Journal of Media, Communication & Languages.

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY MEDIA THEORY AND ITS IMPLICATION FOR

MEDIA PROFESSIONALISM IN NIGERIA
Patrick U. Ineji, Ph.D
Eba Alobo Nkanu
&
Patricia Eyong Okoi
Department of Mass Communication,
Cross River University of Technology
Abstract
This paper examines the relationship between the Social
Responsibility Theory and media professionalism in Nigeria. The
paper amongst other things ascertained the origin and basic
assumptions of the theory, the specific functions of the theory,
professionalism and media practitioners, the prevailing
professionalism status of journalism practice in Nigeria, the
preconditions to be identified as a profession, the processes of
professionalism and ascertained the relationship between media
professionalism. The paper provided a cursory look at the mass media
landscape in Nigeria amongst others. The study was anchored on
Aristotle's Golden. Mean principles and the social responsibility
media theory as theoretical framework. The researchers are convinced
that several unprofessional and unethical practices abound in the
Nigerian press which include sycophancy, bribery, character
assassination et cetera and recommended a more professional,
responsive and responsible approach to news reportage.

Keywords: Social Responsibility Theory, Professionalism, Media Ethics.

Introduction
For healthy, meaningful, harmless and sustainable functioning with maximized benefits,
every media theory has reiterated that the intricacies of media practices should essentially be
compatible with the social and cultural structure of the society where the media operate. This
is owing to the fact that subject of mass media is incomplete without reference to media and
society. Some stalwarts of communication studies such as Schramm (2006) defined
communication with the relevance of society entwined in it. According to Schramm (2006),
“Communication is that part of social activity wherein there is dissemination of information,
entertainment, and educative exchanges intended for positive development of the society”.
Most of the texts here declare that socialization is one of the functions of communication.
Also, as the study of mass communication is classified under social science, and aptly so, the
responsibility of society adjoins according to theorist like Simmel- “individuals interact with
one another at a social level and therefore mutually influence one another. As this interaction
and influence carry on, society is created”.
Also, as one of the definitions of society by Collins English Dictionary 12thed(2014)
goes, “A system of human organizations generating distinctive cultural patterns and
institutions and usually providing protection, security, continuity and a national identity for its
members”. Communication which is an act of interaction and interplay of emotions and
information between individuals is an intrinsic and integral part of society. Every societal
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activity is based on communication. Both communication and society are intertwined. No

