. Fair comment: It protects opinion about public interest or things that have been put on public
display
3. Privilege: Publishers of defamatory statement can also plea for privilege. The law of privilege
allows a person to write or speak without fear or favour of another person even at the expense of
his reputation depending on the occasion and form of publication. Privilege is a doctrine in law
whereby a writer or publisher is protected from liability for defamation in the interest of public
policy even though; the defendant cannot prove the truth of his publication. Privilege is of two
folds: absolute and qualified privileges. Absolute privilege covers a publication irrespective of
any malice in it, while qualified privilege applies to publication devoid of malice.
4. Unintentional defamation: Prior to the English defamation Act (1952), a defendant in the case of
libel cannot plead that defamatory words published about a person were innocently published.
But with the English defamation (1952) and Nigerian Defamation Act (1961), a special defence
was opened to defendants to say the words which were defamatory of another person were
published innocently or unintentionally. A defence of unintentional defamation will succeed
where the defendant can prove that the words were published innocently and there has been offer
of amends as stipulated in the Act. An offer to amend means an offer to publish a suitable
correction of the words complained of and a sufficient apology to the aggrieved party . If the
offer of amend is accepted by the aggrieved party, no proceedings for libel shall again be taken ,
but where the offer is refused, it shall stand as defence in any proceeding against the plaintiff.
5. Apology and payment to court: The law of libel provides another defence to defendants by
offering apology and making necessary payment to the plaintiff in mitigation of damages.
6. Accord and satisfaction: This is another defence option to defendants. In a libel case. It is
gentleman agreement whereby a defendant has agreed with the plaintiff that time prior to
judgement, he has obtained a release for valuable consideration either within or outside the court
so that the plaintiff can withdraw the case against him or have the case terminated.
7. Res judicate: It is a complete defence to an action of defamation. But this defence applies where
an action had earlier been brought by a plaintiff on the same matter. In other words, a plaintiff
cannot bring the same matter in a publication twice, but the action must be on separate subject
matter.
8. Volenti non fit injuria: This defence implies that no one can complain about the publication he
had earlier consented. In other words, if a publisher approached someone about a particular
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 accusation and informed him of his wishes to publish without refusal on the part of the plaintiff,
it is inactionable if he decides to sue the publisher for libel. E.g. Chapman vs Ellesmere (1932).
9. Statutes of limitation: It is a complete defence where a libel action in a newspaper or journal was
not brought within six years of its publication. The statutes limits action against libel to six years
and slander to three years.

Sedition
The law of sedition exists to prevent words or publication tending to cause hatred, ill will or
contempt or disaffection against the person of the president or governor which may consequently
lead to public disorder or likely to incite the public to foment trouble. Simply put, the law of
sedition is meant to prevent criticism that could lead to public protest against public officials.
Section 50 of the Nigerian criminal code defines seditious words as words having a seditious
intention. The law of sedition is perhaps the most important abridgement of freedom of
expression under the constitution. It defines and delimits the scope of criticism of government,
its agencies and officials, e.g. # Revolution that was championed by Omoyele Sowore in 2018”.
Moreover, sedition law was also applied against some prominent Nigerian journalists. For
instance, the duo of Mr. Gbenga Aruleba ( African Independence Television) AIT correspondent
and Mr. Rotimi Durojaiye formerly working with Daily Independent) during the former
president Olusegun Obasanjo led administration between 1999 and 2007. (The Guardian,
February 21, 2006, p. 81).

In 2006, Durojaiye published a controversial article, entitled: “ Controversy over age, cost and
presidential jet”, where he wrote that: “ … the government had bought a five-year old aircraft
from the German carrier, Lufthansa and not a new jet directly from Booing, as it claimed.”
Aruleba was joined in the sedition charge for making the publication as the subject of discussion
the following day in his national talk show on AIT. They were both charged for sedition by the
then president Olusegun Obasanjo led administration.

Prove of seditious publication

To prove that a publication has seditious intent, all or some of these methods can be used:

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1. The actual words published can be used to prove that the publication was seditious. E.g. the case
of African Press Limited vs The Queen (1952) 14 W.A.C.A .457) cited in Karibi-Whyte (1969,
p. 78). The words used in the statement alleged to be seditious were accurate as proof. Another
example is # Revolution of Omoyele Sowore in 2019.
2. The manner of publication may also suggest a seditious intention. A very good case in point is
that of Ogidi vs Commissioner of Police (1960) 5 F.S.C. 251. In this case, a telegram was sent to
the Minister of Justice, Ibadan, and copies were also sent to the press and the radio for
publication complaining against the acts of the customary court judges in Warri Division. Karibi
Whyte (ibid,p. 80) quotes the judge, Brett, J. as saying that we might have taken a different view
if it had been commited only against the Minister.
3. Other important and necessary/ required factors like the purpose of publication, its time, and
medium, the nature of the audience and its effect on them and a host of others (the language
used, the state of public feeling).

Consent to prosecute the defendant

Before a criminal case of sedition can be instituted against an individual or a body, the Attorney
General of the Federation or the State concerned has to sign a written consent granting
permission for the prosecution to be initiated. This is according to the provisions of section 52
(1) and (2) of the criminal code. This is due to the serious nature of the offence and its
implication on the peace and stability of the country.
Since 1963, with the introduction of the Republican constitution and the delegation of powers of
institution of criminal prosecution to the Director of Public Prosecutions , the written consent of
the Director of public prosecutions alone would be valid for the purpose of section 52. Section
47 of the criminal code authorises the Attorney General to exercise his constitutional powers in
person or through the Director of Public Prosecutions or other officers.

Defences against Sedition

There are considerable doubt whether there is in fact any defense to a charge of sedition whether
it was published with seditious intention is immaterial. That is,, there are other motives which are
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 laudable once a seditious intention has been shown, truth of the allegations made will not
constitute a defense. Although, there are two defence terms for sedition. They are lawful
excuse and showing that the words used were not seditious.
1. Lawful excuse comes into play as regards the possession of a seditious material. An individual
can use this defence to show that he is in possession of the alleged seditious material or
publication for a purpose that is legal and authorised under the law. For instance, like using the
publications to impact knowledge.
2. Showing that words used were not seditious is also a defense against a case of sedition. If a
defendant is able to prove to the court that the literal and or implied meanings of the world
alleged are not seditious, then he can be discharged.

Limitation period for prosecuting someone for sedition

On limitation period, prosecutions for seditious offences must be instituted only within six
months of the publication of the seditious matter. Prosecution initiated after this period will be
debarred.

Law of Privacy
Privacy entails the right of an individual to have physical, psychological and emotional space to
him/herself in the society within the ambience of law. The role of the media however, is to
ensure disclosure to the public, information they deem newsworthy and or important for the
public good about individuals, corporate bodies and government.
Section 37 of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria provides that “The
privacy of citizens, their homes, correspondence, telephone conversations and telegraphic
communication is hereby guaranteed and protected.”

The deliberation on what really constitutes privacy and the breach of it is not really limited to
Nigeria. From Europe to America, defining privacy and its violation has been a controversy.
Privacy can therefore, be defined as the right to be left alone. The right of the individual to be
protected against intrusion into his personal life or affairs or those of his family by direct,
physical means or by publication of information. Privacy suits occurs when an individual feels
that he has been wrongly portrayed in the media, especially in a way that causes him emotional
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 distress, humiliation, shame, suffering or anguish. The individual may be a public figure or he
may be a private person who has generated public interest through his actions or his involvement
in a tragedy or any other event or incident that is of human interest.
The law of privacy is only limited to individuals. Thus, corporate bodies or companies cannot
sue for invasion of privacy based on the assumptions that such corporate entities have impersonal
entities without personal sensitivities that can be wounded.

Forms of privacy
There are four forms of privacy law:
1. Appropriation: It is defined as taking a person’s picture, name, photograph or likeness and used
it for commercial gain without permission, e.g. to advertise a product, to add luster to a company
name and to accompany an article sold. If a name or likeness is not published for commercial
gain, it cannot be appropriation, e.g. the incidental use of a person’s name or picture in a book,
magazine, film or other medium is not an invasion of privacy. Examples of actions that can be
regarded under appropriation as commercial use are:
 Use of a person’s name in an advertisement on television or radio or newspaper or poster or flier
or billboard and so forth.
 Display of a person’s photograph in the window of photographer’s shop to show potential
customers the quality of work done by the studio.
 A testimonial falsely suggesting that an individual eats the cereals or drive the automobile cars.
 Use of an individual’s name or likeness in a banner ad or some other commercial messages on a
website.
 The use of someone’s likeness or identity in a commercial entertainment vehicle like a feature
film, a tv. situation comedy or a novel.
The appropriation tort actually encompasses two legal causes of actions: the right to privacy and
the right to publicity.
The right to privacy protects an individual from the embarrassment and humiliation that can
accrue when a name or picture is used without consent for advertising or trade purpose, and the
right to publicity protects individuals from the exploitation of their names or likeness for
commercial purposes.

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 Ordinary citizen can claim right to privacy while the famous can claim right to publicity. The
right to privacy dies with the death of an individual, but the right to publicity may live on.
2. Intrusion: It involves the encroachment, invasion or trespass by an individual on the solitude,
seclusion or personal affairs of another. Intrusion can occur either physically or with the use of
technological equipment or gadget. Examples of intrusion consists of unreasonable charges,
eavesdropping on conversation; surveillance by camera, telescope or other devices, peering into
windows etc. To be considered intrusion, the act clearly must encompass prying into matters that
are of no public concern and such prying must be judged offensive by a reasonable person.
3. Publication of Private (Embarrassing) information about individuals. It means the publication by
the media of private, truthful, non-defamatory but embarrassing information about an individual
to the public.
4. False Light: It involves the publication of false information that is highly offensive to an
ordinary person.

