Media Rights Agenda (MRA) organized a two-day workshop on Laws Affecting the Media and Safety of Journalists in Nigeria, which took place on Tuesday, August 6 and Wednesday, August 7, 2024 at Celia’s Suite Hotel, Abeokuta in Ogun State.
The workshop was attended by about 30 participants made up of media professionals from broadcast, print and online media organizations from different states across the South West geo-political zone of the country.
The objectives of the workshop were to provide an overview to the participating journalists of the current legal framework governing the media in Nigeria; to offer practical guidance on ensuring compliance with media-related laws; and to foster a collaborative environment for addressing challenges faced by journalists.
The workshop was organized by Media Rights Agenda with support from the MacArthur Foundation through the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) under the Collaborative Media Engagement for Development, Inclusion and Accountability (CMEDIA) Project, a multi-level intervention that supports media independence, improved transparency, accountability, and good governance in state and local governments.
Also Read:
- FG implementing critical initiatives to train, equip police personnel – Tinubu
- Unbreakable bonds: $3.3b agreement signed at historic trade conference
- Ugwunwa wins javelin’s silver to give Team Nigeria fifth medal
- Morocco 2025 qualifier: Eguavoen benches Osimhen, starts Boniface
- Fuel shortage: NNPCL not sole distributor of Dangote Refinery products – Official
The workshop consisted of plenary presentations and break-out sessions that were characterized by vibrant discussions. The workshop sessions covered a range of topics and issues crucial to journalism practice, including national, regional and international frameworks on freedom of expression, media freedom and the safety of journalists; legal frameworks that are inimical to media freedom in Nigeria; digital security and common digital threats to journalism practice; ethics in journalism practice in Nigeria; beneficial legal frameworks for journalists and the media in Nigeria; how to avoid legal liabilities as journalists; how to protect information, systems, confidential sources and contacts; and avenues for journalists to obtain legal and litigation support.
Observations and Recommendations
At the end of the workshop, participants agreed to adopt the following observations and recommendations:
It is imperative that journalists are knowledgeable about laws and regulations affecting the media and the practice of journalism as well as the Code of Ethics for Nigerian Journalists in order to report ethically and professionally, better protect themselves, assert their rights and freedoms, and ensure that they can carry out their professional duties without undue interference or the fear of retribution.
Journalists and other media professionals should, therefore, strive to familiarize themselves with laws and regulations affecting the media, regularly update their knowledge of such instruments and make every effort to comply with the laws and regulations as well as the applicable ethical codes and standards to eliminate or minimize the use of such laws and regulations to constrain their operations.
Journalists and other media professionals are encouraged to uphold and abide by the highest ethical professional standards in order to maintain public trust in the media, reinforce the credibility and reliability of the information they provide to their audiences and to the public at large.
Furthermore, regular training and sensitization workshops on relevant laws and regulations should also be periodically organized for journalists and other categories of media professionals by media professional bodies, media support organizations, media regulatory bodies, media owners and managers as well as other media stakeholders to enlighten them about the legal framework governing the media sector and the evolving legal landscape.
Participants recognized the increasing importance of keeping abreast of digital security trends and developments in order to avoid various digital threats and attacks as well as to mitigate their negative impact on journalism practice.
They acknowledged the responsibility that journalists and other media professionals have for implementing digital security measures and maintaining appropriate digital hygiene in order to ensure that they can continue to carry out their work safely, while protecting sensitive information, systems, and their confidential sources of information from unauthorized use, disclosure, or access.
The participants committed to fully utilizing available security options, tools, and techniques to safeguard their sensitive information and digital assets in the digital space to enhance their online safety and the integrity of their information products.
The lack of adequate legal guarantee for media freedom either in the Constitution or in other existing laws, leaves journalists and other media professionals vulnerable to various forms of attacks and harassment designed to prevent them from reporting on matters that would enable them to fulfill their constitutional responsibility of upholding the accountability and responsibility of the government to the people.
Accordingly, any future constitutional amendment exercise should prioritize the inclusion of guarantees of media freedom in the Constitution while current legal frameworks that are inimical to the ability of journalists and the media to optimally perform their functions, such as provisions of the Criminal Code which criminalize journalistic activities, the Cybercrimes Act, and the Penal Code, among many others, should be amended to bring them into conformity to regional and international standards for the protection of media freedom.
Media stakeholders, particularly media professional bodies, media support organizations and media owners, should work together to engage policy and law-making processes in order to ensure that the laws and policies which emerge from such processes are supportive of media freedom and create a conducive and enabling legal and regulatory environment for media and journalism practice in Nigeria.
Governments at the Federal and State levels, law enforcement and security agencies as well as the military and intelligence services should refrain from abusing and misusing laws and regulations to impede the work of journalists, prevent them from carrying out sensitive or critical stories or to punish them for publishing such stories as such practice violates the spirit of the Constitution and undermines the credibility and legitimacy of our legal system.
Participants deplored the widespread arrests, brutalization, harassment and intimidation of journalists covering #EndBadGovernance protests in various parts of the country, mostly by law enforcement and security officials, describing such actions as an unacceptable violation of the rights of journalists.
They noted that the right of journalists to cover protests, whether violent or not, and to report reactions to protests by government officials and other actors, is well-established and protected under international human rights laws and called on Federal and State governments to fulfill their obligations to protect journalists covering the protests while ensuring that those who attack, harass or intimidate journalists in the course of carrying out their professional functions are brought to justice.
Journalists and media organizations should collaborate more closely to address common threats and challenges as well as to provide solidarity and support to each in times of need while media owners and managers should be more responsive to the needs and welfare of journalists working in their organizations, including by providing adequate support and assistance whenever such journalists are facing challenges as a result of their work, whether of a legal nature or otherwise.
In the light of the scale of legal challenges faced by journalists and other media professionals, a legal support fund should be established alongside a national network of lawyers who can be called upon to assist journalists facing legal challenges or other forms of challenges requiring legal interventions. Participants expressed gratitude to the Media Rights Agenda for organizing the workshop and to the MacArthur Foundation and the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism for funding it.
Adopted in Abeokuta on Wednesday, the 7th Day of August, 2024.