society can exist without communication. Mass media are the important and chief carriers of
mass communication. The factor of responsibility is closely related to society. Societies
anywhere in the world consist of individuals of varied kind-the less responsible, the average
kind and the highly responsible. While the less responsible constitute a huge chunk of the
societies, the average lots are few and the highly responsible are meager. In fact, sociological
studies have proved that the highly responsible individuals who constitutes a minority are
indeed responsible in nation-building and developmental activities.
Mass media at the outset, looks like composed of large number of people involved in it,
however, its proportion compared to the masses, particularly in less developed nations like
Nigeria is miniscule. Opinion leaders, those individuals who attend more to the mass media
than do those whom they influence, pass on information gained from the media long with their
own interpretations of media content. Only if this minor set of vocationaries (and not
occasionaries) can be truly professional in their functioning and genuinely concerned with the
societal progress and upliftment of the downtrodden, then the latter and spirit of democracy
will acquire complete meaning.
The theory and philosophy of social responsibility is an extension of the libertarian
philosophy in that the media recognize their responsibility to resolve conflict through
discussion and to promote public opinions, consumer action, private rights, and important
social interests. This theory has its major premise that freedom carries concomitant
obligations. The press has an obligation to be responsible to the public. If it is not so, then some
agency of the public should enforce it. Public opinion ad consumer action can guarantee that
the press behaves. This theory led to the establishment of Press Councils, drawing up of Codes
of Ethics and antimonopoly laws in many countries.
Statement of the Problem
Media professionals are the conscience of the masses. Audience members have invested
enormous trust and confidence in them, indicating their output (the entire spectrum of media
reportage).
Unfortunately, audiences appear to receive or view media reportage with reservations
because of some unprofessional, unethical and irresponsible and irresponsive journalism.
This has brought about a growing fear and concern that media practitioners have mortgaged
their conscience and abuse the trust and confidence reposed in them by the audience. Hence,
the question of media professionalism and actual conducts is brought to the fore. Thus, it
becomes necessary to ask if Nigerian journalists are socially responsible based on the
principles of impartiality, objectivity, balance and fairness. This paper is poised to ascertain
the extent to which journalists in Nigeria are socially responsible.
Objectives of the Paper
Broadly speaking, this paper is set to ascertain the extent to which media professionals in
Nigeria are socially responsible. In most specific terms, the paper has the following objectives.
I. To ascertain the professional conduct of Nigerian media practitioners
ii. Identify some unethical and irresponsible practices of Nigerian media practitioners
Theoretical Underpinning
This discourse borders on media ethics which necessitates the consideration of the
contributions of scholars in the area of media ethics which are pertinent to the application of
this discourse. This discourse adopts Aristotle's Golden Mean, categorical imperative and of
course, the Social Responsibility Media theory as framework on which to anchor the study.
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Aristotle's Golden Mean Principle propounded in 1893. This principle says that moral
values the between extremes and stresses moderation as opposed to extremes or excesses.
Aristotle believed that individual could obtain strong moral character, but would necessarily
face difficult choices. By adopting a middle position, one could avoid with excesses and
differences. The implication of this principle is that a journalist has to exercise practical reason
in the conduct of his journalistic duties by setting high standard. The Golden mean stresses
proper emotional response to situations rather than proper action. The Golden mean principle
also stipulates that one way to learn ethics is to select heroes and to try to media individual cults
and character on what they would do. This means that journalists should model practice after
experts or role model or professionals in the field of journalism to ensure that ethical reasons
are rightly adhered to. the journalists adhere to the Golden mean principle; it means that they
will act socially responsible.
Social Responsibility Media Theory
the basic assumptions and components of the social responsibility media theory includes the
fact that: media have obligation to society, media ownership is a public trust, news media
should be truthful, accurate, fair, objective and relevant, media should be free but self-
regulated, media should follow agreed codes of ethics and professional conduct.
The Social Responsibility Media Theory was propounded in 1956 by F. S. Siebert, T. B.
Paterson and W. Schramm. The major premise of the theory is that freedom carries
concomitant obligations, and the press, which enjoys a privileged position under the
government, is obliged to be responsible to society for carrying out certain essential functions
of mass communication. Social Responsibility theory of mass media is relatively a new
concept which started in the mid- 20th century and is used mostly by developing and least
developed countries. The theory started from Europe and took shape with the Commission of
the Freedom of Press that was commissioned in the United States in 1947. . It encourages total
freedom of the press and no censorship, but it should be regulated according to social
responsibilities and external controls. Content is also filtered through public obligation and
interference. The theory replaced libertarian theory with the view that libertarianism was
outdated. After the emergence of this theory, professionalism in the media started to be taken
seriously. The Hutchins Commission on Freedom of the Press was set up to re-examine the
concept of press freedom as enunciated in the Libertarian or Free Press Theory. This was
because the so-called free market of ideas had failed to guarantee press freedom and to yield the
expected benefits to the society. Instead, the commercial development of the press and the
unforeseen developments in media technology had tended to limit access to the media for
individuals and groups. Thus, media power was concentrated in the hands of a few
businessmen (advertisers) and media professionals who had the means to set up media
empires.
In general, socially acceptable press behaviour was to be anchored on self-regulation,
but if the press would not voluntarily give them, they must be certain social structures to ensure
that it behaves in compliance with recognized social standards.
The theory changed the way the press published news from objective reporting to
interpretative reporting. Before this theory, facts were presented without any interpretation.
The audience interpreted it the way they wanted to. This caused problems as interpretation was
not based on reality and it affected the social order. Interpretative and investigative reporting
started to uncover the reality behind every case. In this theory, the press is taken to be for the
people and society. the tasks of the press is to make a code of conduct and follow it, to develop a
standard in journalism, to make journalism better, to protect journalists and to have penalties if
any journalist violates the code of conduct.

