Nigeria’s Communication Policy and News Determination

Abstract

National communication policy is not a very popular area of discourse or research among mass communication scholars in Nigeria. Indeed some of them are hardly aware of its existence but it is there and affects overall government attitude and actions toward the mass media. This discursive paper examines the concept of news and the factors that affect its determination. However, its major focus is on how Nigeria’s national communication policy seeks to influence what is disseminated as news by the country’s mass media. It argues that the policy document as it affects news determination is unnecessary and that it should be reviewed to focus on other critical areas that directly affect journalism practice in Nigeria such as the protection of journalists from exploitative media owners so that the country can have a more vibrant and robust mass media industry.

Keywords: News, Journalism, Communication Policy, Government