Assessment of the Nigerian Press Council and regulation of journalism in Nigeria

Abstract

This paper examined the regulatory role of the Nigerian Press Council and how it has fared in its ombudsman responsibility to the Nigerian media as well as its challenges and where necessary, proffer solutions on how it could attain the expectations of stakeholders in the media industry. The assessment is hinged on the principle of social responsibility with the belief that as the society surrenders the duty of watching over it to the Press, the press is accountable to the society. For the assessment, the descriptive survey method is used as a design with questionnaire and interview as instruments of data collection to gauge the opinions of stakeholders on the Nigeria Press Council. Findings show that the Press Council is facing teething problems in the discharge of its mandate which revolves around its legitimacy. Reasons were found to be majorly on its membership composition and mandate. The paper is of the opinion that the Press Council as a regulatory mechanism is desirable and the journalism profession like any other profession needs to be regulated by an appropriate Council with qualified and competent members drawn largely from the field. It is therefore, recommended that all stakeholders should dialogue and agree on modalities and limitations of the Council to allay the fears of the stakeholders