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This way, the facts provided by the press are analyzed and interpreted so that the people
get true information and understandable news. This helps maintain social harmony by
revealing social evils like corruption and discouraging other bad conducts. The media is taken
as a place for the voiceless to have a voice and develop public opinions where each and every
person has the right to speak, express and publish. It is considered not an end, but a tool for
social development. Therefore, the objectives of the media are stated to inform, document,
analyze, interpret, mediate and mobilize by creating and finding solutions.
Comment: are the two paragraphs above part of literature review or your discussion? Why not
review the theory and take your views to discussion.
Basic Assumptions of the Social Responsibility Theory
McQuail (2005) one of the foremost communication scholars summarized the basic principles
of Social Responsibility Theory as follows:
i. Media should accept and fulfill certain obligations to society
ii. These obligations are mainly to be met by setting high or professional standards of
informativeness, truth, accuracy, objectivity and balance.
iii. In accepting and applying these obligations, media should be self- regulating within
the framework of law and established institutions.
iv. The media should avoid offensive content triggering crime, violence or civil disorder
or harm to minority groups.
v. The media as a whole should be pluralist and reflect the diversity of their s o c i e t y,
giving access to various points of views and rights of reply.
vi. Society and the public have a right to expect high standards of performance, and
intervention can be justified to secure the public good.
vii. Journalists and media professionals should be accountable to society as well as to
employers and the market.
Society expects journalism to serve the interests of the people. Towards this it is
expected that journalism not only informs, educate, but also entertains. In the recent past the
expectations of the society has grown to include a forum for discussion, watch dog functions,
leadership to the community, empowerment and many emerging functions of the press. In
fact, one of the added canons of journalistic functioning after the famous report by the
commission on freedom of the press headed by Robert Hutchins in 1947. The immediate
conflicting point however is that who is the journalist responsible to? It is the media house
owners, editors or people? Man is subject to manipulations at the hands of media owners. Due
to the emergence of big businesses in the field of media, there is a threat of monopoly which
may lead to control on information. Journalists are obligated to the same society that gives
them freedom of expression-provides the laws that brings about a free press. They function as
the trustees of the public-promotes public interests.
Norwegian scholar Johan Galtung (2002) said:
'There is more elitism, personism, and negativism than ever before'
….in the media content throughout the world…. The front page of
the newspaper degrades itself, its journalists, its readers and all those
concerned, when it represents rape and murder as the major
constituents of world society and this is sometimes called the
personal touch.

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The Nigerian media, like media in many developing countries of the world love
controversy and indulge in 'statement journalism'. They print or broadcast opposing
statements without attempting to investigate and bring out the truth. Statements from various
self-styled 'spokespersons' create a smokescreen and confuse media users who do not have the
will or the time to sort out all the statements. The main issues are thus forgotten: side issues,
unwanted arguments, unimportant sidelights and even trivial appeared centre-stage.
The media reports or cover mostly politics or government activities. Their surveillance
of the political and socio-economic environment is quite useful to the business and industrial
sectors. Their interest is restructuring the Nigerian society in accordance with the goals set out
in the constitutions is purely incidental. Priorities change according to the agenda set
elsewhere by global financial institutions.

Functions of the Social Responsibility Theory

As a result of the shortcomings of the libertarian theory of the press, the Hutchins Commission
of Freedom of the Press set up in United States of America in 1947 recommended that, apart
from ensuring and preserving press freedom, the press is also expected to observe certain
social standards and responsibilities in performing their professional functions. Thus, the
emergence of the social responsibility theory, according to Siebert (1956) as cited by Folarin
in (1998) was premised on six functions:
i. To serve the political system by making information, discussion and consideration of
public affairs generally accessible.
ii. To inform the public to enable it make self-determined actions.
iii. To protect the right of the individual by acting as watch-dog over the government.
iv. To serve the economic system, for instance the bringing together buyers and sellers
through the medium of advertisements.
v. To provide good entertainment, whatever “good” may mean in the culture a t any
point in time.
vi. To preserve financial autonomy in order not to become dependent on special
interests and influences.
Thus, the theory presents the media institutions as central and germane to the existence
of the society. and, for the media institution to perform its social responsibility function, it
must be peopled by professionals who understand and can uphold central media tenets such as
impartiality, truthfulness, balanced reporting, fairness to all parties, it is only through this that
the media institution/journalism can live up to the expectations of the profession.