Defence against Privacy

The basic defenses against privacy suits are consent and newsworthiness. Others can be
legitimate public interest and the use of public record.
1. Consent: If an individual had earlier given consent for an interview or the use of his name or
picture, he can no longer sue for invasion of privacy. Consent can be clearly stated by word of
mouth or the signing of a document or it can be implied.
2. Newsworthiness is another strong defense in an invasion of privacy suit. If a story or event is
newsworthy, this argument is likely to supersede embarrassing facts cases of invasion of privacy.
3. Public interest can also be a defense against privacy suit. The public interest supports
dissemination of accurate information about the risk of engaging in a particular action such as
money ritual, drug addiction etc.
4. The use of public record can also be a defense in a privacy suit. Information already in the
public domain or in public records can be published by the media. When newsworthy private
facts are part of the public record, suit cannot be brought.

Obscene, Indecent and Harmful Publications

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For the sake of maintaining the dignity of person’s and societal morality, the law provides
restrictions on the publication and distribution of materials that are based on the subsisting
standard of morality in the society that are deemed obscene, indecent, immoral or offensive and
ethically or racially prejudice.

Obscenity refers to words, thoughts, magazines and pictures that are against god morals.
Obscenity prohibitions may be of general nature barring all distribution of defined sexual
materials or more specific, prohibiting sales to minors. Obscenity Act was promulgated in 1961.
Section 3 (1) of the 1961 obscene publications Act says that: “ An article shall be deemed
obscene for the purposes of the Act, if its effect taken as a whole is such as to tend to deprave
and corrupt persons who are likely to or having regard to all relevant circumstances to read, see
or hear the matter embodied in it. According to section 2 of the 1961 obscene publications Act,
an “Article” means anything capable of being or likely to be looked at and read or looked at or
likely to be looked at and read or looked at or read and includes any film or record of a picture
or any sound record.” Section 203 of the Penal Code in Nigeria appears to include electronic
form with its definition. It says “Whoever to the annoyance of others sings, recites, utters or
reproduces by any mechanical means any obscene song or words in or near any public place
shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three months or with fine
or both.
Section 3(2) further states, “The provision of this section shall extend to any article of two or
more distinct items, the effect of which is to tend to deprave and corrupt.”
Any publication therefore, which has the tendency to deprave and corrupt those who are likely
to read, see or hear it, or corrupt public morals or outrages public decency falls within the ambit
of the law of obscenity.
An indecent publication may be defined as a communication to another person of any article
which having regard to all relevant circumstances has a tendency to corrupt persons who are
likely to read, see or hear it. The difference between obscene and indecent publication is the
corrupting tendency in obscene is stronger than that required for an indecent publication.
Therefore, it can be said that any object, show or performance which is obscene or indecent is
one which tends to corrupt morals.

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 There are three forms of obscenity
1. Pornography: It is the explicit discussion of sex for purposes of sexually stimulating the reader.
2. Erotic realism is described as sex in the context of reality, e.g. obscene nude.
3. Ambiguous classification of other erotica: The celebration of horror, violence or drugs or other
vices may also be described as obscenity.

The essence of the law of obscenity is to deter publication of matter which tends to deprave or
corrupt those that are likely to read, see, or hear it or to corrupt public morals or outrage public
decency.
It is rare in Nigeria for law enforcement agents to make any arrest in that regard because many
believe that obscenity is a private or religious matter even when government tries to frown at
certain mode of dressing, people tend to interpret it to mean an attempt to force certain religion
on the country. For instance in 1997, some girls were allegedly arrested in Abuja, the Nigeria
capital city. Newspapers were quick to criticize the action of government as contrary to the
secular posture of the country. If the law of obscenity were to be taken serious in Nigeria, many
of our actions would have gone to court.
In showing that an article has the capacity to deprave or corrupt, the prosecution needs to show
that it has led any of the individuals who had been exposed to it to carry out any sexual or
physical act. It is enough to show that the article has the capacity to affect the emotions of
individuals exposed to it. Osinbajo and Fogam (1991) cited two very interesting cases worthy of
mention in this regard. The first was the case of Commissioner of Police (Mid- West) vs Igene
( Supra at page 405). According to them, the fact of the case is as follows:
The accused person ran a bookstall at the Benin Airport. Two detective constables went to the
bookstall and collected magazines therefrom. The magazines which bore the following titles:
“Ways of loving”, “Foreplay”, “Sex in marriage”, “Response and sense”’ had nude photographs.
The magazines purported to teach the techniques of sex and family planning, illustrating their
teaching with different positions of copulation to give sexual satisfaction to adults and married
couples. Some of the magazines were marked “Educational material for Adults only, Sales to
minors prohibited.” The accused persons were charged under section 175 (1) (a) of the criminal
code laws of Western State of Nigeria in 1959 which was also applicable to the then Mid-

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 Western State, with “being in possession of obscene printed matters and publicity exhibiting
obscene printed matters which tend to corrupt morals.”
In dismissing the prosecution’s case, the learned judge adopted the “ Corrupt and Deprave rest”,
and wondered whether photographs, books or magazines could actually corrupt or deprave since
if it were that easy to corrupt or deprave, since if it were that easy to corrupt by this means—
thousands of television viewers who regularly see violent films would already be criminals.
The second case was R vs Anderson (1972) 1Q.B. 304), where a magazine titled “OZ No.28
SCHOOL KIDS ISSUE” was alleged to contain obscene matter. The magazine which was even
partly written articles on the joys of oral sex and some graphic pictures and cartoons of various
forms of heterosexual and homosexual clubs for “ erotic minorities”. One of the arguments of the
defense which the judge accepted as sound was the “ Aversion Theory”, i.e. that the material
was so repulsive that it could only put readers off the depicted activity.
To decide on whether the content of a publication is obscene or not, the court will have to
determine whether it has the capacity to corrupt or deprave a significant proportion of the
audience for whom it was published.

Essentials of obscene and indecent publications

Before a conviction can be made on obscene and indecent publications, the following
conditions must subsist:
1. There must be an article
2. It must be obscene/indecent
3. It must be published

Defences for the Publication of Obscene and Indecent Content

All the defences available generally in criminal law will apply in cases of obscene and indecent
publications. In addition, the 1961 enactment provide other specific defences. Under the
obscene publications Act, for example, it is a defense where:
1. The exhibition concerned takes place in a private house to which the public are not admitted.
2. The exhibition is made in the course of tv or sound broadcasting.
3. The person charged had not examined the article in question and he had no reason to suspect
that his publication would be obscene.
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4. The publication can be justified as being for the public good.

Harmful Publication
Section 2(2) of the children and Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act of 1961 states: This
Act applies to any book or magazine which is of a kind likely to fall into the hands of children or
young persons and consists wholly or mainly of stories told in pictures (with or without the
addiction of written matter) being stories portrayed:
a. The commission of crime, or
b. Acts of violence or cruelty, or
c. Incidents of a repulsive or horrible nature in such a way that the work as a whole would tend to
corrupt a child or young person into whose hands it may fall.
The children and Young Persons (Harmful publications) Act of 1961 is also known as the
“Horror of Comics” Act. Based on the dictates of this Act, no one shall import, prepare a plate,
make a photographic film, print, publish, sell, let or hire ‘any book or magazine to which this Act
applies or has any such book or magazine in his possession.’
Punishment for this offence carries imprisonment for six months or a fine of one hundred pounds
or both. However, whoever is accused under this Act and can prove that he had not examined
the content of the publication and had no reason to believe it contravened the Act will be
discharged . A magistrate can order the search of any premises suspected to contain publications,
articles or materials contravening or order the seizure of such.
The regulation on indecent, obscene and harmful publications is at the heart of ensuring public
morality and values. The law is however, regarded as suspect because many believe that it
threatens the right of the press to freedom of expression and freedom to hold opinions. At any
rate, it is the duty of the media to ensure that they entrench the freedom of expression without
depraving public morality and values.

Official Secret Act

Just as an individual may have some secrets closed to his heart, the unathorised disclosure of
which may annoy him, governments too have secrets. Such secrets may contain in policy
decisions, actions or contracts. The Official Secrets Act exist to prevent the disclosure of
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government information (classified or confidential information), exposure of confidential of
“prohibited places” and publication of such information considered confidential and close to
the heart of government. It is an offence for public servants to divulge to the press any matter
within the ministry, while officials are expected to maintain secrecy, the press is expected to
inform the public about activities of government and its policies.

The official secrets Act (Nigeria) 1962, covers a general topic of prohibiting disclosure of
classified matter by public officers, spying on matter prejudicial to the safety or interests of the
state. The Act also outlaws possession , request for or transmission of classified matter by
public officials to journalists.
Section 9 of the Act defines classified matter to mean “any information or thing which under any
system of security classification from time to time in use by the government or by any branch of
the government, is not to be disclosed to the public and of which the disclosure to the public
would be pre-judicial to the security of Nigeria. A journalist who therefore, possesses any
document, photograph or sketch of any protected place even without publishing it is prima facie
liable under this Act.
In 1984, the Guardian (Nigeria) and his two reporters, Tunde Thompson and Ndukar Irabor were
promptly tried in a military tribunal set up by the General Muhammed Buhari-led military
Government for publishing what was considered government “secret” documents. The two
journalists were sentenced to prison for refusing to disclose the source of the “Official
documents” while the publishing company was fined N50,000.00. Similarly, in April 6, 1987,
the Military Government in Nigeria led by General Ibrahim Babangida proscribed the
Newswatch magazine for six months by publishing the report of the political Bureau set up by
the government to prepare political agenda for Nigeria. The grouse of the matter was that the
magazine published the report when government had not released white paper meant for the
public on the matter. The report at that time was secret document of government. Surprisingly,
none of the magazine’s journalists was prosecuted under the Official Secret Acts.
D Notice
A D notice ( D for defence) is a confidential letter issued by the Defence, press and Broadcasting
committee to media houses not to publish certain information regarded by the Ministry of
Defence as a secret of importance. The publication of such information, the committee will say it
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 is contrary to national interest. A D notice usually goes with a plea and persuasion to editors:
“Please, do not publish unless you take advice.” D notice is said to exist in England, but it is not
clear if it exists in Nigeria. What is clear in Nigeria is that the Ministry of Defence is fond of
threatening the press and broadcasting house whenever it has any confidential information that it
does not want to be made public through the media. For example, during the 1995 Gwado-led
coup d’etat and the 1997 General Oladipo Diya-led coup d’etat, journalists were threatened of
the consequences of publishing comments on the coup. Some newspapers defied the threat and
their men were tried in a military coup tribunal and promptly sentenced to life imprisonment.

