Rethinking ‘Freedom of Information’ for a New Era of Transparency in Public Service Media in Nigeria

Abstract

The emergence of global production and information networks, the rise of super sized national, supranational and multinational media organisations, their impact and influence on global trends, the expansion of technology and the presence of a sophisticated information superhighway that allow for the instantaneous transfer of information all converge to make the control of the flow of information next to impossible. However, in young democracies, such as Nigeria, the power to regulate the access to information conferred on state actors has been regularly exploited as a means of denying of information to the public, freedom of the press and freedom of speech. This paper inquires into the antecedents of censorship, examines these antecedents in the light of broader historical and contemporary dynamics within the country and projects the likely implications for the entrenchment of transparency in the Public Service Media (PSM) in Nigeria via freedom of information. The research adopted the qualitative doctrinal and empirical methods of legal research.

Keywords

• media
• censorship
• freedom of press
• transparency
• investigative journalism