Media Practitioners
According to Ansari (2011), media practitioners are the professionals who are different, in the
sense that they are users of information as communicators. Ansari (2011) further stated that
their requirement of information is very vast and diversified. They are very time conscious.
For satisfaction of their needs, they interact with varied types of information system and
personal sources. They are the one who writes the newspaper articles and also play your
favourable music on the radio.
Basically, one may be tempted to regard media practitioners as the totality of persons
working in a mass media outfit. This, using for example a newspaper industry, will include the
gateman, typist, reporters, editors, production office among others. However, the definition

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provided by Answers.com., tends to limit media practitioners to reporters and editors only
(those who write articles in the newspaper). This, to a large extent corroborates the earlier
definition provided by Ansari (2011), which sees media practitioners as users of information.
The users of information in mass media industry are the journalists. To this extent, mass media
practitioners in the context of this paper are interchangeably used with journalists.

Professionalism and Media Practitioners

The term professionalism needs to be defined for us to operate on the same frequency.
According to Random House Dictionary of the English Language, the word professionalism
means professional character, spirit, or method. The standing practice, or methods of a
professional, as distinguished from an amateur professionalism, has been variously defined
and a number of criteria of professionalism abounds in the research literature. Onah (1992),
Volimer and Mill (1966) cited in Onah (1996) defined it as the ideology and associated
activities that can be found in many diverse occupational groups where members aspire to
professional status. But Fab-Ukozor (2011) defined professionalism simply as the process of
change (as opposed to ideological principles) by which the professional and minded
occupations go about achieving those characteristics that will gain for them the professional
status that they desire.
According to Bel-Molokwu and C.DeAguomba (1990), professionalism among media
professionals or journalists stands on nine major pillars:
i. Recognition of the sacredness of truth and freedom
ii. Avoidance of libel, sedition, deliberate distortion, bad taste and fallaciousness.
iii. Displaying the spirit of retracting facts when wrong
iv. Balanced reporting and presenting both sides of the coin
v. Burying personal biases or sectional interests
vi. Respect for societal norms and laws of the land
vii. Keeping clear of corrupt practices
viii. Protecting your source of information at all cost
ix. Spotting a good personality.
Similarly, when we speak of professionalism, we are also reminded of McLead and
Hawled Jr. study on professionalism conducted in 1964 in the USA among some American
newsmen (cited in Odumegwu 2000). In the study, they stated the eight criteria that must be
satisfied for an occupation to be called a profession, namely:
i. It must perform a unique and essential service
ii. It must emphasize intellectual techniques
iii. It must have a long period of specialized training to acquire a systematic body of
knowledge based on research.
iv. It must be given a broad range of autonomy
v. Its practitioners must accept broad personal responsibility for judgment and
actions.

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vi. It must develop a comprehensive self-governing organization, and