Week 5: Intellectual and Institutional; Copyright and Contempt

Copyright
Copyright is an area of the law that deals with intangible property- property that a person cannot
touch or hold or lock away for safekeeping. Copyright is the right of an author to prevent others
from publishing or reproducing his work without his consent. The law of copyright is important
to those working in the media. It determined the extent to which a quotation or the work of a
third party can be used in an article or broadcast. It also established the right of a writer,
newspaper or television company to exploit his own work or the work of the company and
prevent others from taking from it. A lot of creativity will be lost if there was no copyright law—
a law that protects the author of a work, idea, skill or creativity from having his work printed,
published or sold and distributed without his permission.

Subjects and condition for copyright

Section 1 (1) of the copyright Decree of 1988 defines the works that are eligible to copyright.
According to it:
1. Literary work: novels, stories and poetical works, plays, stage directions, film scenarios and
broadcasting scripts, choreographic works, computer games, textbooks, treaties, histories, essay
and articles, encyclopedia, dictionaries, anthologies, letters, reports, memoranda, addresses and
sermons, law reports excluding the decision of courts, written tables or compilation.
2. Musical work means any musical work, irrespective of musical quality and it includes works
composed for musical accompaniment.

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3. Artist works include paintings, drawings, etchings, lithographs, wood cuts, engravings and
prints, maps, plans and diagrams, works of sculpture; photographs not comprised in
cinematograph films, work of architecture in form of building, models and work of artistic
craftsmanship and also pictorial woven tissues and articles of applied handicraft and industrial
art.
4. Cinematograph film includes the first fixation of a sequence of visual image s capable of being
showing as a moving picture and of being the subject of reproduction and includes the recording
of a sound track associated with the cinematograph films.
5. Sound recording means the first fixation of a sequence of sound capable of being perceived
aurally and of being reproduced but does not have a sound track associated with cinematographic
film.
6. Broadcast means sound or television broadcast by wireless telegraphy or wire or both or by
satellite or cable programmes and includes rebroadcast.
For work to be eligible for copyright, it must satisfy some certain conditions. They are:
a. Originality: It implies that before copyright can subsist in a particular work, the work must owe
its origin to the author. The work must owe its origin to the author. An author cannot claim
copyright for a work that is not originally his. Once the originality in skilled and language has
been exhibited, the work will be given copyright protection.
b. Reduction into concrete form: In addition to a work being original, the Decree also requires that
the work must have been fixed in any definite medium of expression from which it can be
perceived, reproduced or otherwise communicated either directly or with the aid of any machine
or device. An author must therefore, reduces his idea into a material form.
c. Qualified Person: According to section 2 (1a and b), “Copyright shall be conferred by this
section on every work eligible for copyright of which the author or, in the case of a joint
authorship, any of the author is at the time when the work is made, a qualified person, that is to
say – an individual who is a citizen of or domiciled in Nigeria; or a body incorporated by or
under the law of Nigeria.
d. Work originating in Nigeria; By section 2 of the Decree, copyright can also be conferred on
every work other than broadcast which is eligible for copyright provided the work is first
published in Nigeria; or in the case of a sound recording is made in Nigeria.

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 Duration of Copyright
Copyright is a monopoly right. The law of copyright attempts to balance the protection of the
need for a free flow of ideas and information in order to allow people frees access to works. In
order to achieve this right, copyright is limited in duration.
The expiration of copyright for different categories of work in Nigeria is spelt out in schedule 1
of the Nigerian copyright Decree 47 of 1988.
 For literary, musical or artistic works other than photographs, the expiration is “seventy years
after the end of the year in which the author dies; in the case of government or a corporate body,
seventy years after the year in which the work was first published.
 For cinematograph films and photographs, the expiration is fifty years after the end of the of the
year in which the work was first published
 For sound recordings, the expiration is fifty years after the end of the year in which the recording
was first made.
 For broadcast, the expiration is fifty years after the end of the year in which the work first took
place.

Ownership and Transmission

Copyright in literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works belong to the author of the work. This
means the person whose skill and efforts produced the work. If the author is however, employed
by another under a contract of service or of apprenticeship and the work was done in the course
of that person’s employment, copyright in the work shall in the absence of any agreement to
the contrary vest in that employer. If the work is an article or other contribution to a newspaper, a
magazine or similar periodical, there is in in the absence of any agreement, deemed to be
reserved to the author a right to restrain the publication of the work unless it is published as part
of a newspaper, a magazine, or a similar periodical. Thus, an author is given a statutory right to
restrain anyone from publishing his work except in a newspaper. If two or more people
jointly created a work and their contributions are indivisible, a copyright is owned jointly.
Transmission of copyright
A person in which a copyright to a work subsists can transfer the copyright to another. Section
10 (1) of the Nigerian copyright Decree 47 of 1988 states that, “subject to the provision of this
section, copyright shall be transmissible by assignment, by testamentary disposition or by
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 operation of law as a movable property.” Section 10 (7) provides that an assignment, license and
testamentary disposition may be effectively granted or made in respect of a future work or an
existing work in which copyright subsist, and the existing work in which copyright subsists, and
the perspective copyright in any such work shall be transmissible by operation of the laws as
movable property.
An assignment is the transfer by a party of all r part of its rights to some kind of property,
usually intangible property. Section 10 (3) of the Nigeria copyright Decree, an assignment must
be in writing before it can be duly recognised. A license is a permission given by the owner of a
copyright to another (individual or corporate body) to undertake action on the work.
As it relates to material for the media, the copyright to the work of a journalist working under the
full employment of a media organisation belongs to the organisation. The work of a freelance
journalist may vary depending on the agreement that is reached with the organisations to whom
he submits his articles/ or pictures.

News media and copyright

There is copyright in the way the news is presented, i.e. the manner and form in which the
information is presented, not the information itself. Therefore, a news story or even an entire
newspaper is “literary work” and as such eligible to copyright, but the news element in a
newspaper story is not subject to copyright,
Infringement of copyright
One who produces the work of another or a substantial part of it in a material form without the
author’s consent infringes the copyright in the work. Person who believes that his exclusive right
to control the use of a copyright work has been violated will sue for infringement.

Defence to infringement of copyright

If litigation on copyright is successfully pursued against a defendant, the defendant may be found
guilty unless he is able to bring up and of the following defenses:
 The work is not original
 The work is not eligible for copyright due to immoral, indecent, or irreligious content
 The copyright has elapsed
 Fair dealing (The infringement was a fair use)
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 The infringement is an exception from copyright control (as specified in the statute).

Remedies to infringement of copyright

When an individual or corporate body violated copyright control is unable to put forth any of the
defenses available in law provided above, the infringement will be proved and the individual or
corporate body may be found guilty by the court. Section 16 of the Decree says that all the
infringed copy of any work in which copyright subsist used or intended to be used for the
production of infringed copies shall be deemed to the property of the owner who may take
recovery of them. Section 16 of the copyright Decree says ,” the person whose rights have been
infringed shall be entitled to an award of damages, injunctions, and any remedies as the court
may deem fit to award in such circumstance. It can therefore, be said that the remedies or
infringement of copyright are:
1. Damages
2. Injunction
3. Account of profit
4. Conversion or recovery of infringing copies of work.
1. Damages: This is the money or compensation that is awarded to the winning party.
2. Injunction: It is an order of the court restraining the commission of the continuance of a wrongful
act or omission. An injunction may be interlocutory or perpetual, depending on the case. An
interlocutory injunction is granted prior to the determination of the case to limit the impact of the
infringement on the owner of the copyright. It is usually issued immediately after the issuance of
the right, but at the application of the plaintiff and the discretion of the court. It can be lifted if
the plaintiff is unsuccessful. A perpetual injunction is a permanent order of the court restraining
the defendant permanently from the commission of the continuance of a wrongful act.
3. An account of profit is another form of remedy for copyright infringement. It requires the court
to enquire into the profit the infringer has made and hand them all over to the owner of the
copyright as a compensation for the impact of infringement on his work.
4. Conversion or recovery of infringing copies of work means that the plaintiff may bring an action
for the recovery of possession or the damages for conversion.
The message for media professionals is that they should do their own work and acknowledge it
when they have no other choice than to cite a small and insignificant portion from other’s work.
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 Contempt of Court
Law of contempt is instituted to enhance the capacity of the legislature and judiciary to ensure
authority in their respective institutions. Protection of the authority, order and decorum of the
court is the usual reason given for the use of the contempt power. Contempt can therefore, be
defined as any act or publication that delays or interfere with the administration of justice in the
court or that causes justice to be miscarried or that tends to have either of these effects may under
the law be held to be in contempt of court and be punished by fine or imprisonment.
It protects legislative Houses and grants the members privilege during the performance of their
duties so that they can successfully debate and participate in proceedings that will enhance the
development of the country.

