THE ROLE OF MASS MEDIA IN PROMOTING HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRATIC VALUES IN AFRICA.

THE ROLE OF MASS MEDIA IN PROMOTING HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRATIC VALUES IN AFRICA.

There is an appreciable role of mass media everywhere. Its role for human rights is indispensable in Africa. This is due to the growing concerns on the abuse of human rights in Africa. In Nigeria for instance, the past few years have sadly been marred by negative reports citing grave abuse of fundamental human rights. Reports of genocide, ethnic cleansing, witch hunt, religious extremists have flooded the pages of our newspapers, televisions and social media. The media has helped to bring to limelight and expose some human rights violation. For example, the alleged forgery of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Certificates by former minister of finance, Kemi Adeosun and Minister of Information, Adebayo Shittu were exposed by the media. Also, the frequent arrests, torture, forced dissaperances, assassinations and extrajudicial killings, and witch hunting have been exposed y the media.

DEFINITION OF MASS MEDIA

Mass media has been described as the organized means for communicating openly and at a distance, to many receivers within a short space of time. The media is a source of information by which the general public is made aware of the happenings going on around the society and the globe. The word “mass” means a large number of people or a collection of organs of communication and information dissemination that reaches out to a large number of people. The media refers to the presentation and transmission of information through various channels such as television, radio, newspapers, magazines and the more recent social media , that is internet based applications for example, Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp and Instagram.

 According to Atwood and Bullion 1982, mass media are central instruments in determining our mental images of the world beyond our immediate experience. Most of the times, the society rely on mass media to be accurate and balanced on the trends and issues happening around. The media is saddled with the responsibility of handling major news such as outbreak of war, genocide, assassination of political opponents, economic catastrophes, bribery and corruption, forgery of certificates by leaders.

Before the inception of technology, traditional means of communication was the norm, for example, town cries, drums, smokes among others.

HUMAN RIGHTS

Human rights are the basic rights available to every person. These are the inalienable, fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitiled to simply because he or she is a human being regardless of their colour, religion, language, nation etc.

The1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and International law contains the principles of Fundamental human rights, such as the African Charter on Peoples’ Rights (Article 9 (1) and (2), the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, (Articles 12 and 13) among others.

SOME FLAWS OF MASS MEDIA

The media however, is not flawless, in that, there have been cases where some journalists uphold personal interest as against public interest. Also, inadequate verification of news before publishing it. For instance, during the Yar’adua’s adminiistation, where Channels Television broadcasted a false news about the then President Umaru Musa Yar’adua leading to the arrest of some of its officials and the temporary shutting down of the television, lack of objective media practitioners in some media outlets.

Nevertheless, the Mass media is a tool for the success of human rights activities and essentially the main components of human rights activities all over the world. 

 ROLES OF MASS MEDIA

Mass media is the only channel for educating and enlightening the general public on issues concerning their basic fundamental right and the ways in which measures or relations are to be taken whenever it is violated and abused. It is generally used to bring about a positive change in the individuals through news, discussion programs, for example, Political Platform by Ray Power F.M, blogs, editorials, among others. Most of the coverage by the Media is directly or indirectly related told human rights. Protection of human rights by the media is the process of attracting people’s attention to human rights in order to keep them safe and informed concerning their human rights.

There are various ways mass media serves as a tool for the promotion of human rights in Africa.

The media is saddled with the responsibility to lead the fostering of peace, international understanding and the fighting of atrocities such as genocide, war crimes, racism, tribalism, ethnic cleansing, religious unrest, cultism and so on. The media in Nigeria have consistently provided coverage in the fight against Boko haram and the Herdsmen in the north.