vii. It must have a code of ethics which has been clarified and interpreted by concrete cases,
(McLead& Hawley Jr..1964).
Professionalism and Professionalization in Media Practitioner
Volmer and Mills (1966), cited in Nwosu (1996) aver that professionalism refers to the
ideology and associated activities that can be found in many diverse occupational groups
where members aspire to professional status. It has also been defined as “A set of principles,
ideas, attitude, and activities that characterize and guide the behaviour of members of any
occupational group which is anxious to gain and maintain both in group and out group
acceptance of its professional standing (Nwosu 1984).
Professionalism is therefore more or less a state of mind, a world view, an aspiration
backed up with specialized activity and an approach to our jobs that makes us to be recognized
and respected by the society as professional groups, as opposed to just another occupational
group. It bestows pride on members of the group, and makes them stand out from the crowd of
other occupational groups. It also brings with a lot of duty, responsibility and societal
expectations which makes the true professional to always be on their toes, on their guard and
always ready to fight and protect the ideas for which the profession is known. Professionalism,
on the other hand can simply be described as a process of change through which members of
the professionally minded occupational group, like advertising, go about achieving those
characteristics and objectives that will gain for them the improved professional status they
desire and work for. So, while professionalism can be seen as an ideal term,
professionalization is the practical process through which we keep working towards the
attainment of reasonable high level of ideal. Professionalization is also a continuous process
through which we can achieve improved professionalism. Since professionalism is an ideal
term, it can never be achieved by man who is an imperfect animal, true professionals must
continually engage in the process of professionalization to remain relevant and effective.
The process of professionalization include, among other things, continuous education,
continuous acquisition, and updating of professional skills, active belongingness, and
participation in the activities of relevant professional bodies and association, transparent
honesty and ethical/responsible performance of our professional duties. Media profession
must therefore embrace these tenets of professionalization in order to ensure that media
practice in Nigeria remains truly professional. And to remain truly professional, media
practitioners should not only possess the following characteristics but must be seen by the
society and the world as possessing them (Nwosu 1996).
i. Must be seen to be performing a unique and essential service in Nigeria and
beyond.
ii. Must emphasise acquisition of broad knowledge and intellectualism
iii. Must have a specified period of specialized training to acquire systematically a unique
body of knowledge based on research and skills acquisition in mass media.
iv. Must ensure that media practitioners in Nigeria gain and retain a broad range of
autonomy.
v. Must accept broad personal responsibility for other judgment and actions.
vi. Should place greater emphasis on service than on private economic gain, in line
with the business of social responsibility concept.
vii. Must encourage professional bodies and agencies to grow into comprehensive, self-
governing and self-reliant organizations.
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viii. Must abide by our codes of ethics and ensure that they have practical applications.
These eight-points index for the attainment and sustenance of professionalism in mass
media practice in Nigeria, according to Nwosu (1996) were developed, synthesized and
contextually modified from the 24-points professionalism index introduced by Jack McLeod
and SearlHowley (1964) and modified by others (Windahl, 1975). Mass media practitioners
should look at these eight points as cardinal signpost for continued improvement of the mass
media profession in this country. Individually and collectively, they have a duty to ensure, that
the professional ideals inherent in each of these eight-points continue to guide media practice
in Nigeria.

Media Ethics
Media ethics are self-regulating rules, principles and morals self-imposed by a professional
group, organization or establishment in the conduct of duties or responsibilities. Ethics are
imposed from within than from outside. It is a sort of self-check or censorship that guides a
professional group in the conduct of her duties. Media ethics are hinged on the fact that there is
need for internal mechanisms to check the moral conduct of media practitioners so that their
excesses can be contained to avoid the media profession does not bring itself to public odium.
It is a measure designed to raise the professional integrity of members so that the conduct of
members do not bring to ridicule, shame or embarrassment to the corporate integrity of media
practitioners. Baran, (1999, p. 391) stated that media ethics specifically refers to the
application of rational thought by media professionals when they are deciding on what should
be the right or best answer or response to a challenging professional problem. Baran further
averred that the application of media ethics almost always involves finding the most morally
defensible answer to a problem for which there is no simple correct and even best answer. This
implies that media ethics are hinged on conscience, discretion and immorality. Media ethics
are journalistic standards which serve as a benchmark for assessing conducts of members of
the media profession. By such set standards members can then judge between right and wrong,
bad or good in the course of carrying out their professional duties.
The purpose of media ethics is to stipulate the highest code of conduct encapsulated in
rules, guidelines, norms and principles that would guide media practitioners in taking moral
decisions. Perhaps, one of the reasons why media ethics are essential is because they serve as
self-public relations image laundering so that members can indirectly market themselves to the
public. This would persuade members of the public to have confidence in the profession.

Factors Responsible for Unethical/Unprofessional Practices in the Nigerian Media

Like every profession, unethical issues and practices abound in the Nigerian media
environment. These unethical issues have raised a lot of concerns among media practitioners
and outside the profession. Perhaps, out of professional zeal and public interest, media
practitioners go out of their way to seek vital information and report same to audience
members. Some of these constraints in gathering and publishing legitimate information may
be legal, personal or self-centered.
Asemah, (2009, pp. 402-404) advanced certain reasons responsible for unethical
practices to include:
1. Pressure: Pressure here has been understood as any force or influence which makes a
journalist to feel strongly compelled to act in a manner desirable to the source of such
force or influence. Pressure can be internal or external. While internal pressure is the
type that comes from within the organization that the journalist works, external

