Nigerian Media and the burden of objectivity

 By Niran Adedokun

This week, I am hoping that we would be able to generate some discussion or debate on this platform.  Over the past few years, my concern for the need for objectivity in the business of news reporting in Nigeria has grown from worry to fear. I just continue to have the feeling that Nigerian journalists are increasingly being affected by the ills of our society to the extent that the demand for objectivity especially in news reporting has continued to suffer. 
Let me give you an example, how does the headline: “Amaechi floors Jonathan,” in the aftermath of the controversial election of the Nigeria Governor Forum fulfill the demand for objectivity? I was forced to ask some of my friends who seem to understand journalism better if such interpretative allowances were available to hard, straight news reporting. I still have not had any convincing answer as we all arrived at the point that while reports could be speculative, it does not sound too appropriate to lead a news story with fact that are not evidently part of the events that are being reported.  In the matter at hand for example, President Jonathan was not part of that election and so it puts a wrong picture in the mind of the reader if we allow speculations that  the elections was between him and Governor Amaechi colour our news judgement.
A couple of days back, I had a discussion with a friend on what I consider to be one of the most basic demands of news writing- objectivity.  The chat emanated from the post of a mutual friend on facebook. The chap, one who is passionate about “making“ Nigeria right had torn the Nigeria Television Authority apart over its report of last week’s crisis at the Rivers State House of Assembly. He felt the NTA report should not have given space to the five legislators who claimed to have impeached the Speaker of the House. He recommended the withdrawal of NTA’s broadcast licence and ended his statement by quoting Professor Wole Soyinka as follows: ““Stop treating this clown as an equal of the elected Speaker, though you can quote him. You can describe him as ‘self-declared’ speaker" in support of his position.
I disagreed with him and still disagree. I hold the opinion that the report of the NTA on this particular night was professional. I am of the view that news reporting strictly disallows the reporter from passing any form of judgment. S/he should present the news as it is and then leave decisions as to what interpretations to the court of public opinion and the court of law. Of course, journalism still has other avenues for expressing opinions but that is certainly not news reporting. I guess that this is the reason why there are editorials, op-ed articles, feature stories and such more elaborate write-ups. News writers must never be found disguising their opinions as news, omit information deliberately, distort facts or fall for imbalanced reporting.
Some have, however, argued that even the physiology of man does not encourage objectivity. This school of thought believes that preconceptions, prejudices, biases, cultural norms and mores, education, social status, superstition and  peer opinion all come together to form the realities for people .
 And that as a result of these, in spite of whatever the senses perceive, the mind must interpret and filter the information with the benefit of the individual’s experience, education, culture and upbringing. It is argued further that this in turn can affect the person's sense of politics, morality, religion, race, sex, economics, and even humour, hence the difficulty that journalists encounter in news reporting when objectivity is concerned.
However, rather than excuse the reporter and news writing from the requirement for objectivity, I think this argument actually demands a bit more than the average from him. Just like a scientist who begins his research with assumptions having expectations as to what may happen, but not knowing what would  happen, a journalist may go to his beat with his own preconceptions and opinions but coming out of that “laboratory”, he must present the people with a sense of what the truth is without injecting his own opinion.
While it is true that like every human being, journalists have biases, these biases have to be tested and challenged by gathering facts and information that would either support such biases or knock them down.  Sometimes the information gathered is capable of supporting and tearing apart the biases of the journalist at the same time. When that happens it is my opinion that s/he should display this ambiguity in the same way in which a scientist would reflect variations in his research when they do not end up as conclusive as they should,  as this would, without doubt, show the sense of the truth when the result is seen by those who were not part of the investigation.
 That is what I think news reporting should strive to achieve at all times. I am of the opinion that when media organisations descend into the arena in news reporting, they gradually allow the erosion of the objectivity and that would ultimately be attended by the loss of the trust of the people!
So what do you think? What has been your experience regarding objectivity in news reporting in Nigeria, especially, in the light of recent events? We'd be happy to share your thoughts on the issue. Have a great week.