General News
Addressing Ethical Challenges in the Use of Digital Media in Nigeria
By Gabriel T. Nyitse, PhD and Felix C. Elele
Digital media has revolutionized the communication landscape globally and disrupted traditional media’s dominance in all its ramifications by ushering a new vista in citizen engagement. The world has witnessed unprecedented growth in the adoption of digital media as the global population of internet users hit 5.18 billion, representing 64.6 percent of the world’s population according to data from Statista.
Out of the entire global population, 4.8 billion individuals use social media. On the other hand, DataReport on “The State of Digital in Nigeria in 2023” reveals that there were 122.5 million internet users in Nigeria by December 2022, representing a penetration rate of 55.4%. In addition, social media users in Nigeria stand at 31.60 million, or 14.3 percent of the total population.
With technological advancement, the number is also projected to grow, as there will be more convergence of social media, artificial intelligence (AI), and virtual reality.
Digital media, according to Wikipedia, is “any communication media that operate in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, viewed, distributed, modified, listened to, and preserved on electronic devices, including digital data storage media and digital broadcasting”.
It refers to the transmission of digital information via screen and/or speaker. It includes websites, online video/audio broadcasts, email, online social platforms, online communities, online forums, blogs, Internet telephony, Web advertising, online education, and a great deal more. In addition, digital news media includes online journalism, blogging, digital photojournalism, citizen journalism and social media.
There has been a growing concern about ethical issues in the utilisation of digital media space due to its unregulated, instantaneous, and decentralized nature. This is made possible because anyone with the necessary device and minimal technical knowledge can be a prominent participant in the digital world, proclaim their message to the world, and demand an audience. In the midst of every innovative disruption, novel possibilities emerge while established customs and practices are threatened and today is no different.
Digital media is transforming to a new genre in journalism that is a blend of professional and citizen-driven journalism where one feeds the other as a news source. This fusion is noticeable even in developed countries as studies show that journalists monitor social media activity closely and use them in their reporting.
Shannon C. McGregor, Assistant Professor, Hussman School of Journalism and Media, at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, postulated that tweets are increasingly incorporated into traditional journalistic coverage of political events and that journalists rely on Twitter to decide which events and voices are newsworthy.
This assertion is also corroborated in an article published in the Nation Newspaper on August 29, 2021 where the author stated that these days in Nigeria, a radio or television program is incomplete without media outlets’ social media handles, through which they can be followed and reached.
This Ethics is one of the cardinal principles of journalism and the fulcrum of media practice. It is the conscience and integrity quotient of journalism. Digital media ethics focuses on the unique ethical issues, practices, and standards of digital news media.
It addresses how professional journalism should utilize new media to conduct research and publish stories, as well as how to use text or images provided by citizens. Globally, the nature of journalism is being transformed as professional journalists are contesting the media space with tweeter users, citizen journalists, social media users, and bloggers.
These new entrants raise emerging ethical issues in journalism. Stephen J.A. Ward of the Centre for Journalism Ethics, University of Winconsin-Madison opined: “We are moving towards a mixed news media – a news media citizen and professional journalism across many media platforms.
This new mixed news media requires new mixed media ethics–guidelines that apply to amateur and professional whether they blog, tweet, broadcast or write for newspapers. The nagging question then is: What implications can ethics hold for a profession that is required to deliver immediate news and analysis, in an era where anyone possessing an internet-enabled device with a modem can act as a publisher?
This brings to the fore, the overall ethical controversy between the traditional journalism culture of gatekeeping, balance and objectivity and the online culture of immediacy and non-editorial review.
In relying on citizen journalists for information and in the quest to remain relevant and join the bandwagon of being the first to break the news, the ethical standards of balance, objectivity, facts and verification are being compromised. Through social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, blogs, mobile phones, and email, news and images circulate around the world with astounding speed.