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pressure comes from the wider community or society in which the journalist find
himself. Pressure can cause a journalist to act irresponsibly or unethical in spite of his
knowledge of what is good or what is bad.
2. Poor Remuneration: A journalist who is not well paid is likely to be unethical. He
might be tempted to collect brown envelope, free gift and even embark on moonlighting
so as to make ends meet.
3. Greed: It is certain that no matter the amount of money that a greedy man has, he is not
satisfied so as a result of this, most journalists go against the ethics of journalism they
have subscribed to uphold. This will also manifest in the collection of brown envelopes,
free gifts or open demand for one form of gratification or the other which can
compromise his professional integrity.
4. Expectations from society: The society expects certain things from people once they
are working; such expectations could be houses, cars, good dresses etc. In order to meet
up with these expectations the journalists go against the ethics of the profession so as to
satisfy them or meet the expectations of members of the society or immediate families.
5. Unprofessionalism: This is occasioned by lack of professional training on the part of
the journalist who is susceptible to engage in unethical practices. He relishes in this
because he lacks the knowledge and the implication of engaging in such acts. It is rather
unfortunate that most media practitioners in Nigeria are graduates of physics,
chemistry, economics and other disciplines where the rudiment of journalistic training
is completely absent.
6. Lack of Principles: Journalists who lack principles are the ones who do anything
provided such practices are in their interests. Other reasons why journalists breach
codes of ethic of journalism profession according to Galadima and Enabu and citied by
Asemah (2009, p. 404) include money, failure of religion, clash of interest, poor
economy, lack of facilities, ownership of media, African culture of reciprocal gesture
knowledge of the power of the press, love for favours and the love for sensation.

The Need of Journalist Ethics

The need for journalistic or media ethics is anchored on self-censorship or self-restraint which
aims at assisting media practitioners to be moral professionals. Since ethics are laid down rules
and regulations that govern the conduct of groups, organization, society or profession to
perform effectively, it therefore implies that media practitioners who base their conduct on
high ethical standards will invariably perform in accordance with societal expectation of what
is generally seen to be good and acceptable by society
The importance of ethics lies in the fact that the journalist who has concern for ethics is
wary of good or right actions and such concern motivates him to attain the highest good in the
practice of journalism. The purpose of journalistic ethics is to stipulate rules, guidelines, norms
and principles that would guide the journalist in making moral decisions. Therefore, media
ethics keeps journalists or media practitioners on their toes, and self-control is the key to
discipline
Imbibing journalistic or media ethics by members of the profession earn public
acceptance or prevent public outcry and would help sustain the confidence of the audience in
the media
Asemah, (2009,p,378) summed up the purpose of journalist ethics as instilling in the
journalist a continuing sensitivity of his every action, decision, and integrates or blends with
his total search for truth. It also gives any general consciousness of himself of other and the
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consequences of interpersonal relationship.

Ethical Concerns and Media Practice in Nigeria

The burden of Nigerian public has been whether journalists in Nigeria are discharging their
duties in line with prescribed code of conduct as subscribed to by members of the fourth estate
of the realm. More often than not, there has been public outcry about unethical practices
among media practitioners in Nigeria. Some of these unprofessional acts range from blatant
disregard for the truth, distortion of facts, invasion of privacy, and sensationalism et cetera.
Many ethical problems exist in the Nigerian press, but a few ones that must often lend
themselves to public odium shall be considered in the discourse.

Policy Implication
Again the liberalization and commercialization policy of the federal government of Nigeria of
the 1980s and 1990s threw a lot of challenges to the professional standard of journalist practice
in Nigeria. The press made all forms of news coverage to be evaluated from the commercial
point of view. The impact of the policy became noticeable on journalists' sense of news
judgment, especially in the broadcast media. News events not sponsored were hardly aired.
According to Oso (2012): The journalist is Not allowed the autonomy and detachment
required for the practice of his trade. His professional judgment has been compromised. The
sale of news is killing professionalism in Nigeria especially broadcast journalism. Of a truth,
commercialization of broadcasting has contributed to the dearth of serious journalism in
Nigeria broadcasting. The commercialization phenomenon posed a lot of challenges to the
credibility of the news stories reported by journalists because stories of events are usually
arranged to suit their sponsors. Usually, the stories “add nothing tangible to the quality of life
of the people and there is nothing journalistically newsworthy about them” (Oso, 2012).
On the other hand, the social responsibility theory rests on the concept of positive
freedom, “freedom for” which calls for the presence of the necessary implements for
attainment of desired goals. Under the theory, freedom of expression is grounded on the duty
of the individual to his thought and conscience. It is a moral right. Freedom of expression is
not something which one claims for selfish ends. It has value for both individual and the
society. It is the society's sole source of intelligence, the seeds from which progress springs.