Again the Media has proven to really be the watchdog of the society. It brings to light the happenings around us. For example, the massive coverage of the 2015 Presidential elections in Nigeria. The coverage of the Supreme Court election petition in Ghana in 2013, the killings of other Africans in Libya and the Xenophobic attack in South Africa. The powerful impact of the Media could be explained with the Rwandan Genocide of 1994 where the media were involved in perpertrating hatred and violence, especially against an ethnic minority where about 800000 ethnic Tutsis and several Hutus were murdered. Prior to the genocide, the local media especially the Radio-Television des Milles Collines (RTLM) transmitted hate messages about how to exterminate people not fit to live in Rwanda. The Zaria Massacre of 2015 where the Nigerian Army carried out a massacre of 347 members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) in Zaria Kaduna State and buried the bodies in mass graves, was exposed by the media.

The media has the power of giving publicity to individuals and organizations which are engaged in securing Human Rights. This encourages and motivates others to do similar Human Rights related works and effect, the media once again plays a very crucial role in promotion and protection of people’s rights.

We have seen instances where the media prevents national catastrophe and minor discomforts. For example, when Patrick Oliver Sawyer, the Liberian American Lawyer brought the Ebola virus disease into Nigeria during the West Africa ebola epidemic. The knowledge of the virus via the media prompted the nation to be vigilant and helped in containing the disease. Also, the media helps vehicle users to avoid traffic through its traffic related programs.

Furthermore, the media helps in making people aware of their Fundamental Human Rights as enshrined in various constitutions and International laws and suggest ways and means by which they can solve their problems and thus empowering people to protect their rights. The media in its role of communication between the state and the public, it also plays an effective role of making the authorities aware of their duties. 

The media influences public opinion by setting a program for public discourse and when the issue of Human Rights is frequently raised, it will certainly draw people’s attention and Human Rights is Promoted. When issues are covered by the media as often as possible, the public will take them to be important.  Political Platform by Ray Power F.M is one good example for the coverage of Human Rights where public opinions are shared.

 RECCOMMENDATIONS

The world cannot survive without the media, in other for the media to play its watchdog role effectively, here are some recommendations:

The media should be given total freedom as freedom of the press is also a fundamental human right. Authoritarian of the media seems to hinder the operations of the press to. There have been series of allegations that the administration restricts the freedom of mass media. For instance, the allegation that the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission by the influence of some political strongmen fined African Independent Television and its counterpart Raypower and Political Platform Program with the sum of over One Million Naira because exposed some atrocities committed. Therefore, there is the need for the total liberty of mass media.

Mass media should be objective, fair and accurate for these are the Ethical issues in their operations of which they should abide, by these the credibility and confidentiality in the media will be enhanced. They should imbibe their code of ethics so that they will empower the masses on the awareness of their fundamental rights and their reactions towards them whenever such rights are violated.

Owners of media outlets should not be used as a tool in the hands of political warlords. For example, publishing a slanderous and false article about a political opponent to please another. They should literally be independent so as to ensure objectivity in coverage, efficient and effective productivity.

Proper verification of news and facts before publishing or announcing it.

CONCLUSION

The mass media plays a prominent role and has contributed massively in promoting Human Rights activity in Nigeria and Africa as a whole despite all the problems hindering their day to day activities in carrying out their report and coverage. Even deaths of some media practitioners did not stop the from carrying out their coverage even from dangerous places. The media serves as agent of change that can bring about positive attitudinal change among the people. Finally, the media create general human rights awareness ,exposes Human Rights violations and abuses, exposes the perpetrators of such atrocities, inform people as to the right places to go at various times, assist law enforcement officials and human rights groups and educate people on the proper channel to go through when their rights has been abused. Therefore the freedom and further promotion of the mass media is a core attribute of democracy. 

SOURCES

The Mass Media as a mechanism for the promotion and protection of human rights by Kwesi Nyarkoh Koomson, Essay, 2013, 9

James Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, December 13, 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

Media plays vital role in promoting human rights – The Citizen, https://citizen.co.za>news-africa

Political Platform, Raypower, Friday 21st September 2018, 9:15 am to 9:45 am.