Communication Ethics in Nigeria: A Comparison Between Prophetic Etiquettes of Tableeg and Journalistic Ethics of Information Delivery

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Over the years, efforts have been put to writing by philosophers, sociologists and communication scholars, to explain the concept of ethics. According to Okoye (2006:83), “it is concerned with what an individual voluntarily decides to do simply because it is ‘good.’ Ethics is related to law, but different from law in the sense that law is socially determined and socially enforced, while ethics is self-determined and self-enforced.” Okunna (2003:2) opines that “ethics is a moral concept; it is primarily personal and must be internalized within an individual and incorporated into a person’s personal value system.” The basic difference between ethics and law, as observed by Carter (1983:10) is that, “while morality (ethics) protects a way of life by tabooing immoral action even before it takes place, laws only provide recourse after the deed has been done.”

Ethics is an individual attitude or value system which deals with the mental capability to figure out what is right or wrong, acceptable and unacceptable, and the ability to differentiate same. It is primarily personal to members of a particular trade or profession and must be internalised for it to be meaningful. These guiding principles differ from one profession to another, from one society to another and from one individual to the other.

Journalistic ethics denotes the self-imposed norms, principles and moral values articulated and adopted by members or practitioners of the journalism profession to guide their conducts on daily basis. On this, Zlatev (2011:21) asserts that, “self regulatory mechanisms do exist in some but not all countries in the world, and are accepted voluntarily as leading principles and standards to be adhered to, but they are applied to different ranges of media in different countries.” Similarly, Ogunsiji (1989:173) avers that, “every profession deserves to have guiding rules for the practice of the profession. Journalism should not in any way be an exception.”

Journalistic ethics are guidelines or moral rules on how professional communicators should behave in situations where their activities may have negative effects on others and in situations where laws do not dictate behaviour. Some of these guidelines are codes of ethical conduct expressly created by professional organisations. Some of them represent broad systems of ethics prevailing in current society. Ethical issues include what kinds of topics to cover; accuracy or truthfulness; privacy for media subjects; fairness in presenting all sides of an issue; what kind of images to include in magazines, films, or television; and how to protect the confidentiality of sources (Straubhaar and Larose, 2004:431-432).

Strict adherence to journalistic ethics makes a journalist to uphold the values of the professional objectivity, credibility, competence, doggedness, non-partisanship, and some other dos and don’ts of the profession. To maintain their dignity and earn public trust, communicators must perform their duties in accordance with professional codes of conduct. Writing on the significance of journalistic ethics to both media professionals and their audience, Zlatev (2011:17) has the following to say:

Journalistic ethics is vital for media precisely because the media are regarded as a democracy watchdog. If an individual or an organization has the mission to protect other people’s values and national achievements, this imposes great moral obligations. Those obligations should be subject to self-regulation, not imposed by any state, and not to any other kind of order or control, because no matter what political regime is in power, the world’s laws are based on freewill and the daily choices we make. Viewpoints on journalistic ethics vary from culture to culture and from continent to continent. Journalistic ethics functions primarily for the protection of media from political censorship, economic dependence and devastating court cases. Others see journalistic ethics as an educational tool for both journalists – since it imposes high professional standards – and the public – since it demands more vigilant media literacy. Last but not least, journalistic ethics is regarded as a tool for media accountability, which is so necessary and important if there is to be trust in the media.

From the foregoing, it suffices to say that, for professionals, as well as the media to be free from government control and undue regulation (censorship), they must instill upon themselves, some moral values in their day-to-day dealings with the society. It is therefore, indispensable for any profession to have a set of guiding principles for professional recognition, and to prevent malpractices in the profession.

It is against this backdrop that the codes of ethical practices were formulated in journalism, to guide practitioners in their duties of information dissemination and defense of social justice, as well as promoting change and development. In Nigeria, for example, the collective efforts of the Nigerian Press Organisation (NPO), the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) and the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), organized the “Ota Media Workshop” for the purpose of drafting a revised edition of the NUJ code of ethical practices at Ilorin in March, 1998. The NPC, NPO, NGE and NUJ launched what has been called the “Ilorin Declaration,” that is, Code of Ethics for the Nigerian journalists.

Considering the responsibilities and duties of journalists as purveyors of information, the provisions of journalistic code of ethics in different parts of the world, revolve around the following:

1. Editorial Independence: Decisions concerning the content of news should be the responsibility of a professional journalist.

2. Accuracy and Fairness:

i. The public has a right to know. Factual, accurate, balanced and fair reporting is the ultimate objective of good journalism and the basis of earning public trust and confidence.

ii. A journalist should refrain from publishing inaccurate and misleading information. Where such information has been inadvertently published, prompt correction should be made. A journalist must hold the right of reply as a cardinal rule of practice.

iii. In the course of his duties, a journalist should strive to separate facts from conjecture and comment.

3. Privacy: As a general rule, a journalist should respect the privacy of individuals and their families unless it affects public interest.

i. Information on the private life of an individual or his family should only be published if it impinges on public interest.