Speed places newsrooms under pressure to publish stories before they have been adequately checked and verified as to their source and the veracity of alleged facts. The phenomenon of sensationalism and rumourmongering in journalism is attributed to the economic competitiveness of the industry and the constant demand for 24-hour digital news coverage.
In addition, conventional journalists and media organisations have adopted various social media platforms such as a means of connecting with their audience and sharing their perspectives and viewpoints. Consequently, the absence of substantial reporting or analysis leads to a disregard for journalistic integrity.
The internet contains vast amounts of information, a significant portion of which lacks proper evaluation for both accuracy and relevance. These grave ethical lapses call for concern as a media that thrives on speed has the potential to cause significant damage to society.
On a broader perspective, there is this ethical issue of who is a journalist and what is journalism in the digital media ecosystem. The democratization of media technology muddles the identity of journalists and the definition of journalism. In the traditional media, journalists were a clearly defined set of professionals who wrote for mainstream media. It was easy to identify “gentlemen of the press.” But today, citizens without formal training in journalism write in ways that fit the definition of a journalist as a person who frequently writes for the public or audience about public issues.
In Nigeria, there is this debate as to whether those who write for popular blogs such as Linda Ikeji Blog, Gistlover, and Zikolo etc., as well as social news sites such as Gamji.com and Nigeriavillagesquare.com, Pulse etc., or social media sites such as Nairaland, allAfrica, naNAIJA.com, and onlineNigeria journalists?
A lack of clarity regarding who constitutes a journalist results in foundational ethical conflicts regarding who practices journalism and the question of what journalism is in this context. It is becoming difficult and sometimes unclear to determine where the term “journalism” begins and ends. The ethical challenge is the articulation of guidelines that are consistent with the ethical principles of accuracy, verification, and transparency for dealing with rumours and corrections in digital media.
A related problem created by new media is how to handle errors and corrections when news updates, reports and commentaries are continually updated via live feeds and blogging posts or TV scrolls.
Live coverage of events such as breaking news, natural disasters, elections, handover, and sports are becoming increasingly popular among journalists in Nigeria. Errors, including misspellings and factual inaccuracies, are inevitable when working at this urgency, speed and pace. Occasionally, people retweet, share, or broadcast these factual errors before they are corrected, and the resulting ethical damage can be severe.
It is a fact that unregulated digital media thrives in anonymous and faceless writing. However, the mainstream media require content providers to be identified. Journalists are cautioned by codes of conventional media ethics to use anonymous sources sparingly and only under certain conditions. The question of when anonymity is ethically permissible is therefore yet another ethical issue.
Whether it is inconsistent for the media to enforce various anonymity rules for different media platforms. What should the ethical guidelines for offline and online anonymity be? Supporters of anonymity claim that it allows unfettered freedom of speech and sometimes aids in exposing corruption and official misconduct.
Impartiality is a fundamental principle of mainstream journalism. But this principle contradicts the tenets of the new media, which encourages people to freely and equivocally express their opinions and share their thoughts. Many bloggers and online journalists perceive themselves to be opinion or partisan journalists/activists for causes and political movements and take pride in expressing their opinions and positions.
The majority of them reject the concept of neutral or objective analysis. The ethical challenge redefining what independent journalism in the public interest entails for a media in which numerous new forms of journalism are emerging and fundamental principles are being questioned. Journalists should be guided by the principle of fairness and avoid news stories that are likely to generate conflicts of interest or diminish the dignity of others.
When collecting news sources, journalists should apply research ethics of balance, confidentiality, respect for opinions, and avoidance of sensational content. In addition, journalists should not hide under the cover of technology to distort the truth or reality, manipulate facts, or sensationalize events.
In the midst of plethora of unfettered information sources online, plagiarism in digital media has become widespread. Journalists have been accused of copying stories from less popular blogs and publishing them in mainstream media as their own. Journalists are expected to ensure that their stories are original and not plagiarized. This is related to the fact that journalists are sometimes implicated in copyright violations. However, copyright infringement is a legal issue as well as an ethical one.