Laws on contempt of court in Nigeria

The laws of contempt of court in Nigeria are in Acts of parliament, Criminal code, Penal code
and the constitution. It is in the section 133 of the criminal code. It is also in the section 155 of
the Northern States penal code. Then, section 39 (3) of the 1999 constitution also provides a
legislation of contempt. It says “Nothing in this section shall invalidate any law that is
reasonably justifiable in a democratic society (a) for… maintaining the authority and
independence of courts.

Situations in which the press might become involved in a contempt problem:

1. Failure to pay a judgement in a libel or invasion of privacy.
2. Failure to obey a court order for instance, the judge rules that no photo may be taken in the
courtroom or orders reporters not to publish stories about certain aspects of a case. If the orders
are disobeyed, a contempt citation may result.
3. Refusal of a journalist to disclose the identity of a source or to testify in court or before a grand
jury.
4. Critical commentary about the court. This may be in form of editorial critic of the court or a
cartoon mocking the judge. Contempt citation has been issued to punish the press in such cases.
5. Tampering with a jury, i.e. a reporter tries to talk with jurors during a trial asking question about
their views on the defendant’s innocence or guilt.
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 Forms of contempt of court
There are different classifications of contempt; but we shall adopt the civil and criminal
contempt classifications.
1. Civil contempt: It is also known as “Contempt in procedure or constructive contempt “. It is a
wrong done to a person who is entitled to the benefit of an order or judgement or willful
disobedience of court orders. The purpose of this class of contempt is to coerce compliance with
the court order or ruling. Civil contempt is often punished in the same manner as criminal
contempt—with a jail sentence which is terminated when the contemnor obeys the court order.
Thus, a publisher for example who fails to pay damages awarded to a victim of a defamatory
article may be booked for civil contempt and put in a jail until he pays or he is willing to pay.
2. Criminal Contempt consists of any acts or words which obstruct or tend to obstruct or interfere
with the administration of justice. Criminal justice is charged to protect the court itself. There are
two forms of criminal contempt: direct and indirect contempt. Direct contempt is the contempt
that occurs in the presence of the presiding judge (in facie curiae—in the face of the court) and
may be dealt with summarily; the judge notifies the offending party that he or she has acted in a
manner which disrupts the tribunal and prejudices the administration of justice. After giving the
person the opportunity to respond, the judge may impose the sanction immediately. Acts that
constitutes direct criminal contempt include but not limited to refusal to give evidence in court,
taking photographs inside the court room, action which interrupts or disturbs court proceedings
like noise, protests and actions that disrespect or insult the judge or other officers of the court
present in the court.

Indirect contempt involves acts or publications that (occur ex facie curiae—outside the face of
the court) but which nonetheless tend to interfere with the course of justice or impede the judge
or court officials from performing their duties or litigants from the opportunity of getting justice
or trial. Any action that is calculated at coercing witnesses or preventing them from giving
evidence in court or communicating with a judge on a case outside of court proceedings or
impedes other judiciary staff in the performance of their duties are forms of indirect contempt.
Publications on the court/ judge, judicial proceedings and litigants to a case can be
contemptuous.

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 Journalists and newsmen generally have to be very careful about their write-ups in order not to
run afoul of the law. Three important species of contempt which can easily be perpetuated in
writing are:
1. Publication of false and inaccurate report of court proceedings.
2. Publications which discredits the court or judge.
3. Publications likely to prejudice the fair trial or conduct or criminal or civil proceedings.
Therefore, the media must avoid the publications of articles that suggest what the judgement
ought to be or is likely to be based on evidence presented before the court or their own
investigative journalism.

Defences against charge of contempt of court

It is rather uncommon to have discussions on defences against charges of contempt. This is
because contempt can be punished summarily (by a judge after observing a conduct and having
the conviction that the conduct is a contempt of court and then punish the contemnor for
contempt of court. No formal charge need to be made and no trial conducted. In this situation,
the accused will not likely have opportunity to defend his action; hence, there can be no appeal.
However, when there is a formal charge for contempt according to section 133 of the criminal
code, an accused will likely have the opportunity to defend himself since there will be a trial in
another court by another judge, separate from the one who is charged in the situation, a person or
corporate body accused of contempt of court may put forward the following defenses against the
charge as the situation demands:
1. Innocent publications
2. Fair and accurate contemporary reports
3. Discussion of public affairs
Contempt of Parliament
Contempt of parliament is any act or words that disrupt or impede the proper working of either
the Senate or House of Representative in discharging of their duties. No civil or criminal suits
may be initiated against a member for any words spoken by him either on the floor of the House
or in any of its committees. The same protection extends to words contained in any documents
placed before the House such as reports, partisans, bills, resolutions, motions or questions. The
essence of contempt as it relates to parliament is to ensure that members have the freedom and
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 the protection to worry out their legislative duties without any form of impediment or obstruction
from private individuals and/or the media. Therefore, any action which directly interferes with
parliamentary proceedings or publication which impede the proper working of the parliament can
be charged for contempt of parliament.

Categories of Contempt of Parliament

In Nigeria, the legislative Houses (Powers and Privileges) Act regulates the powers and
privileges of the legislative Houses. The most recent of which is the legislative Houses and
privileges Act, 1990.
Offences that may be committed by the Press
1. Offences relating to admittance to the chamber or precincts of the House.
2. Offenses which arise directly from the publication of reports of parliamentary proceedings.
The first offences involve:
1. Entering the House without due permission or where a permission duly given before has been
revoked.
2. Assisting or willfully obstructing a member of an official of the House in the conduct of his
business.
3. Refusing to obey the order of the House or that lawfully made by an official of the House.
4. Disrespectful conduct in the precincts of the House, and
5. As strangers, sitting and voting in the House.

The offences in the second category are:

1. Irregular printing of law reports: it is an offence to print a copy of any enactment or of any
report, paper, minutes or proceedings of the House and to hold out any document as having been
printed by the government printer or by or under the authority of the House or any of its
committees, when in fact the document has not been so printed.
2. Publication of prohibited Report: The publication of any matter which the House or its
committee has expressly prohibited is an offence. So is the willful publication of any report of
any proceedings of the House or committee conducted behind closed doors. Members of the
public are not allowed to watch the proceedings of standing and select committees of the House.

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3. Misrepresentation of proceedings: The law punishes the publication of any matter containing a
gross, willful or scandalous misrepresentation of the proceedings of a House or the speech of any
member.
4. Defamation of the House or its committees: It is an offence to publish any statement which
falsely or scandalously defames a House or any of its committees.
5. Publications reflecting on character of officers of the House. A publication reflecting on the
character of the president of the House or the chairman of a committee of the House in the
conduct of his official duty constitutes an offence. Refusal to mention the name of a source of a
story or criticisms of a member of parliament in his official capacity as a legislator can also be
contemptuous of parliament.
Contempt of Parliament; Jurisdiction and Penalty
The issue will be addressed based on who commits the offence. The offence of contempt can be
committed by two categories of individuals.
1. A member of parliament
2. Private individuals or the press
1. A member of parliament: When a member of parliament commits any action or publishes any
material that is contemptuous of parliament, that member is entitled to punishment. The
punishment according to the legislative House (Powers and privileges) Act is entitled to be
punished by the House. This punishment can come in form of:
a. Reprimand by the President from the bar of the House.
b. Request for an apology from the members of the House.
c. Suspension from the service of the House for a limited period
For instance, on Tuesday, April 19, 2016, there was mild drama on the floor of the Senate as
Senate President Bukola Saraki obviously unaware that the time was against him, rushed out of
the chamber for his ongoing trial for false asset declaration at the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
The Senate was deliberating on a bill for an Act to establish the Federal University of Petroleum
Effurun, when Saraki suddenly realised that it was time for him to leave the chamber. He
suddenly jumped up from his seat, signaled to Ekweremadu to take over and hurried out of the
chamber. Senator James Manager who was making a contribution to the debate suddenly stopped
while the change of baton between Saraki and Ekweremadu took place.

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 This action generated a prolonged laughter and the new presiding officer had to call the House to
order and ask Senator Manager to continue his speech ( The Punch, April 20, 2016, p. 2).

In addition, on Tuesday, June 22, 2010, the then Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr
Dimeji Bankole suspended eleven members of the House for disorderliness and fighting in the
House. The House of Representatives has been in disarray when ‘the Progressive’ levied a N9
Billion capital vote corruption charge against the Speaker Bankole, demanding his resignation
within a 7-day ultimatum. Media reports said that fighting broke out in the House as members of
the Dino Melaye-led Progressive were ordered out of the lower chamber. The Progressive’s
resisted the order and they were asked to be pushed out. This resulted into a free for all fight.
After the House resumed sitting from a two- week vacation, Bankole eventually declared them
suspended ad infinitum. Seven of the eleven suspended legislators were later re-instated.
Another case is the case of Mr Patrick Obahiagbon (CAN Edo) who narrowly escaped
suspension and was asked to apologised to the House on November 23, 2010 for abusing the
privilege of members and that of the House of Representatives.
Moreover, in the first tenure of the Civilian Administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, on
June 9, 2015, when the members of the legislative arms, i.e. House of Representative and Senate
wanted to elect leaders for both chambers. It later resulted in contempt of parliament. Also,
when the Maze was declared missing at the Upper Chamber which eventually led to the
suspension of Senator Ovie Omo-Agege.
2. Private Individuals or the Press: When a private individual commits an act or publishes a
document that is contemptuous of the legislature, the person or journalist can be punished in the
following ways:
1. Reprimand by the President from the Bar of the House.
2. Request for an apology from the individual to the House.
3. An order for the withdrawal of the publication or an order for a correction of the
misrepresentation.
4. Referral of the trial of contempt to a law court: Parliament can impose punishment on non-
members, but the punishments are minor and cannot be in form of imprisonment or fine. If the
parliament believes that the contempt requires a punishment of imprisonment or fine, it has to
refer the case to court. The House of Representative or Senate can refer a case of contempt of
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 itself to a court. Parliament can also issue warrants for the arrest of persons who were summoned
by a parliament but refused or failed to show up. Parliament can also withdraw the accreditation
of any journalist who disrespects it. But it has been the custom of parliament to exercise utmost
caution in such matters so as to avoid unnecessary alterations with the media, since both
institutions are partners in progress.

