AIT AND MEDIA COVERAGE OF BUHARI
Media access to political leadership is not a right, argues
President-elect General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) said that he was neither consulted nor informed about AIT’s barring, and only became aware of the matter after the public uproar it generated. He therefore told his aides that his media team should be left to deal with their media colleagues as they best knew how. His statement closed the matter, or so it seemed. The prerogative to accredit media organisations covering state houses and first families are not bound by the tenets of democracy, constitutional provisions, statutes, laws or any bill of rights.
Professional ethics encompass the personal, organisational and corporate standards of behaviour expected of professionals. One of the earliest examples of professional ethics is the ‘Hippocratic Oath’ to which medical doctors still adhere to this day. AIT belongs to the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON) and is subject to the ethical approach of that professional body which operates in terms of a number of discrete components which typically include integrity, objectivity, respectfulness, obedience to the law, etc.
Garba Shehu, spokesman of Buhari told AIT to stay aside based on security and family concerns until matters relating to issues of “standard and ethics” are resolved. While restoring All Progressives Congress’ (APC) accreditation, Lai Mohammed, the party’s National Publicity Secretary said that there is a code of ethics guiding the practice of journalism in Nigeria and repercussions within the realms of the law for media organisations. During electioneering, parts of the media turned themselves to partisans instead of professionals.
Ab initio, did Garba Shehu or his principal err in barring AIT from covering the activities of Nigeria’s president-elect? Did their action infringe on any of the laws of Nigeria, the constitution or did it abrogate the principles of democracy? No! A group visited AIT in solidarity quoting sections of the constitution which guarantees all the freedoms and said that AIT had the right to air anything. Even the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) waded into the matter in solidarity after benefitting from the trivialities of the penny press, the political bondage of the partisan press, the unbridled media slavishness and assumed virtual sycophantic mega-phone of NTA and AIT to the party in power.
An analyst even said that since General Buhari is now the president-elect and is staying in Defence House, a public
Nnamdi Ebo
building funded by tax payers, he must admit every Tom, Dick and Harry to cover his activities. In the US (the bastion of democracy) media organisations have been barred from covering the White House on ethical grounds. The Barack Obama White House routinely bars news media from Oval Office meetings and other events and then releases its own photos of those events. In Feb 21, 2014, reporters and photojournalists were barred from a meeting between President Obama and the Dalai Lama, despite acknowledging the news media’s legitimate interest in covering the two leaders’ encounter. On April 29, 2011, the San Francisco Chronicle’s political reporter, Carla Marinucci, used her cellphone to videotape protesters at a rally for President Obama in California. She was removed from the White House pool of reporters.
On July 23, 2014 reporters were barred from a meeting between Obama and donors for the Democratic House Majority PAC. On Feb 2, 2011 White House reporters criticised Obama for providing too little information and access to the media during the crisis in Egypt. The Obama administration is hypersensitive about its image and frequently bars the press from events involving the president. On July 14, 2011 former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown accused the British newspapers, The Sun and The Sunday Times, of using Trojans to hack into his personal computer and steal banking information and confidential medical records of his infant son. This deplorable behaviour by reporters and editors attracted consequences.
In advanced climes, the AIT and NTA’s operational licenses would have been suspended during the electioneering period as they aired hate campaign messages – because they had serially violated the broadcasting code. The right to media coverage and freedom of the press stops where another person’s right to privacy and safety starts. When people voted for change, were they told the media will be exempt, that business as usual can proceed in the name of free speech as aired in advertorials and adverts attacking personalities instead of running on a record in office? Journalists of today’s Aso Rock must share the spirit of those early forerunners, pushing for access to presidents and members of their administration amid the challenges of a modern media landscape. Media access to political leadership has never been a right.