Unethical Problems in the Nigerian Media

The Nigerian journalists or media practitioners in general face certain ethical challenges in the
course of discharging their professional duties. These, according to Asemah (2009, pp. 397-
402), include the following:
1. Plagiarism: This problem goes beyond the confines of the Nigerian press and has
greatly beams dominant in the academic circle. When journalists and other
professionals in academic assume false authorship of the printed word when in actual
sense the origin of the material is the product of another person; that is plagiarism.
According to Asemah (2009) citing Horuby (1984) that plagiarise means to take
somebody else's words, ideas etc. as if there were one's ideas. In journalistic parlance,
(Okuma 1995, p.58) lent credence to this view when she stated that plagiarism occurs
when a journalist publishes somebody else's information in such a way as to give the
impression that the information was originated by him. This becomes a common place
when journalists are lazy and make no efforts to pursue legitimate information
rigorously and follow up the to authenticate or verify from sources information that
would have been received through, hearsay (rumour) or third party without making
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conscious efforts to get to the root of the issue.

2. Acculturation: This is descried as the tendency of journalist or media professionals to
accept the ideas, beliefs, attitudes, opinions etc, of the group that they cover or with
whom they have a great deal of contact. When a media practitioner becomes so used to
people, it becomes difficult for such a journalist to maintain the ethics of the
profession.
3. Sensationalism: This problem occurs when the tendency of the journalist is to add
unnecessary colour and glamour in order to create excitement in the eyes of the
audience.
Sensationalism occurs when a journalist allows emotions to beloved his sense of
judgment and gives unnecessary attention to trivial issues with the intention of drawing
attention and creating a desired intention in the minds of the audience. The danger of
sensationalism by journalists is that the audiences can engage themselves in
unmitigated reaction. There is no gainsaying that certain reactions by the
public by way of protest and violent demonstration in the country can be attributed to
the hand work of sensational journalism. Such sensationalism become a
common place in democratic dispensation.
Sensationalism can manifest by way of bold headlines placed at strategic position to
attract attention and making news out of non-news worthy event or issue.
4. Sycophancy: Sycophants are praise singers, booth lickers, political hangers-on who
do everything possible in order to please their principals and get ultimate benefits from
them. Their ultimate goal is to gain favouror undue advantage over their opponents or
colleagues in the same profession. They do all kinds of jobs, including showering of
encomiums on their principals who may be politicians, top businessmen and other
elites so as to sustain their patronage. Sometimes they are hired by their principals to
engage character assassination, name calling and bad label of rivals or opponents of
politicians, top business executives to promote their interests.
A sycophant is blinded by his greed for gratification in such a way that he sees nothing
wrong with the master he is out to please. The only concern is to satisfy his belly. Most
of the columns of our newspapers are filled with such sycophancies in advertorials,
personal opinion columns, editorials and news analysis.
5. Afganistanism: It is a term used to describe the situation whereby the journalist tends
to focus on far away issues to the neglects of local issues. This practice is carried
deliberately to divert attention of the public from burning national and local issues,
simply because they want to shy away from tackling such issues. This is a mark of
irresponsibility
6. Ethnicity/Nepotism: Nigeria is a multifarious society with many Ethno-ethnic
cultural and diverse groups and linguistic composition. Journalists find it difficult to
put themselves out these diversity in the reportage of news events and issues. Because
Nigeria has an ethic and cultural diverse composition, journalists reflect these
tendencies and unable to be neutral when one's ethnic group or blood relation is
involved in a news situation. Thus, the tendency is to attempt to protect such relative
even in the face of glaring anomalies. It is wrong for the press which has a social
responsibility to society to base its reportage on tribal or ethnic sentiments. When the
reportage of news events and issues occupy the front seats, then the press cannot isolate
itself from being socially irresponsible.
7. Moonlighting: This refers to a situation where a journalist maintains two jobs
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simultaneously. This brings about divided interest and loyalty which impinges greatly
on the quality of service delivery. When this happens, objectivity is highly
compromised
8. Character Assassination: The smearing of the good name of an individual is contrary
to responsible journalism and highly unethical. During electioneering some journalists
are heavily paid to castigate and bring into disrepute political opponents so that they can
have an undue advantage.
9. Brown Envelope: Media practitioners sometimes base their reportage on the level of
gratification obtained from news sources. These gratifications can be in the form of
bribery, gifts, Christmas presents, sponsorship of trips and other favours in return for
favours. This explains why journalists are more interested in covering and reporting
political events and they scramble for crumps that fall from the politician pockets. This
has brought a lot of shame and embarrassment to the profession. This is a serious ethical
issue which has to be dealt with.
9. Bribery Freebies, Junkets: This ethical problem manifests in the form of bribery, and
acceptance of gifts by a journalists. They include Christmas presents, offer of free train
ride or air travels. Journalists are offered trips with expenses borne by someone who
may expect favour in return while freebies are gifts for which the giver may expect
favour in return.
10. Confidentiality of Source: The basic canon of journalism is not to reveal sources of
information when the deal has been agreed upon. Unfortunately, some journalists go
contrary to this rule and disclose sources of information when pressurized to do so.
When this occurs, news sources will refuse to speak out or disclose vital information to
journalists. This is a break of trust and constitutes a serious ethical problem in
journalism. At times, it is more reasonable to use information as background and protect
sources if it will affect the authenticity of news.
11. Misrepresentation: This simply means the resort to deception in gathering news story

