INFLUENCE OF MEDIA OWNERSHIP ON PROFESSIONALISM. A RESEARCH PROJECT MATERIAL ON MASS COMMUNICATION
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY
From its inception, in the pre-independence era, the electronic media
Industry had been established to cater for the pleasure of entertaining and information the colonial masters and its subjects. It is noteworthy that apart from providing entertainment for colonial masters and their subjects, the existed as a vital tools in running the day to day activities of government.
In 1977, following the decision of the Federal Military Government to take over all the Television Stations in the country, later, Anambra Broadcasting Co-operation outfit became what is now known as Nigerian Television Authority (NTA Channel 8 Enugu) Enugu State. NTA Channel 8 Enugu, Broadcast on the vision high frequency (VHF) spectrum from its Independent Layout Studio, and it has a 295-metre mast a lokilowatts solid-state digital transmitter at the Abor hills in Udi, Local Government Area of Enugu, Enugu State. It has the State of the Art facilities and studio. It covers thirteen State of the Federation.
This early arrangement market the beginning of dependency of these media stations on government, which as a result affected their function and independence.
The management of NTA Channel 8 Enugu, a government owned media and others like it, till date, still thinks that it is their legitimate function to project and served as the mouth piece of the government. This is because as the saying goes that “he who pays the piper-dictates the tune” NTA Enugu always slick to the dictates of the government in power if it must survive. Since its concept of freedom of disseminating information, has been mortgage by the financial dependency of these media on government it does not broadcast anti-government news. Rather it is often supportive of the government initiatives and various mobilization campaigns by sleeting and emphasizing these campaigns in the news. At times it goes further to do special reports to highlight problem areas for government attention.
Apart from the colonial set-up in the history of ownership, Ownership of Mass Media in the Federal Republic of Nigeria has been facilitated by the Nigeria constitution. In the Nigerian constitution, section 36, sub sections 1-3 put it thus “It provide for everyone the right to establish and operate any opinions, provided that only government at the federal and state level or other person or body authorized by the president shall be outfitted to establish or operate a wireless broadcast medium. And in 1992, the then Military Head of State, General Ibrahim Badamosi Babanigida promulgated a decree allowing private individual participation in the ownership of electronic media.
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