In all thriving democracies the world over the role of the media in information dissemination cannot be understated.
This is given its great importance as a veritable tool for the mass mobilization of the populace.
In this context, the media serves as an organ for informing, analyzing, and interpreting government programmes as well as interest aggregation.
It also provides a feedback loop for the reaction of the masses towards government programmes, policies, and activities as it affects their well-being.
This means that a strong impartial and fearless media is a vital component in building, a strong and virile nation where the rule of law is sacrosanct and human rights upheld in its entirety.
To achieve this therefore we must have a committed media saddled by men and women of character and integrity, indeed media practitioners who are prepared at all times to place the interest of the nation above their considerations.
The election is a sacred trust to all Nigerians. And its success or failure lies in the contribution of the Nigerian media.
What this suggests is the role the media plays in defining the parameters of the outer limits which the politicians, the major stakeholders, can go without breaching the trust of the electorates.
Invariably, this puts a burden of responsibility squarely on the shoulders of media practitioners to be good umpires and be conversant with how best the game must be played.
The Nigerian media over time have indeed been courageous in the reportage of events particularly elections in the country.
They were quick to point out the malpractices that characterized the 2003 and 2007 elections in various parts of the country, some of which were eventually reserved by court judgments.
Agreeably this sad phenomenon has come to be acknowledged by the international communities as one of the weaknesses of Nigeria’s burgeoning democracy. Nonetheless, events in the past have equally shown that some media practitioners compromised the interest of the profession.
This should not be the case considering the role of the media in nation-building.
There is a need for a complete turnaround if the media is to uphold its credibility as a vanguard of change.
A turnaround that will redefine the nation’s moral ethos and support the rebranding agenda of the federal government.
This calls for media practitioners of integrity, and men and women of courage who can stand up to resist unlawful pressure from politicians as well as private greed.
Media practitioners who cannot be swayed by financial gains or political inducements
Indeed, media practitioners who are truly committed to the profession and who will not mortgage the interest of the nation to any single individual or group.
Practitioners who are unwilling to be compromised by private obligations or aims but devoted solely to serving the public good and national interest.
Such is the envisaged media that will see us through our democratic obstacle come general elections.
Admittedly, the Nigerian media has come a long way and as we enter this second half of the century of the nation’s independence, the media must gird its loins and be prepared to meet the challenges of a fast-changing world.
They must not lose sight of the fact that Nigeria has some parasitic political class with a cash-and-carry mentality and is sometimes blinded by tribal and ethnic chauvinism.
Unfortunately, this is the situation that has in many cases helped to influence and misdirect some media practitioners, making it difficult for them to decipher fact from opinion or outright fiction, and at times instead of reporting the news they become the news.
Media practitioners should not lose sight of the fact that if at some future date, the court of public opinion sits in judgment to determine how they have fulfilled
their responsibilities to the state, their success or failure will be measured by what they have done to foster our democracy and put the nation together.
Elections offer the opportunity for the Nigerian media to rediscover itself and establish its credibility thereby putting its name in gold.
This is the challenge before all media practitioners as we await general elections in the country in the years ahead.
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