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AN ASSESSMENT OF MASS MEDIA AND THE MANAGEMENT OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN NIGERIA

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The  political  entity  called  Nigeria  has  continued  since  independence  under  one  form  to  the  other.  Especially  with  military  rulers  who  have  had  to  be  rule  through  decrees  thus  suspending  the  constitution  that  guarantees  the  citizenry  their  fundamental  human  rights, Ellinas, A. (2010). It  makes  it  obvious  that  the  basis  for  government,  which  is  for  the  ultimate  good  of  the  people,  is  defeated  when  their   rights  are  not  guaranteed and  indeed  authoritarian  rule  has  not  helped  human  right issues,  as  abuse  has  been  recorded  time  and  again  even  in  the  mass  media  bizarre manner. 

          This  is  where  the  mass  media  comes  into  focus ,  as  through  it,  the  government  and  the  governed  are  better  be  informed  about their  various  privileges  and  limitation  as  it  is  entrenched  in  the  constitution  of  the  federal  republic  of  Nigeria,  albeit  only  under  a  democratically  elected  government. For  a  society  that  it’s  citizens  cannot  be  guaranteed  the  protection  of  their  fundamental  human  rights  cannot  be  said  to  be  free  in  the  real  sense  of  the  word, Cohen-Almagor, R. (2001).

          The  mass  media  has  always  been  a  channel  through  which  human  right  abuses  has  been  exposed  to  the  public.  But  there  are  times  human  right  abuses  have  been  quite  intractable  for  the  mass  media  to  manage  either  due  to  tribal  or  religious  sentiment  or outright  ownership  interference, Henny, L. (2012).  In  such  cases,  the  citizens  whose  rights  have  been  abuses  are  unfortunately  given  the  short  end  of  the  stick.  The  mass  media  should  be  able  to  effectively  manage  the  issues  of human  right  abuses  as  they  unfold  in  the  society Henny, L. (2012).  Considering  the  fact  that  they  most  times  set  the  agenda  for  public  discourse.  They  should  in  the  process  to  be  able  distinguish  what  should  be  known  and  what  should  not  be  known. Expect  in  that  case,  they  want  to  leave  the  role  of  agenda  setting  to  the  government;  which  is  this  case  means  that  the  people  are  indolent  and as  Plato  stressed  “they  look  up  to  the  leaders  of  the  state  to  say  what  goes”.  Despite  the  inability  of  the  mass  media  to  at  times  manage  human  right  abuses  in  Nigeria,  they  have  at  other  times  pre – empted     the  activities  of  human  right  groups  in  the  past,  thus,  leading  to  clampdown  on  members  of  the  groups, Henny, L. (2012).

1.2      STATEMENT OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEMS

Deliberate violation of human rights is unnatural and animalistic, while its protection must be respected out of the goodness of the heart. Sadly enough however, today, there is hardly a leader or a place on the earth surface where human rights are not being grossly violated with impunity despite the efforts of the human rights activists and organizations. In fact, the world is in a regime of human rights encroachment. Such violation include: social insecurity, racial discrimination, extrajudicial killing, prejudice, forceful sterility, sale of children, women and child trafficking, sexual harassment, genocide, war crime, etc. As pointed out earlier on, there is hardly a nation or a leader who is left out.

1.3      OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

1.                 This study sets out to see what extent the mass media had been able to manage human right abuses in Nigeria.

ii.                 It is aimed at putting in the right perspective the order of management of human right abuses by the Mass Media.

iii.              This study sets out to know whether religious and ethical consideration are responsible for how the Mass Media in Nigeria Manage Cases of human right abuses.

iv.              Finally, it is to find out whether ownership factor plays any role in the Management of human right abuses in Nigeria.

1.4  RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The various questions, which this research sets out to answer, are as follows,

i.                   Has the Mass Media been able to manage human right violations in Nigeria?

ii.                 Has human right abuse reportage been without censor?

iii.              How has government policies affect the reportage of human right abuses?

iv.              Are religious and ethnic factors responsible for the management of mass Media organization in Nigeria.

v.                 Is the Mass Media in Nigeria free in its coverage?

If these questions are answered without prejudice then we can definitely say that professionalism will enhance. As the various problem that have plagued the profession it would have been. Resolved; thereby helping to produce objective and balanced reportage of human right violations in Nigeria.

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study is out to make know the benefit of the effective management of human right by the Mass Media in Nigeria. Furthermore, it will enhance the knowledge of various players in the mass media on their role in effective  and effectual reportage of human right abuses in Nigeria. Also it will now put the Mass  owners in the know about the limitation of their interference on reportage of news.

1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This study will make an assessment of mass media and the management of human rights in Nigeria.

1.7  LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

This research work was without its constraints. Notable among them was the issue of gathering Materials for the work. It was a tedious process that was not helped by the non – challant or should I say uncooperative attitude of some staff of the Media houses visited.

        Another constraints was time. Due to the shortness of time I could not really lay my hands on enough material since there are other class work and assignments to be taken care of.

        Financial constraint did not help matters. Finance really limited my scope of converge, as I could not move around a lot. Therefore, I had not choice but to scale down on the rage or scope so that I can be able to meet with other schedules.

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