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Word Press Freedom Day 2011
21st Century Media: New
Frontiers, New Barriers
By Gbemiga Bamidele
World Press Freedom Day was established by the United Nations
(UN) in 1991, two years after a joint conference between UNESCO
and the United Nations Department of Public Information held in
Windhoek Namibia, in 1991.
The conference called upon the United Nations to establish a day
dedicated to celebrating the fundamental principles of Press
Freedom and to honouring journalists who have lost their lives
in pursuit of their profession. This year, 2011, World Press
Freedom Day to be celebrated on May 3, 2011 marks the twentieth
anniversary of that declaration.
The theme for this year WPFD is
21st Century
Media: New Frontiers, New Barriers. The focus of the
celebration is on the potential of the internet and digital
platforms as well as the more established forms of journalism in
contributing to freedom of expression, democratic governance and
sustainable development. The occasion will also serve to call on
member states to re-affirm and implement their international
commitments to guarantee and promote freedom of expression on
the internet and to remind civil society organizations,
individuals and other relevant stakeholders of their central
part in furthering the internet as a global public source.
The growth of the internet has greatly expanded the ability of
individuals, groups, and others to enhance their freedom of
expression and their right to seek, receive and impart
information as recognized by international human rights
standard.
Specifically, new media platforms have made it possible for
almost any citizen to communicate to a large audience via the
internet. These new frontiers of media have enriched news and
information resources and reshaped what has been traditionally
the realm of prints and broadcast media, and news agencies.
UNESCO, as the UN agency with the mandate to promote freedom of
expression, recognizes that freedom of expression is central to
building strong democracies, contributing to good governance,
promoting civic participation and the rule of law, and
encouraging human development and security.
The right to freedom of expression applies as much to the
internet as to more traditional forms of media, the press, radio
and television. The challenge is to fully optimize the potential
of the internet and digital media while not compromising civil
liberties including the right to freedom of expression and
privacy.
According to the National Information Technology Development
Agency (NITDA), the number of computers connected to Internet in
Nigeria is 683,866. Of these, 530,720 are in offices, 122,431 in
homes and 32,060 in cybercafés.
The Internet has made possible the creation of online version of
newspapers mostly free. It has also made possible the creation
of private news and current affairs websites.
As for mobile communication, according to the National
Communication Commission, the regulatory agency of the industry
today, there are over 80,000,000 mobile phone subscribers in
Nigeria, up from 10,000,000 in 1999 when digital mobile
telephony was first introduced. These subscribers are shared
among five telecommunication companies, all privately owned.
The unprecedented decentralization of information brought by
internet has empowered citizens to access information, express
themselves and participate in public debate more than ever.
Even, in the areas where internet penetration is low, citizens
are using mobile phones to send information through text
messages to local radio stations which are still dominant news
media in many parts of the world. In all these, the challenge
remains how individuals can be empowered to produce quality
content and gain the necessary media and information literacy in
this newer and more complex information environment.
In terms of quality, the expansion of communication in recent
decades has been steady and uninterrupted in keeping with the
demographic, educational, social and political trends. It is
certainly difficult to estimate and evaluate the outcome of this
rapid growth in information and entertainment, coupled with the
ever-growing audience to assimilate it.
The most striking feature of this development is that the size
of the audience of the media has significantly increased,
particularly in Nigeria. This is because the number of people
hitherto untouched by the mass media has dramatically decreased
within the last three decades partly because of the rise in
literacy level.
At the present pace of progress, almost every Nigerian will be
in the audience in a matter of a decade.
This geographical extension is significant in the sense that the
mass media are no longer an exclusive pre-refractive of the
urban populations. The wider coverage has produced a major
change in the nature of the message transmitted, particularly in
the radio and newspapers. Rural newspapers have sprung up and
some radio programmes are now being produced in indigenous
languages.
Where geographical isolation once cut people off from distant
events, they are now fast becoming members of the national, even
global community. This, coupled with the astonishingly rapid
spread of television in developing countries, Nigeria inclusive,
has brought with it diverse social changes in the broadcast
sense.
Perhaps, one communication gadget that has significantly
revolutionized information treatment and dissemination is the
computer. Virtually all the activities of media organizations of
advanced countries for instance, have been computerized. In the
entire journalism practice ranging from news gathering, editing,
production to dissemination, the computer has become the most
significant feature. The utilization of computers in media
practice makes the whole activity less cumbersome, faster and
error-proof. Whether in print or the broadcast media, the
computer is now being used for various purposes.
The Nigeria Mass Media have a long and very interesting history.
Since the establishment of the first newspaper, in 1959, the
country has witnessed an avalanche of various newspapers and
magazines targeted at different cadres of readership,
philosophies and objectives.
The broadcast media, in its own case, have a relatively recent
history in Nigeria. Radio broadcasting came up in the early
1950s and the first television station – which is also reputed
to be the first in Africa, was established in 1959.
Expectedly, the media in Nigeria used the crude technologies
existing as at the time of their establishment. Most of the
information processing and dissemination activities undertaken
at that time were, to a large extent, carried manually.
The development of telecommunications in Nigeria changed things
as news from far places could be phoned in by reporters.
However, problems of the media are not solved because of the
poor telecommunications infrastructure in the country.
Globally, the rise of digital media platforms presents enormous
opportunities to better inform citizens the world over. Some of
these are better access to more information; a greater diversity
of information sources, convergence of video, audio and text on
a single screen, access to primary documents and direct
communications between the governors and the governed.
But with these opportunities have come new barriers to the free
flow of information. These include filtering, blocking of
contents, digital surveillance and restrictive digital media
laws.
While celebrating the fundamental principles of freedom of
expression, press freedom and right to information in the
digital age and the courage of those who practice journalism and
press freedom, World Press Day 2011 will also explore these new
frontiers and barriers and seek ways and means of addressing its
inadequacies while consolidating on its accomplishment.
Gbemiga Bamidele is the Assistant National Secretary 1, NUJ.
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