On the flip side, the proliferation of new image modification technologies for both photographs and videos raises new ethical concerns too. In Nigeria where fake news, disinformation and hate speech thrive, the manipulation of images is a major ethical issue and prone to fraudulent practices. Citizens and professional journalists have access to new and simple methods for capturing and transmitting images.
These images can be altered and manipulated using new technologies. This convergence of ease of capture, ease of transmission, and ease of manipulation call into question the conventional photojournalism principles that were developed for non-digital image and video capture and transmission. One concern is whether newsrooms can rely on images readily obtained by citizens and citizen journalists.
Who is the sender, and how can we be sure that this photograph represents the event in question? Another issue is whether a journalist or a member of the public used technology to alter the photograph, such as to add or remove an object.
As a way to manage digital media ethical issues, some scholars have advocated for layered journalism, which combines various forms of journalism and different types of journalists to create a multi-media offering of news and analysis written in a professional style combined with citizen journalism and interactive chat. Stephen J.A. Ward recommended that the newsroom be layered vertically and horizontally, with different editors reviewing and editing texts, videos, photographs, and audio from various sources.
As digital media continue to evolve, new ethical issues will continue to arise. However, the mainstream media must not in the cause of joining the digital bandwagon, compromise the ethical principles of Aristotle’s ‘Golden Mean’. Professional journalists must remain the check and standard for measuring journalism practice and not for survival strategies and reasons revert to pre-19th century journalism that lacks the social responsibility norm.
The media as the fourth estate of the realm must continue to be alive to its ethical responsibility to society by upholding ethical principles while adapting and adopting digital technology, which has become a major component of journalism.
International Trade Union Confederation, (ITUC-Africa), representing trade unions from countries in Africa, has called on Nigeria and other African governments to ensure that industrialisation translates into improved living standards for workers and ordinary citizens.
According to ITUC-Africa, economic growth must lift Nigerians and other Africans out of poverty rather than deepen inequality, frowning at Nigeria’s government plans to remove subsidy on electricity.
Delivering his opening remarks at the New Energy for Africa 11 Convening: African Workers’ Contributions to Energy Sovereignty, Green Industrialization, and a Common African for COP31, Akhator Joel Odigie, general secretary of ITUC-Africa, said, industrialisation remains central to Nigeria and Africa’s liberation and development agenda but warned that it would be meaningless if it failed to improve the welfare of the continent’s people.
He faulted the plans by the Nigerian government to remove so-called subsidy on electricity in 2027, arguing that it is aimed at satisfying the Bretton Woods institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, IMF, and the World Bank.
According to him, such removal would worsen the poverty rate in Nigeria and regress any marginal progress towards industrialisation. Subsidy removal will make electricity inaccessible to workers and the majority of the citizens.
He said, “As we speak now, Nigeria is talking of subsidy removal on electricity. The plan is not to satisfy or help Nigerians, but IMF, World Bank and other donor countries. The talk that subsidy is bad economics is a lie. All developed economies depended on public sector-driven electricity and not private sector.
“For us as Africans, industrialisation is central to our liberation and development. It is part of our aspiration to define our own identity and achieve shared prosperity through an industrialised Africa. Unfortunately, that vision has yet to be realised.
“We have also come to understand that lamenting our circumstances is not enough. Identifying the barriers to Africa’s development or pointing fingers at those who may be responsible does not move us forward. The more important question is: What next? What solutions can we pursue together?
“It is from that perspective that we confront the reality that more than 600 million Africans still lack access to electricity, while privatisation continues to deny many people affordable access to energy. This compels us to ask: What can we do differently?”
According to him, organised labour believes industrialisation can be achieved without worsening the climate crisis if governments, workers and development partners commit to energy justice.
Odigie noted that “When we speak about sustainable industrialisation, we are asking how Africa can industrialise without increasing environmental degradation or worsening the climate challenges our people already experience every day.
