Mass Media in Nigeria: An Exploratory Analysis

Abstract

Mass media in Nigeria predates Nigeria as a geo-political entity, dating back to 1859 when Reverend Henry Townsend published the first newspaper, Iwe Irohin. Since then, the Nigerian mass media, especially the print media, have been growing with the rapidity of a meteor. Despite the many voices of the mass media in Nigeria, however, their vocality seems to be highly limited by the antagonistic stance of the government as expressed in multifarious legal and extra-legal instruments of control. Although the media have constitutional obligation to uphold the responsibility and accountability of the government to the people, this obligation is stifled by governmental interference even in the face of the freedom of information Act, and a high degree of media pluralism. Despite of these obvious challenges, the mass media in Nigeria, like the proverbial beetle, have refused to be crushed as they inch, day-by-day towards the arena of global media practice.