Description
MASS MEDIA IN NIGERIA
Historically, Nigeria has boasted the most free and outspoken press of any African country, but also one which has consistently been the target of harassment by the past military dictatorships. Many agents of Nigeria’s press have been imprisoned, exiled, tortured, or murdered as a result, among them being Ogoni activist and television producer Ken Saro-Wiwa, who was executed for treason by order of the Sani Abacha dictatorship in 1995 (resulting in the expulsion of Nigeria from the Commonwealth of Nations and sanctions from abroad).
Even under the somewhat less-oppressive current civilian government, journalists have continued to come under fire, be it from the government (as with the June 2006 arrest of Gbenga Aruleba and Rotimi Durojaiye of African Independent Television under charges of sedition) or from other popular establishments (such as the self-imposed exile of Thisday’s Isioma Daniel following the riots in Northern Nigeria over “sensitive comments” which she had made in an article regarding Muhammad and the 2002 Miss World pageant.
Newspapers
Newspapers published in Nigeria
Until the 1990s most publications were government-owned, but private papers such as the Nigerian Tribune, The Punch, Vanguard, and the Guardian continued to expose public and private scandals. Laws related to the media, including newspapers, are scattered across various pieces of legislature. There are few good sources of discussion and analysis of these laws.
Radio and Television
Further information: List of radio stations in Nigeria and List of television stations in Nigeria. While newspapers (and, most recently, blogging) have long thrived in Nigeria, radio and television has not received as much recognition, due to limited resources and press restrictions which beset the establishment of radio or television services in Nigeria. However, such limitations have since been improved in order to reach larger audiences both within and without Nigeria, such as with the growth of satellite television. The BBC World Service as well as the Voice of America and the German broadcasting organization Deutsche Welle (DW) also provide shortwave radio in the Hausa language.