Reports of Parliamentary and Judicial Proceedings

The media have to report the proceedings in the court and parliament for public consumption.
The media have to follow certain rules and procedure in covering parliamentary and proceedings.
The reporters while reporting parliamentary issues must avoid the followings:
1. Irregular printing of law report
2. Publication of prohibited report
3. Misrepresentation of proceedings
4. Defamation of the House or its committee
5. Publications reflecting on character of officers of the House.

Reports on Judicial Proceedings

The Nigerian constitution requires that the proceedings of a court or any other tribunal
performing judicial functions shall be held in public. Despite this, there are laws, rules and
regulations that guide the media reporting of proceedings in the court. These regulations are
provided to ensure that citizens have access to fair report of judicial proceedings, litigants have
access to fear trial and the bench does and is seen to do justice. The bench may also hold
proceeding in private if it involves the private or financial lives of the litigants. Cases like fraud,
divorce, trade secrets and others.
Section 133 of the Nigerian Criminal code treats as contempt of court the publication of any
evidence taken in judicial proceedings that was held in public.
Postponing Media Reports: The court may order (for reasons aimed at avoiding substantial risk
to the administration of justice) that the publication of any report of entire proceedings or part of
the proceedings be postponed. The specifics of the proceedings must be made clear must also be
specified clearly to avoid ambiguity. If media reporter publishes such information, he/ she may
be charged for contempt of court.
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 Fair and accurate report of proceedings
To ensure that media owners and their reporters do not commit contempt of court in their
efforts at reporting judicial proceedings. The following guidelines must be adhered to:
1. A counsel should not be reported to have said in court what he did not say.
2. The statements of counsel on both sides must be given equal prominence.
3. Case should be taken to ensure that no evidence is suppressed to the prejudice of one of the
parties while publishing abridged reports.
4. It is unsafe to assume the outcome of a particular case.
5. Judgement must be accurately inserted. The summing up of a judge or his judgement alone may
be published without including the evidence adduced in the case and the privilege would still
attach.
6. The proceedings of a long trial lasting several days may be published day by day except when
the court has forbidden such daily reports until the whole trial has been completed.
7. Once a trial is over, the news values in the proceeding recedes.
8. Documents read out in open court may be published as well as accurate statements of the
contents of such documents. The privilege does not however, extend to newspaper publication of
the contents of pleading; affidavit and similar documents which are not tendered in open court.
9. The report must not go beyond the actual proceedings in the court.
10. It is an offence to take photographs or make portraits or sketches of persons in open court. It is
unsafe to publish the photograph of an accused person or that of a mere suspect who has not yet
been charged guilty.
It is important to note that a reporter should only go into a court or parliament with tape
recorders, camera and others recording equipment only with permission and the authorisation.
Hence, to avoid committing contempt of court or parliament, reporters must follow guidelines
and rules and they must not flout court orders regarding reporting restrictions and court orders.

Week 6: Media laws: intellectual and institutional: protection of news sources and whistle
blowers, media law and new media
Protection of whistle blower and news source
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Information is the life wire of communication and the sources of information for the media are
the springs that have continuously nourished the profession. Without news sources/ whistle
blowers, the media will be unable to effectively carry out its function as a watchdog in the
society. The media must ensure they protect the sources of information in order to ensure their
survival as agents of communication and change. A news source popularly being referred to as
whistle blower is someone who reveals alleged fraudulent or illegal activities to the media. The
illegal or fraudulent activity may be a violation of law or actions that pose a threat to public
interest such as fraud, safety violations, misappropriation, corruption or other inequalities. This
explains why these individuals crave or rightly demand for confidentiality. This is because the
revelation of their identity will expose them to threats to their lives, jobs, livelihood or social
acceptance in the society.
In order to get to information that will lead to the revelation of crime or uncovering of fraudulent
activities, journalists have had to promise news sources confidentiality. Such promises, when
made must be fulfilled as it is a core media ethics to keep promises made to news sources at the
time of procuring information. The promise of confidentiality places a great burden on reporters
as they are to keep their words even in the face of the law. This explains why journalists have
had to go to jail for refusing to reveal their sources to the legislative and judiciary.

Nigerian Journalists and the protection of news sources

Journalists cannot survive without news sources and news sources will not reveal information to
journalists, if their anonymity cannot be guaranteed. Unfortunately, there is no outright law that
protects journalists or supports them in their news sources. Many have argued that the need for
journalists to protect their news sources is purely an ethical issue and the law and society cannot
be hindered as a result of this. It is worthy of note however, that the law only protects journalists
and give them privileges (sometime) from revealing their sources.

Media law and New Media

The advent of the computer in the 21st century ushered in new channels of communication that
involve the transmission of information to a large heterogenous widely dispersed audience
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 simultaneously through the use of digital technology, usually the internet. These media are
popularly referred to as new media and there are different forms of new media channels but
almost all are accessible with the use of desktop, laptops, smart phones and tablets that are all
linked to internet.
There are regulation in the world and the new media and internet is not exempted. The laws that
apply to the traditional media also apply to the new media and violations executed on the internet
can be redressed. However, there are no specific laws on the new media in Nigeria that can be
extended to new media. Although, there are ongoing deliberations in the National Assembly on
proclamation of laws that can regulate new media, at present, there is no law that regulates new
media. The statutes that seek to regulate violations committed using the internet or the new
media which are more concerned with cybercrimes or financial crimes not intellectual property
or other civil rights and dissemination of fake or unsubstantiated reports.

In dealing with the internet and media laws, we have to depend on cases from the West as there
is a scarcity, if not an absence of such litigations in Nigeria.
1. Internet and defamation: We have learnt that defamation is a communication which exposes a
person to hatred, ridicule or contempt lowers him in the esteem of his fellows, causes him to be
shunned or injures him in his business or calling in the mind of a right thinking individual. There
are four main areas of internet publication that may give rise to an action of defamation:
1. The World Wide Web
2. News groups: they are internet groups where subscribers post comments and discuss certain
subjects.
3. E-mail
4. Bulletin boards: Individuals subscribe to a bulletin board to contribute comments on a
particular subject
2. Internet and Copyright: Copyright is a law that protects intangible property that seeks to
prevent people from publishing and reproducing the works of others without their consent and
permission. Intellectual property crime includes software piracy, copyright infringement,
trademarks violations, theft of computer source code. A situation may arise whereby a Nigerian
illegally downloads music, software or book from the internet.

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Internet and morality: The law in Nigeria and indeed the world over seek to protect the society
from the pervasiveness of the media and other individuals and organisations. That is what
provoked the enactment of obscenity, indecency and harmful publication laws. The laws still
affect publications on the internet as such publications of any article are capable of corrupting
persons who are likely to read, see or hear it. In Nigeria, obscene publications Act No. 15 of
1961, Children and Young Persons ( Harmful publications Act, 1961, Child’s Right Act of 2003
and Trafficking in Persons (prohibition) Law enforcement and Administration Act, No. 24,
2003 are some of the laws that can be evoked to combat the publication of indecent and
obscene materials on the internet in Nigeria. The Child’s Right Act of 2003 now makes
pornographic pictures of children an offence.
Hence, media organisations and individual authors must ensure they apply the regular media
laws in their publications on the internet as they do while publishing in traditional media.

Week 8
Media Ethics : Introduction: Evolution of journalistic ethics and code of journalism
practice

Ethics is derived from the Greek word ‘ethos’ meaning ‘custom’ ‘usage’, or ‘character’. It is
often thought of as rational process applying established principles when two moral obligations
collide. Ethics is a set of principles of conduct governing an individual or group. It is the science
of rightness and wrongness of conduct. It is concerned with evaluation of conduct with reference
to an ideal. It seeks to teach us how we can pass correct judgement. According to Omoregbe
(1993), ethics is concerned with fundamental principles of morality where some actions are
labeled as good or bad; right or wrong; ethical or unethical and various criteria for making such
judgement.
Journalistic ethics is a branch of philosophy of philosophy which aid journalists in determining
what is right to do and it is ultimately concerned with providing moral principles or norms for
journalistic action. It sets guidelines, rules, norms or codes that will lead not force the journalists
to be more humane. The aim of ethics or moral philosophy in journalism is to maintain quality in
the media. It incorporates the principle of truth, fairness, objectivity and impartiality.
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 Ethics and Law
Ethics is the science of human conduct and it is concerned with moral principles. It is an
intellectual activity about morals while law concentrates on the bottom line below which we
should not fall. Law is a rule prescribed by authority.

Similarities between law and ethics

1. Human society cannot exist without law and morality and association of individuals cannot exist
without equity and justice.
2. The common objective of both law and morality is to ensure peace and harmony.
3. They are both instruments of social control –to control human behavious and interaction in
society and man’s peaceful coexistence.
4. They are both normative, prescriptive and imperative by nature since they are concerned with
what ought to be.
5. Rights and obligations are common features of both law and morality.