“We know this is possible. But it will require negotiation, compromise and genuine partnerships. It demands serious discussions on technology transfer, skills development and financing.”
He stressed that developing technical skills and mobilising investment for energy infrastructure are essential if Africa is to industrialise sustainably, saying “These are not impossible skills to acquire. With the right investment and commitment, Africa can build them. Equally important is access to finance and the resources needed to develop the infrastructure that will support sustainable industrialisation.
“An industrialised Africa has little meaning if it does not improve the lives of our people. Our vision is an Africa where prosperity is shared.
“We must reverse the growing phenomenon of the working poor. We must end the situation where women, children and older persons bear the greatest burden whenever governments attempt to balance national budgets.
“What does prosperity mean if ordinary people cannot enjoy a decent quality of life? A worker who returns home after a long day’s work should be able to switch on a fan during hot weather, watch television, listen to the news and spend meaningful time with family because electricity is available, reliable and affordable.
“If our people cannot enjoy these basic necessities, then what kind of prosperity are we really talking about?
“Energy justice means energy that is accessible, affordable and capable of improving people’s lives.”
Odigie also renewed ITUC-Africa’s campaign for stronger public participation in Africa’s energy sector, citing Finland as an example of how governments can ensure affordable electricity while working with private investors.
“Recently, we visited Finland, where we observed a successful model that combines public and private participation, with strong public leadership. Energy there is affordable. In fact, electricity costs less in Finland than it does here in Nairobi.
“Our hosts explained that this is possible because the state retains an important role in the energy sector, including the ability to influence pricing to ensure affordability for everyone.”
Ahead of the COP31 climate negotiations, he called for closer collaboration between organised labour and the African Group of Negotiators (AGN), saying trade unions are partners in governance rather than adversaries.
“Trade unions are not antagonistic to governments, even though we are sometimes misunderstood.
“Our responsibility is to strengthen accountability and help governments perform better because, from time to time, leaders can become too comfortable.”
Using a metaphor that drew applause from participants, Odigie likened the role of trade unions to keeping leaders “close to the fire.”
“Our responsibility is to keep the feet of our leaders close to the fire so that their heads do not become too cold. We want them to continue thinking clearly, making sound decisions and remaining connected to the realities faced by ordinary people.
“That is why we are not in opposition. We are not enemies.”
He said organised labour’s partnership with the AGN is intended to ensure African governments enter international climate negotiations with the full backing of workers across the continent.
Speaking, Dr Nana Amoah, chair of the African Group of Negotiators, AGN, said Africa’s energy transition presents both an urgent challenge and a historic opportunity, lamenting that “More than 600 million Africans still lack access to electricity, even though our continent possesses exceptional solar, wind, hydro and geothermal resources. Yet Africa continues to receive only a very small share of global clean-energy investment.”
Represented by Dr George Manful, AGN Senior Advisor, Amoah, said: “This imbalance must be corrected if the transition is to support Africa’s development rather than reproduce existing patterns of dependence, extraction and inequality.
“For the African Group of Negotiators, a just transition cannot be measured solely by installed megawatts, emissions reductions or new electricity connections. It must also be measured by the quality of jobs created, affordability of energy, protection of workers, participation of women and young people, development of local industries, and the capacity of African countries to retain value from their natural resources.
“Initiatives such as Mission 300 must therefore go beyond expanding access. They must strengthen public institutions, mobilise affordable and debt-sensitive finance, support local manufacturing and skills development, and guarantee that no worker, community or vulnerable group is left behind.
“Africa’s critical minerals must similarly become a foundation for green industrialisation—not another chapter of raw-material extraction. Our policies must promote local processing, technology transfer, decent work, environmental integrity and equitable participation in global value chains.”
Allen Onyema, vice chairman, Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) and chairman, Air Peace, has warned that several domestic airlines could cease operations within the next 30 days unless the federal government urgently intervenes in the challenges confronting the aviation industry.
