FREEDOM OF THE PRESS VERSUS LEGAL FRAMEWORK OF NEWS REPORTING: AN NEWS REPORTING: AN INHERENT CONTRADICTION
Department of Mass Communication
The Federal Polytechnic Nasarawa, Nasarawa S
Democracy is today considered as the most admired system of government, practiced in most civilized countries. One of the major characteristics of democracy that makes it attractive to nations is its permissiveness for freedom, including freedom of speech, from which
derives press freedom. Unfortunately, press freedom has suffered, and
is still suffering brutality in the hands of governments. The media are
variously emasculated, gagged or censored. These happen especially in
developing countries such as Nigeria. In this study, energy was expended in the direction of finding out if there exists an inherent contradiction between freedom of the press and legal framework of news reporting. Survey method was adopted for the study; questionnaire was the instrument of data collection. Data generated were displayed on pie chart and analyzed using simple percentages while
democratic participant media theory served as its theoretical framework.
The study found that press freedom in Nigeria is low and that absolute
freedom is important for Nigeria’s democracy to flourish. It however
concluded that absolute freedom does not exist anywhere in the world, and recommended among others things, that media practitioners should be guided in the execution of their responsibilities through press law, to prevent abuse.
Key Words * Democracy * Freedom* Press * Speech * Law