Differences between law and ethics

1. Law is imposed by the outer society while ethics is self-imposed and self-enforced (e.g. by a
professional body for its members, e.g. NUJ for registered journalists in Nigeria).
2. Law has definitive effective date while ethics does not.
3. Law can expire or be repealed, but ethics is continuous.
4. Law has formal institutions such as the legislature, police, judiciary (the courts, reformatory,
etc.) but ethics has less formal institutions for its formulation and enforcement. Indeed, the chief
enforcer of ethics is the conscience.
5. Morality protects a way of life by tabooing; immoral action even before it takes place, laws only
provides a resource after the deed has been done.

Evolution of journalistic ethics

The earliest signs of journalistic ethics appeared at the turn of 20 th century as a reaction against
the excesses of the extreme freedom of the libertarian theory of press which advocates that the
press or the free press theory which advocates that the press should be completely free to
publish what it likes. The abuse of this freedom gave rise to negative journalistic practices. The
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 birth of social responsibility theory of the press served as an antidote to the excessive abuse of
the libertarian theory. This theory preaches the concept of a free but responsible press and this
gave birth to professional journalistic association with codes of ethics designed to encourage
responsible behaviour by their members. This theory places due emphasis on the moral and
social responsibilities of person, who practices the media profession and the institutions, which
operate the mass media.
Ethical principles in Mass Communication
The ethical principles in journalism are the fundamental codes that guide journalism practice in
the world over. They are the pillars on which the profession of journalism is built without their
application to the news gathering and production process, the profession will lose its integrity.
There are numerous ethical principles but the following are some of the core universally
acknowledged ethical principles of the media practice:
1. Truth
2. Objectivity
3. Fairness
4. Accuracy

1. Truth: It is the fact, the reality: The facts must be verified, that is, the avoidance of deception,
dishonesty and lying in any form. Day (2006) discusses the standards of journalistic truth. He
presents the following standards for ensuring truth. They are:
i. The reporting of a story must be very accurate. The facts must be verified, that is, they be based
on solid evidence.
ii. A truthful story must promote understanding. A story should contain as much relevant
information as is available and essential to afford the average reader or reviewer to understand
the contexts of the facts.
iii. It should be fair and balance. It should avoid bias,. Fairness and balance require that journalists
accord recognition to those views that enhance the understanding of an issue. Meanwhile, there
are some truths that the media are not expected to publish. Unpublishable truths are truths that
are not in the interest of the public or truths that can compromise national security and integrity.
2. Objectivity: It means the absence of subjectivity, bias, prejudice or partisanship. Media audience
expects utmost objectivity while some media analysts have asserted that absolute objectivity is
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 not possible. However, the journalists should not his/her feelings and believes intrude into the
story. According to Okoye (2002, p.108), “ objectivity can be hindered by any of the following
factors: limited space, laziness on the part of the reporters, lack of openness of one party to a
controversy, conflict of interest, advertisers’ pressure, Government’s pressure.
3. Fairness: It presupposes that all parties to a story or event are given equal and fair hearings
(through adequate reporting), information about all the angles to a story is reported and all the
sides to an argument or controversy are presented.
4. Accuracy: It is the truthfulness, correctness, exactness or precision in the information that media
practitioners provide for their audience. Media audience must be able to trust whatever
information they are getting from the media and for the media not to lose the trust of their
audience. Crediting information to sources is one way of ensuring accuracy. Getting exact
figures in cases that require statistics like population reportage, accident and similar event. If the
exact figures are unknown, approximation can be used or a clear statement stating that the exact
figure is unknown should be made. Care should be taken to ensure that names, addresses,
positions, locations, ages and other related information are correctly spelt out and accurate. It is
better to drop a story when in doubt than to publish and later issue a retraction or apology.

United Nations Education and Scientific Organisation (UNESCO)’S Draft International

Code of Ethics

McBride report (Many voices One World) also known as the McBride Report, a 1980 UNESCO
publication aimed to analyse communication problem in modern society, particularly relating to
mass and news, says that the adoption of codes of ethics at national and some cases at the
regional level is desirable, provided that such codes are prepared and adopted by the profession
itself without government interference. It recommends that codes of ethics aim at the following
objectives:
1. To promote the consumer/readers, listeners, viewers or the public in general.
2. To protect and inspire the working journalists, broadcaster or others directly concerned with the
gathering, writing, procession and presenting of news and opinions.
3. To guide editors and others who take full legal responsibility for what is published and
broadcast.
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4. To define the responsibilities of proprietors, shareholders and government who are in a position
of absolute control over any particular form of mass media communication’s activity.
5. To deal with issues of advertisers and other who buy into the services of the media.

International Code of Ethics for Journalists

The primary function of newspaper is to communicate to the human race what its members do,
feel and think. Journalism therefore, demands of its practitioners the widest range of intelligence
or knowledge and of experience, as well as natural and trained powers and reasoning.
1. Responsibility: It is the right of the public to know events and the purpose of distributing news
and enlightened opinion is to serve the general welfare. Journalists who use their professional
status as representatives of the public for selfish and other unworthy motives violate a high trust.
2. Freedom of press: Freedom of the press is to be guarded as right of people in a free society. It
carries with it the responsibility to discuss, question and challenge actions and utterance of the
government, public and private institutions.
3. Ethics: Journalist must be free of obligations to any interest other than the public’s rights to
know the truth. Gifts, favour, special treatment can compromise the integrity of journalists.
4. Accuracy and Objectivity: Trust is the ultimate goal of the journalist. Objectivity in reporting the
news is another goal which serves as the mark of an experienced professional. There is no excuse
for inaccuracies or lack of thoroughness.
5. Fair Play: Journalists at all times should show respect for the dignity, privacy, rights and
wellbeing encountered in the course of gathering and presenting the news. The news media
should not communicate unofficial charges affecting reputation or moral character without
giving the accused a chance to reply. Journalists should be accountable to the public for the
reports and the public should be encouraged to voice their grievances against the media. Open
dialogue with the readers, viewers and listeners should be fostered.
6. Pledge journalists should actively censure and try to prevent violations of standards as adherence
to this code of ethics is intended to preserve the bond of mutual trust and respect between
journalists and the publics.

Standards for motion pictures

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 Motion picture producers recognise the high trust and confidence which have been placed in
them by the people of the world and which have made them a universal form of entertainment.
General Principles are:
1. No picture shall be produced which will lower the moral standards of those who see it. Hence,
the sympathy of the audience shall never be thrown at the side of crime, wrong doing, evil or sin.
2. Correct standards of life, subject only to the requirements of drama and entertainment shall be
presented.
3. Laws, natural or human shall not be ridiculed, not shall sympathy be created for its violation.

Standards for Advertising

The term advertising is used to mean all forms of motion pictures. Advertising including in the
followings: book, still photographs, newspapers, magazines and trade paper advertising, radio,
television and others.
1. Print advertising and illustrations should not misinterpret the message.
2. Advertising shall not depict any indecent or undue exposure to the human body.
3. Advertising demeaning religion, race or national origin shall not be used.
4. Cumulative overemphasis on sex, crime, violence and brutality would not be permitted.
5. Salacious posture and pictures should not be part of any advertising form.

Broadcasting Codes
Members of the Radio Television News Directors Association agree that their prime
responsibility as journalists and that of the broadcasting industry as the collective sponsor of
news broadcasting is to provide to the public they serve news service as accurate, full and
prompt as human integrity and devotion can devise.
The primary purpose of broadcast journalist is to inform the public of events of importance and
appropriate interest in a manner that is accurate and comprehensive.
Broadcast news presentation should be designed not only to offer timely and accurate
information, but also to present it in the light of relevant circumstances.
News should be selected on the criteria of significance, community and regional relevance,
appropriate human interest and service to defend audiences. It excludes sensationalism or mis-

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 leading emphasis in any form. Promotional or publicity material should be sharply scrutinised
before use in news broadcast.
Broadcast journalists shall at all times display humane respect for the dignity, privacy and the
well-being of persons with whom the news deals.
Broadcast journalists should present all news which will serve the public interest. In places like
the court, the broadcast journalists shall conduct themselves in dignity and keep broadcast
equipment as unobtrusive and silent as possible.

