CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Since the media are social organizations who hope to offer a moral contribution to society, there
is a need for laws to govern journalistic practice. According to Oso and Pate (2011), Johnson said
that the media can be a “great secular church” and a “machine of evangelism for dispelling the
darkness of confusion, expelling mistake, and maintaining reality.” Journalists have been accused
of being subjective in the course of their duties, and their position has been debated. Briggs and
Burke (2005) opine that “journalists are not to be believed” and that they are “slanderous”. The
explanation for this is that, due to the existence of ownership, employers of the news industry,
whether government-controlled or privately owned, are subject to editorial oversight. Politicians
who can pay to operate a publishing company can control what is in the newspaper's columns
(Dare, 2010).
Government-owned media works to defend the government’s interests, while commercial media
works to protect the interests of the founders, resulting in violations of the code of ethics. “He
who pays the piper sets the stage," as the phrase goes. This study would look into how the art of
journalism is practiced in Nigerian news outlets. Journalism is a trading technique or occupation
that involves using different media to convey news to the public. “Journalists face several
difficulties in collecting, processing, and disseminating the news,” Stovall (2005). Journalists
face serious obstacles in the course of their work. Journalists are culture's watchdogs or
gatekeepers and they determine what is news and making significant decisions on what society
does about itself. As gatekeepers in culture, journalists are governed by a code of ethics that
ensures they are performing their duties in accordance with the law. Journalism ethics refers to
the code of ethics that journalists are expected to follow.
They provide a dedication to reporting the facts objectively without being swayed by self-
interest; preserving the confidentiality of sources and attributing what is said to the appropriate
source; and maintaining the secrecy of sources and attributing what is said to the appropriate
source (Ike, 2005). Media has evolved to the point that it Is as important as food and clothes. It
has played an important part in the development of civilization. The media is sometimes referred
to as a “mirror” of our society; nevertheless, it is the media that forms our lives.
The capacity of the media to inform us what topics are relevant is referred to as “agenda setting.”
According to McCombs and Shaw, agenda setting is the news media’s development of popular
consciousness and outrage over important topics. Much agenda-setting analysis is based on two
assumptions: first, the press and media do not represent reality; they filter and mold it. Second,
since the media focuses on a certain topics and subjects, the audience perceives those problems
to be more relevant than others. “The news media are a principal source of those images in our
minds about the wider field of public relations, a world that for most people remains out of view,
out of sight, out of mind,” wrote Walter Lippmann in his 1922 classic, Public Opinion. The aim
of the media is to keep people informed about current events and to keep them up to date with
the latest news and fashion. It tells the story of citizens who are separated by geography. In other
terms, media will make a significant contribution to society. It has the ability to influence
people’s minds when it has connections to people, which gives it a lot of power. This power may
be utilized constructively by informing the public or destructively by deceiving the public. The
most effective use of the media is to inform the public regarding fundamental human rights. The
media serves as a link between government and the general public. With the media’s critical
position in culture, there is a need for ethical considerations.
1.2 STATEMENT OF RESEARCH PROBLEM
Journalism ethics refers to the symbols of values that the media are expected to respect. This
includes a dedication to disclosing the facts objectively rather than subjectively motivated by
self-interest; source privacy; and attributing what is reported to the right source. As crucial as it
may seem, it is still ignored by a lot of news reporters. It is therefore essential to bring the matter
to the fore and tackle it.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1. To examine the various media ethics that apply to news reporting.
2. To determine the role media ethics plays on news reporting.
3. To determine if these ethics are being followed by contemporary journalists.
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1. What are the various media ethics that apply to news reporting?
2. What is the role of media ethics in news reporting?
3. Are these ethics being obeyed by contemporary journalists?
1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
This study will be significant to the media and provide a call to awareness on whether journalists
or news reporters are paying attention to these media ethics. It will be an addition to the
academic world as it will provide further research for other researchers to use as materials when
executing studies of their own.
1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
This study will only cover media ethics and its role on news reporting only. An examination on
the various media ethics will be looked into.
1.7 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
The only limitation faced by the researcher in the execution of this study was a lack funds.
1.8 OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS
a. MEDIA: It refers to any medium used to disseminate information.
b. MEDIA ETHICS: These are the various rules and regulations guiding the act of news
reporting.
c. NEWS REPORTING: It is simply the act of reporting news. It refers to presentation of
facts and prominent timely stories in news papers and so on.