Allen Onyema
Onyema, gave the warning on Wednesday at the launch of the book, Pathways, Pilgrimage & Destiny: The Biography of Alhaji Muneer Bankole, held in Lagos.
He described the aviation industry as capital-intensive but less rewarding, warning that airlines are facing serious threats to their survival.
“Going into aviation is not a piece of cake. It is an industry that is not very rewarding. It is capital-intensive, yet less rewarding. Today, we are facing a phase that has existential threats. Except something drastic is done very quickly within the next 30 days, a lot of airlines might go extinct,” Onyema said.
The Air Peace chairman also cautioned aviation unions against their planned picketing of airlines over the non-remittance of the five per cent Ticket Sales Charge.
He warned that if any airline is picketed, other domestic carriers would suspend operations in solidarity.
“If they picket any airline, others will go because there’s no need for that. There is nowhere in the world that government agencies use unions to talk about issues of debt,” he said.
Onyema lamented the harsh operating environment for Nigerian airlines, noting that more than 50 airlines have shut down over the years.
“Everybody pities Nigerian airlines, yet nobody wants to do anything about their situation. Over 50 airlines have come and gone. The owners of these airlines succeeded in other businesses, yet they failed in airline business,” he said.
He stressed that airlines were not opposed to helping the government generate revenue but called for a more sustainable approach.
“The airlines are not against helping government generate revenue. But no airline in the world is taxed directly for revenue. The airlines indirectly provide revenue for government,” Onyema added.
General News
QNET Denies Links to Ignite, Backs Nigeria Immigration Service Crackdown on Alleged Fraud Syndicate
QNET has denied any association with Ignite following the arrest of 12 individuals by the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) over alleged fraudulent recruitment, irregular migration and other unlawful activities.
QNET
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the direct-selling company described reports referring to the suspects as belonging to a “QNET/IGNITE network” as inaccurate, stressing that Ignite is an entirely separate entity with no relationship to QNET.
The company stated that Ignite is neither part of QNET nor authorised to conduct any business or activities on its behalf.
QNET urged media organisations, commentators and members of the public to avoid linking the two organisations, warning that such reports could mislead the public and unfairly associate the company with alleged criminal activities beyond its control.
According to the company, it has fully cooperated with the Nigeria Immigration Service and will continue to provide any relevant information required as investigations progress.
It reaffirmed its commitment to supporting law enforcement agencies in identifying and prosecuting individuals who misuse the QNET name to facilitate fraudulent recruitment, human trafficking, irregular migration or other criminal acts.
The company also clarified the use of the term “Model Q,” explaining that law enforcement agencies increasingly use it to describe criminal schemes in which fraudsters exploit the names of legitimate direct-selling companies and established brands to lure victims with false promises of employment, overseas travel, migration opportunities or guaranteed income.
It stressed that “Model Q” does not refer to QNET’s legitimate business operations but rather to criminal activities carried out through the unauthorised use of recognised brand names.
QNET maintained that it does not offer employment opportunities, visas, overseas travel or guaranteed financial returns through its independent distributors.
It explained that its business model is based solely on the direct sale of wellness and lifestyle products.
The company warned that anyone soliciting money for jobs, migration, travel or guaranteed investment returns in QNET’s name is acting without its authorisation.
According to the statement, criminal groups have repeatedly impersonated the company’s brand to deceive unsuspecting members of the public.
QNET said it considers itself a victim of such brand impersonation and has been working with law enforcement agencies in Nigeria and other countries to share intelligence, support investigations and protect potential victims.
The company commended the Nigeria Immigration Service for what it described as an intelligence-led operation that resulted in the rescue of victims and efforts to dismantle transnational criminal networks.
It reaffirmed its readiness to continue collaborating with the Service and other relevant authorities to ensure that those exploiting its name for criminal purposes are brought to justice.
QNET also advised members of the public to verify any claims involving the company through its official communication channels and to report suspicious offers relating to employment, travel, migration or investment made in its name.
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