Principles of Journalistic Ethics

Lambeth (1986) advocates five principles of journalistic ethics. They are:
1. The principles of truth telling: this encourages the journalist not only to form the habit of writing
accurate reports, but also to seek the larger truth behind the facts that he is presenting.
2. The principles of justice: Journalists must maintain a daily concern for fairness and new
organistions must help to create a climate conducive to high ethical standards.
3. The principles of freedom: the individual media writers must be free and be disentangled from
conflicting interests.
4. The principles of Humanness: the media writer should not intentionally harm others. Instead,
he should give assistance and prevent suffering where possible.
5. The principles of stewardship: the media writer as a caretaker or steward of free expression must
manage the resources of communication with due regard for the rights of others, the rights of the
public and the moral health of his or her own occupation.
Code of Ethics of Journalism in Nigeria
Code of journalism ethics are the rules and norms designated to regulate journalistic behaviour
and are prepared and adopted by journalists themselves. In Nigeria, the code was first
established and adopted by the Nigerian Press Organisation (NPO) in 1979, which later paved
way for a new one as a result of collective effort of Nigerian journalists represented by NPO and
the Nigerian Press Council (NPC). The code was drafted in Ota, Ogun State in 1980, reviewed
in 1996 and finally signed in 1998 at the Ilorin convention by all stakeholders—NUJ,
Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN), Nigeria Guild of Editors (NGE) and
the Nigerian Press Council (NPC). The following are the contents of code of ethics of
journalism in Nigeria:
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 1. Reward and gratification
i. A journalist should neither solicit nor accept bribe, gratification or patronage to suppress or
publish information.
ii. To demand payment for the publication of news is inimical to the notion of news as fair,
accurate, unbiased and factual report of an event.
2. Privilege and non-disclosure
i. A journalist should observe the universally accepted principle of confidentiality and should not
disclose the source of information obtained in confidence.
ii. A journalist should not breach an agreement with a source of information obtained as “off- the-
record” or as background information.
3. Collection of News: It is the duty of the journalist to strive to be open and honest in the gathering
of information. He or she must employ all legitimate means in the collection of news and he or
she shall defend at all times the right to free access, but no journalist shall employ unfair
methods to obtain any information or news or photographs or any documents, be they the
property of individuals or the state or corporate body.
4. Privacy: Journalists must at all times respect the privacy of individuals and their families, unless
it affects public interest.
a. Information about an individual as mentioned above should be deemed justifiable only if it is
directed at:
i. Exposing anti-social conduct,
ii. Preventing the public from being misled by some statement or action of the individual
concerned.
iii. Protecting public health, morality and safety,
iv. Exposing crime or serious misdemeanors.
5. Decency:
i. A journalist should dress and comport himself in a manner that conforms with public taste.
ii. In cases involving personal grief or shock, enquiries should be carried out and approaches with
sympathy and discretion.
iii. A journalist should refrain from using offensive, abusive or vulgar language.
iv. A journalist should not present lurid details, either in words or picture of violence, sexual acts,
abhorrent or horrifying scenes.
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v. Unless it is in the furtherance of the public’s right to know, a journalist should generally avoid
identifying relatives or friends or persons convicted or accused of crime.
6. Plagiarism: A journalist should not copy wholesale or in part , other people’s work without
attribution and or consent.
7. We believe that it is the moral duty of every journalist to regard as grave and unethical offences
slander and calumny, unfounded accusations, plagiarism etc.
8. Public interest: A journalist should strive to enhance national unity.
9. Copyright
i. Where a journalist reproduces a work, be it in print, broadcast, art work design, proper
acknowledgement should be accorded the author.
ii. A journalist should abide by all rules of copyright, established by national and international laws
and conventions.
10. A journalist should strive at all times to enhance press freedom and responsibility.
11. Social responsibility: A journalist should promote universal principles of human rights,
democracy, justice, equity, peace and international understanding.
12. Discrimination: A journalist should refrain from derogatory reference to a person’s ethnic group,
religion, sex or to physical or mental illness or handicap.
13. 13. Children and minors: A journalist should not identify by name or picture or interview
children under the age of sixteen who are involved in cases concerning sexual offences, crimes
and rituals or witchcraft either as victims, witnesses or defendants.
14. Accuracy and Fairness
i. A journalist should refrain from publishing inaccurate and misleading information where such
information has been inadvertently published, prompt correction should be made.
ii. The public has a right to know factual, accurate, balanced and fair reporting is the ultimate
objective of good journalism and the basis of earning public trust and confidence.
iii. In the course of his duties, a journalist should strive to separate facts conjecture and comment.
15. Editorial Independence: Decisions concerning the content of news should be the responsibility
of a professional journalist.
16. It is the duty of the journalist to resist and refrain from earnings other than his just salary or
allowances from his employers, not to demand and to refuse any reward that is offered in cash or
kind for publishing news or comments.
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17. Secrecy: We believe that once information has been collected and published, the journalists shall
observe the universally accepted principle of secrecy and shall not disclose the sources of
information obtained in confidence.
18. It is the sacred duty of every journalist to observe those rules, hereby declaring to constitute the
code of ethics of the Nigerian journalists within the laws of the land.
19. It is the duty of every journalist to do everything in his power to ensure the correction of any
information to which he has given publication and which he subsequently discovers either to be
incorrect or harmful to the individual or to a corporate body or likely to be injurious to public
moral.
20. Finally, in order to guarantee that the rules and principles here established shall be adequately
protected, it is the duty of the journalist to accept as final, the judgement of his professional peers
in matters affecting his professional conduct and that subject to the law of the land and the
injunctions of government, he will scrupulously uphold and zealously guard the right of his
professional colleagues to be the arbiter in matters affecting his conduct.
Essential of effective code
1. Code must be specific and concrete rather than general.
2. The code should formulate standards which should be revised as economic, social and marketing
conditions change.
3. For a code to be honoured, some method of self-policing is needed. If an enforcement measure is
provided, the code provides the basis for remedial or disciplinary action.
Nigerian Press Council
The need for a statutory body to regulate the activities of the Nigerian press and protect its
members was recognised towards the end of the last millennium, various attempts was made
before NPC was established.
Nigerian Press Council is an agency under the Federal Ministry of Information. It was
established by the Nigerian Press Council Act No. 85 of 1992 as amended in Nigerian Press
Council Act No. 60 of 1999 to promote high professional standards for Nigerian press. Its vision
is to create a culture of ethical press in Nigerian driven through research and documentation n
contemporary press development; training and workshop for journalists; accreditation of
programmes in tertiary institutions, enquiring into complaint about the press and monitoring the
activities of the press.
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 The council serves as a buffer between the media government and the public by ensuring the
maintenance of the highest ethical and professional standards in the media. It is mutually
beneficial to the public as well as journalist themselves.
Essentially, press councils are forums for airing of complaints against news media. The council
is not a law court; it considers complaints against news media and journalists concerning the
messages they publish. The complaints that people make about news publications and broadcasts
usually pertain to ethical standards such as truth, accuracy, fairness, balance and decency or
issues such as bias, objectivity and sensationalism.

Goals and objectives of NPC

1. To promote professionalism and encourage the highest standards in journalism;
2. Safeguard freedom of press
3. Protect Rights and privileges of journalists
4. Protect the public from excesses of journalists through adjudications
5. Render the cheapest and fastest complaints resolution mechanism between the media and the
public.

Mandate of the Nigerian Press Council

Section 3 of NPC Act states that the mandates of the council are as follow:
1. Enquire into complaints about the press and the conduct of any person or organisation towards
the press.
2. Monitor the activities of the press with a view to ensuring compliance with the code of
professional and ethical conduct of Nigerian Union of journalists.
3. Receive application from and documenting the print media and monitoring their performance to
ensure that owners and publishers comply with the terms of their mission statements and
objectives in liaison with the Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria.
4. Research into contemporary press development and engage in updating press documentation.
5. Review developments likely to restrict the flow of information and advice on measures aimed at
remedying such developments.
6. Ensure the protection of the rights and privileges of journalists in their lawful performance of
their duties.
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7. Foster the achievement and maintenance of high professional standards by the Nigerian press.
The Council is therefore, statutorily expected to monitor the activities of the media and this is
performed through content analysis to ensure that the Code of Professional and Ethical Conduct
is strictly adhered to. The Council also reviews media laws, policies and programmes or
developments perceived as hostile to the Press in its performance and advise on possible remedy.

Week 9: Regulatory Institutions in the Nigerian Mass Media

Regulation is an inevitable part of ensuring standards in everyday modern life. Without
regulation, life would become more dangerous and uncomfortable. There are various ethical
mechanisms for the regulation of mass media in Nigeria. They are:
1. Laws on the Nigerian media in the country.
2. Statutory bodies set up to regulate the media in the country.
3. Professional bodies and codes.
4. Non-media mechanisms that members of the society employ to curtail the media.

1. Laws of the land: There is plethora of laws that were promulgated to regulate the media in
Nigeria such as law of defamation, law of sedition, official secret Act, law of privacy etc. Media
professionals have criticized a good number of these laws as unethical to the progress and
freedom of the media that these laws exist nonetheless.
2. Statutory bodies: There are statutory bodies set up to regulate the media, whether by the media
themselves which is the ideal or sometimes by the government. In Nigeria, we have a Press
Council. Press councils are self-regulatory bodies for journalism practice, as the initiatives for
setting them up must come from the professional or the media themselves. The essence of a press
council is to handle extra legal matters involving individual journalists and the media. In
Nigeria, we have Nigerian Press Council, (NPC), Nigerian Communication Service (NCC),
Nigerian Broadcasting Organisation etc.
3. Professional Associations and Codes: Apart from the law and statutory bodies, professional
associations and/or codes are another form of regulatory mechanism that media professionals
have put in place to control unethical concerns among themselves. For the mass media in
Nigeria, national media associations in the country include:
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  The Nigerian Union of Journalists ( NUJ)
 The Nigerian Guild of Editors ( NGE)
 The Newspaper Proprietors Association ( NPAN)
 The Nigerian Institute of Public Relations ( NIPR)
 The Advertising Practitioners Councils of Nigeria ( APCON)
 Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON)
All these associations determine the standard of admitting members and they set and sometimes
conduct examinations for those who intend to join.
4. Non-media mechanisms: Societies worldwide have not left the regulation of the media in the
hands of the government and media industries alone. They have also organised and designed
ways by which they monitor and regulate the practice of mass media in their communities as
private individuals and their communities are most affected by the impact of media publications
and practices. There are different non-media mechanisms employed by different communities in
reacting, responding, correcting and limiting the activities of media news gathering and reporting
practices and publications. some of them are:
 Media review, publications and programmes
 Letters to the editors
 Request for apology and retraction
 Request for apology and retraction
 Rejoinder or right of reply
 Boycott
 Media monitors and/or critics
 Surveys and polls