Conclusion
Evaluating the social responsibility theory and the Nigerian media practice, as presently
constituted, with the requirement of professionalism, one would not but agree with the view
expressed by Adaja (2011) that “the Nigerian media cannot fully be referred to as a profession”.
Although the Nigerian Union of Journalists parades a code of conduct in which in its article 1
(i) referred to the union as a professional body as well as a trade union, the code however failed
to state or identify the body of knowledge to be imbibed by its members. Again, the
membership provision was so loose that anybody that has anything to do with media
organization can call him/herself a journalist. The provision provides for Public Relations
Officer/Practitioners, those who are employed as editorial staff, those who had completed a
probationary period of twelve months etc, to be called journalists, without stating any
minimum qualifications. Also no acceptable body of stakeholders was created or established to
regulate the practice of journalism and enforce its rules and regulations in Nigeria as done in
other advanced countries of the world.
Again, the practice of journalism in Nigeria has been characterized by flaws that had
prevented it from being referred to as a profession. At inception, the Nigerian media space was
occupied by practitioners who neither saw themselves as professionals nor made
professionalism their watchword. It is instructive to note that the Nigeria journalists have been
in perpetual fluid of drifting from neutrality to partisan politics both in the period proceeding
independence and after. Most journalists and media organizations have jettisoned their

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professional tenets of neutrality, objectivity, impartiality etc, to look on the grab of partisan
politics. Journalists have shifted alliance to their owners, region as well as the dominant party
or government of the region.

Recommendations
This article has attempted to take a holistic view at the social responsibility media theory and
implication for professional media practice in Nigeria. Arising from the foregoing, it has
become pertinent to make the following recommendations that would advance an enduring
media professionalism and high ethical standards in Nigeria.
1. It is a moral obligation on the part of society and media practitioners to encourage the
propagation of freedom of expression by reflecting pluralistic viewpoints and shades of
opinion on controversial viewpoints.
2. Free expression being a moral right, media operators and practitioners are obligated to
make sure that all significant viewpoints of the citizenry are represented by the press.
They need not publish every idea, however preposterous; but they should see that “all
ideas deserving a public hearing shall have a public hearing”. The publics as well as the
editors and owners of media organizations in Nigeria should decide what ideas deserve
a hearing.
3. Media practitioners in Nigeria under the umbrella of Nigeria Union of journalists
should strive to have a functional press council that would enforce high ethical
standards for the journalism profession. This would eliminate quacks and guarantee
high ethical code of conducts for the profession.
4. Media ethics should be binding on the practitioners so as to ensure sanction and instill
discipline among journalists.
5. Media practitioners should shun greed, personal aggrandizement which are at the
forefront of unprofessional ethical practice so that Nigeria can have a press of our

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