Protests and the oxygen of publicity

Military top brass has requested that the media stop giving publicity to the ongoing nationwide protests which they believe have the potential to be hijacked by hoodlums and become uncontrollably violent. Although the media is supposed not to say or show anything which could encourage lawbreaking, it is important that the truth should never be […]

Military top brass has requested that the media stop giving publicity to the ongoing nationwide protests which they believe have the potential to be hijacked by hoodlums and become uncontrollably violent. Although the media is supposed not to say or show anything which could encourage lawbreaking, it is important that the truth should never be hidden. Properly governed democratic societies should not believe in constraining the media, let alone in censorship. The truth is that hunger, insecurity and inflation are causing untold hardships in Nigeria and citizens are understandably dissatisfied as they did not vote for a government which would be committed to worsening their condition.

The question arises as to whether or not publicising protests plays into the hands of the perpetrators. Security agents argue that social media and television news reports encourage lawlessness. There can be no doubting that the use of smartphones to capture infractions of the law by both protestors and law officers definitely heats up the polity. Proliferation of social media content may inspire others to commit similar acts of lawlessness, but this does not negate the fact that hardship is increasing daily and something concrete must be done to prevent things from getting out of hand. 

When society is under attack, honest reporting is absolutely crucial. The harm caused by the spread of false information is unquantifiable. The main media faces the problem of how to report anti-government protests and contentious points of view while retaining a measure of objectivity, balance and fairness. Even as government and their praise singers ignore the genuine complaints of the few Nigerians engaged in street protests, the majority of Nigerians who neither participate in protests nor condemn them, are reduced to being onlookers quietly lamenting that those in power have no remorse over worsening their plight.

Lamentably President Tinubu’s nationwide broadcast on Sunday failed to address any of the lamentations of Nigerians in general and demands of protestors in particular concerning fuel and electricity prices, overly-expensive lavish governance, and ongoing corruption. Rather than being an inspirational speech to galvanise the nation, it was simply a press statement merely outlining the self-perceived successes of his administration and rehashing the same old promises. It merely succeeded in giving the impression that his administration has no intention of diverting from the path it has taken irrespective of the mass suffering it is inflicting.

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Considering the tepid response to his uninspiring speech full of blame for imaginary political opponents and devoid of any concrete actions to address any of the demands of the protestors, President Tinubu must consider replacing his speech writers. There was no praise for Nigerians who decided not to protests despite their suffering, and there was too much reference to billions being spent which had no positive impact on the citizenry. Youths are in fact individuals reacting to their personal circumstances not people being manipulated or inspired by a single ideology. They represent the failure of the nation’s educational system which annually churns out millions of barely literate school-leavers; youths with no marketable employment skills and negligible knowledge of world affairs.

Government officials asking the media not to report the protests, is humbug. While it’s true that endless coverage of protests creates a climate of fear, well-reported true news is the lifeblood of liberty it’s essential for the public to be informed when either official atrocities or unofficial illegalities have taken place.

The main media must avoid the trap of trying to please both sides and engaging in false equivalence in the name of neutrality. Although protestors do not have the same rights as government, it is necessary to call out the lies of powerful people and institutions because disinformation damages democracy.

The general public faces the dilemma of deciding where to put their trust because even though it is good to listen to as many sides as possible, these days social media platforms such as Facebook, You Tube and X (formerly Twitter) which have become the main source of information for the youth and have made it easy for trouble makers to directly market false claims to a global audience. As a result, it has become increasingly important for law-abiding citizens to verify their sources of information to avoid being brainwashed and distinguish reality from fiction.

There is no doubt that it’s irresponsible for the media to amplify hateful voices and contribute to their power and harm. In 1986 following the highjack of a Trans World Airlines (TWA) flight British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher accused the media of providing the terrorists with the “oxygen of publicity”. She totally misconstrued the role of public interest media. Writers in the controlled main media must decide for themselves whether or not in covering protests and interviewing participants they are actually exposing ugly truths or simply giving criminal elements the oxygen of publicity.

Although the oxygen of publicity is important in suffocating censorship, it’s also true that there are situations when it is not a good idea to go searching for criminal activities to publicise. In such cases, journalists can use what is referred to as “strategic silence” when covering such actions. In conforming to the freedom of information requirements, media practitioners must also realise that the oxygen of publicity is as much a vital component of democratic debate, as is the oxygen of wisdom!