One major weakness in the coverage of elections, to which international observers have repeatedly drawn attention to, is the blatant misuse of state-owned media for propaganda purposes. For example, the European Union Observers’ Report on the 2015 elections, regrets that state-owned broadcasting media fell far short of providing a level playing field, for the contestants from opposing parties. Instead, they chose rather, to be partisan in publicising the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party. What is surprising is that every observer group, domestic or international, has made the same compliant since 2003, without getting anyone to do anything about it.
In other words, unlike some African countries such as Ghana and South Africa, where public service media cater to the interest of the community at large, state-owned media in Nigeria, are little more than propaganda mouth organs of the ruling party. This is a problem that signposts the underdevelopment of our democracy, the lack of bi-partisan institutions, the unwillingness of political leaders to subject themselves to the rules of the game, as well as the tyranny of politics. As Hafsat Abiola once beautifully expressed it, politics crowds out everything else, including development objectives.
To connect this with the media, successive political leaders have tended to view, state-owned media as one more crucial asset in the race for power which they must control at all costs. In this respect, the worst offenders are the radios and televisions owned by state governments, where no pretense is made whatsoever that the governors, theirs wives and commissioners are in total control. That is why for example, state-owned television can spend several hours, reporting the activities of the governor’s wife, while blacking out the opposition, and several newsworthy events. The same is true, to a lesser extent of the Nigerian Television Authority, which is freely converted into a photographic arsenal of the President, the First Lady, and ministers of the ruling party. This practice has gone on for so long, that hardly anyone remembers that the Electoral Act states expressly, that “the state apparatus, including the media shall not be employed to the advantage or disadvantage of any political party or candidate at any election.” The point here is that once those in power subject these institutions to their whims and caprices, they are hardly likely to stop doing so when elections come around.
To be sure, one of the reasons why this issue has featured very little in national conversation is because a plethora of private and social media allows consumers to ignore state-owned media, and the uses to which they are put. But that does not solve the problem, if only because those who pay the piper, namely, the Nigerian public should be allowed to call the tune. There is the additional fact that the reach of state media points to a commanding position in the media landscape. It will be wrong therefore, to continue to run them as extensions of the President or governor’s offices. This writer is aware that, for economic reasons, public service media in advanced democracies currently face challenges related to their survival. For example, a recent Senate Committee Report in Canada advocates several reforms which if implemented would amount to outsourcing many of the services currently offered by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Similarly, even the British Broadcasting Corporation which is perhaps the preeminent public service broadcasting organisation in the world, has increasingly come under economic pressure that may force it to abandon some of its long standing ideals. These difficulties notwithstanding, the public service media model which speaks to media that cater to the interest of the political community rather than sections of it lives on as one of the anchors of a proper democratic system. To give an example, a commercially-run media house may see no point in focusing on minorities or marginalised groups; whereas, public service media, by virtue of their mandate, are expected from time to time to put the searchlight on these groups. Indeed, in countries where national unity and identity cannot be taken for granted, public service media provide a pathway through which bridges can be built across ethnic, social, and religious disparities.
How then can Nigeria move from state-controlled media to a public service model? Judging from the experience of Ghana, whose political elite fought several legal and political battles to secure public service media, such gains are not handed out on a platter of gold. As this writer recalls it, theGhanaian Broadcasting Corporation, as well as their state-owned newspapers were, for a long time little different from what the NTA is today. Opposition parties however demanded that these media institutions function, not as publicity outfits for ruling parties, but as media which are publicly funded, but not controlled by the ruling party. One of the institutional reforms for achieving this was to insulate appointments to the National Media Commission from presidential control. For, obviously, as long as appointments to media regulatory bodies such as the National Broadcasting Commission are made by the President, who also has the power to determine their tenure, it is difficult to expect anything but loyalty reinterpreted as adulation of state officials.
It is important therefore, if we are serious about creating public service media, to institute media law reforms, which will create buffers between the president or the minister of information, and the broadcasting authorities. Unless this is done, we will continue to grope in the dark and to earn the condemnation of international observers, concerning the abuse of state-owned media. The principle advocated here, has a wider application across a spectrum of institutions which it would be dangerous for the president or ministers to micro-manage for electoral advantage. The limited but reversible gain that the country secured, in the direction of free and fair elections under President Goodluck Jonathan needs to be consolidated. One way of doing so, is in ensuring that state-owned media are not manipulated, especially in election seasons, for opportunistic political reasons.
Buhari and the new Minister of Information, Chief Lai Mohammed, owe the nation a duty to move it in the direction of turning state-owned media into public service media. Considering that it takes sustained effort to change entrenched habits, the time to begin that reform is now.
PUNCH
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