i. Media review, publications and programmes: The media apart from regulation through
professional media associations and codes have also peer reviewed and corrected the errors,
mistakes or blunders of their colleagues in different media organisations through media review
programmes or publications. In Nigeria, media review published by Lanre Idowu has been doing
a good job of critiquing ethical conducts in the media. AL-Jazeerah has a programme called “
The listening Post” which reviews the broadcasts, publications, news gathering and presentation
as well as publication approaches of different media organisations in the world over.
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ii. Letters to the editors: It is a letter sent to a publication about issues of concern from its readers.
In Nigeria, readers sometimes write letters to the editors of newspaper to complain or make
requests about issues that are of concern to them, but not related to publications or articles
previously written by the paper.
iii. Request for apology and retraction: Individuals demand for a retraction and /or apology when
false or misleading information are published about them. This is done by writing a letter to the
editor of the media organisation, referring to the title or headlines of the news content, the page
or programme on which it was published or aired and stating their grievances with the content
and evidence. They then demand a published or broadcast apology and request that a retraction
be published by the media organisation, withdrawing its earlier publication. Media organisations
who are socially responsible and wish to avoid legal suits apologise and publish retraction when
it is clear that they have made mistakes and wronged the organisation or individual concerned.
iv. Rejoinder or right of reply: Individuals or organisations who are aggrieved with a news content
or publication sometimes write a rejoinder explaining their side of the story or stating the
position they believe is the right positions for members of the public to considers. The rejoinder
is then sent to the media organisation which published the initial story to publish. there is a right
of reply and media organisations are necessitated to publish such rejoinders. It is not expected
that the individual or the organisation will pay for the publication, but some do in order to ensure
that the rejoinders are published. Others take the rejoinders to another media organisations and
pay for it to be published there.
v. Boycott: Individuals, organisations or groups may call for a place or boycott, proscription or
embargo on the purchase of newspaper or magazine or disclaim any medium that is perceived to
be against or unjust to their cause. Before this stance can be taken, some of the other mechanisms
explained above would have been explored without success.
vi. Media monitors and/or critics: these are individuals or organisations who monitors and critique
the contents or broadcasts of media organisations. They sometimes publish their observations for
the consumption of the media and general public and they also make recommendations for the
correction, prevention or eradication of such errors or mistakes in the future.
vii. Surveys and polls: Independent research outfits and academic institutions regularly conduct
surveys and polls about media institutions, especially the print medi. Some of the criteria
employed are: editorial value, rate of distribution, quality of news, objectivity, balance and
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 fairness, integrity and other indices of good journalism practices. Media organisations are aware
of these ratings as organistions and advertising agencies use such ratings. Polls and surveys are
other good mechanisms of curbing the excesses of the media.

Week 10: Ethical Approaches: Theories and Moral Reasoning

An ethical theory is a principle put forward to explain, describe or predict human ethical
behaviour. There are many ethical theories and perspectives with which journalists can
understand moral reasoning in taking real life decision. There are three general types of ethical
theories:
1. Rule-based or deontological theories
2. Balancing or teleological theories
3. Relativistic theories
1. Deontological Theories are associated with the philosopher, Emmanuel Kant. Kant posited moral
laws that constituted categorical imperatives—principles that define appropriate action in all
situations. To define categorical imperatives, a journalist should act in a way that he or she wants
all others to act. Kant’s thinking parallels what we might call the Golden Rule: Do unto others as
you would have them do unto you. A deontologist believes that producing the greatest possible
happiness to the greatest possible number may have nothing to do with the morality of the action.
He also believes that personal satisfaction or gain is irrelevant to ethical action for the
deontologists, what is important is the principle from which the action has been performed. To
Okunna (1995), the deontologist in journalism recognises that sycophancy and acceptance of
gratification are intrinsically wrong, whether the consequences of such actions are beneficial or
not. An action which is based on the good intention of the doer is ethically right irrespective of
consequences which might arise from the action. Under this school of thought, we have three
theories : legalistic, absolute and ethical objectivism theories
i. Legalistic theory: It is an ethics of law, duty and absolute obligation. It is very rigid and
uncompromising in its insistence on objective absolute moral principle which has been ratified
over the years as serving the society best. It tends towards absolute or universal ethics.
ii. Absolute Theory: In absolute theory, a right action should be right in all places, at all times and
in all circumstances. An ethical absolutist believes that there is one universal and eternal code
that basically applies to everyone in all ages. The journalists who subscribe to the absolutist
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 theory of ethics believes that there are absolute and universal journalistic principles which should
apply to journalists everywhere and which should form the basis of a universal and eternal code
in journalism. Such ethical universals include truthfulness, fairness, accuracy, balance and
objectivity.
iii. Ethical objectivism: It pertains to the rightness or wrongness, goodness or badness, propriety or
impropriety of our actions. According to Edward (1972), an ethical theory should be regarded as
objective, if it holds that the truth of what is asserted by some ethical propositions is independent
of the person who uses the proposition.

2. Balancing or teleological theories: The teleological or balancing theory is best exemplified by

what Philosopher John Stuart Mill called utilitarianism. In this theory, the good that may come
from an action is weighed against or balanced against the possible harm. The individuals then act
in a way that maximises good and minimizes harm. In other words, the ultimate test for
determining the rightness of some behaviour depends on the outcomes of the results from that
behaviour. The end justifies the means. It is the opposite of deontological ethical theory. The
central thing according to teleologists is that actions must be done in the spirit of a certain end.
Teleological as a school has many variants: the Hedonists, the Egoistic, the Universal and the
Utilitarian.
i. The Hedonists: They hold that pleasure should guide all our actions. To them, only actions that
are conducive to the production of more pleasure against pain should be carried out.
ii. The Egoistic teleologists: They hold that it is the duty of the individual to seek his own good.
iii. The Universal Teleologists: They believe that every person should seek the good of his group,
community, nation or world as a whole.
iv. The Social (Utilitarian) Teleologists: They see good as that which benefits the life of the group
of society. This is usually the ethics of collective altruism which holds that good conduct is that
which results in the greatest good to the greatest number. For instance, a journalist in deciding
whether or not to present a story has no sound way of knowing which action will result in the
greatest number of people.
3. The Relativism approach argues that there is no absolute right or wrong way to behave. Instead,
ethical decisions are determined by the culture within which a journalist is working. One way
ethical norms of a culture is established is through the creation of codes of behaviour or good
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 conduct that describe what most journalists in the field believe are desirable or undesirable
behaviours. Under this school of thought, we have situational theory and objectivism ethical
theory.
i. Situational Theory is an approach to ethical issues which regards as primary, the situation and
ethical demands of the situation, other than already established general rules. Actions are
evaluated based on the demand of particular situation. Situation ethics admits no moral or no
absolute moral law since no moral law is always applicable in all situations.
ii. Ethical Subjectivism: This theory holds that individual feelings are the right ethical criteria for
determining ethically valid action or the actions that are good and bad. Ethical subjectivism is
any ethical theory in which moral judgement is about men or their actions. The individual is the
parameter for knowing what is right or wrong. It embraces the view that moral judgement is
about the feelings of the person making the judgement.

Ethical Issues in Mass Communication

Despite the existence of a nationally accepted code of ethics in Nigeria, there are still challenges
of ethical violations in the country’s media industry. There is no exhaustive list of all the
unethical issues that the Nigerian media are challenged with. Only few will be discussed while
journalists are expected to allow their conscience and the ethics of profession to guide their
activities and operations in the field.
1. Freebies: They are various assorted gifts given to reporters or editorial staff of media
organisation to gain their goodwill in order to overtly or covertly influence their writing.
2. Junkets, brown envelopes and paying for news: Junkets are free or highly subsidized transport,
travel or accommodation tickets. At times, transport (luxurious buses and airlines); give
subsidized or free travel tickets to reporters covering the transport or aviation beats. Hotel too
also sometimes give free or subsidized tickets for accommodation to tourism reporters. These
forms of junkets will automatically affect balance and objective writings from such reporters that
benefit from them.
3. Brown envelopes are money that are given to reporters after covering events, press conference or
interviewing prominent news sources, especially politicians and those in governments. The
realist is that brown envelope syndrome has come to stay and it will be very difficult to weed
out.
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4. Paying for news is another ethical challenge. It either comes in form of ‘Let Them Pay’ in which
organisation pays media organisations to cover such events such as General Meetings, New
Product Launch and similar events and make them report it as regular news or in the form of
media house or their reporters paying sources to get information or documents. Both options are
wrong, adverts should be carried as adverts, and not news in order not to deceive the unassuming
audience while paying sources for news.
5. Conflict of Interest: This occurs when a reporter or editor has an interest or a stake in matter and
allows it to affect their editorial function. Conflict of interest can also come to play if a reporter
or editor is a member of a political party or on the payroll of certain politicians and public office
holders. Handling stories that affect loyal advertisers of specific medium is also another
challenge. It has been said that newspapers avoid strong criticism so that they do not stop their
allies from advertising in their papers. A good example in point is that of 234 Next Newspaper, a
Nigerian newspaper run by a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist that stopped appearing on the
newsstands in September, 2011 after two and an half years of muckraking and sometimes
controversial coverage of issues in the country.
6. Carter journalism: Almost every beat in Nigeria has a beat association comprising all the
journalists covering such beats. The beat associations are so powerful that they collect money
from organisations working in those beats for onward distribution to their members. They write
stories and send to the e-mail addresses of all journalists covering their beats and they have the
power to influence what stories to be written or killed by their members.
7. Sycophancy and Ethnocentrism: Sycophancy is when journalists turn themselves to praise
singers, idolizing politicians and the powerful in the society in their writings while neglecting
social issues that need to be addressed.
Also, the fact that Nigeria is a multi-religious country has also created another problem in
which media organisations have allowed their medium to be used as platforms for attracting
specific political organisation, religious or ethnic groups or individual.

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 

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