The Nigerian Press Council, NPC, has stressed the need for the press to operate without fear or intimidation.
The Council’s Executive Secretary, Dr. Dili Ezughah, stated this while reacting to the recent call by the Nigerian Guild of Editors, NGE, for caution in the enforcement of the Cyber Crime Prohibition, Etc.(Amendment) Act, 2024, as it relates to journalists.
The Guild, at the end of its Standing Committee meeting in Jos, the Plateau State Capital, had threatened to “use all legal means to ensure the protection of the fundamental human rights of journalists, freedom of the press and freedom of expression”.
Dr. Ezughah remarked that freedom of expression remained the pivot of democracy, while the press should, at all times, be free to uphold the accountability of government to the people.
In his words, “freedom of expression and of the press are the prisms through which democracy is viewed”.
The Executive Secretary,while urging security operatives to respect the rights and privileges of journalists in the lawful performance of their duty as partners in nation building, admonished media professionals to adhere to the ethics of the profession as well as all the extant laws regulating the industry, including the Cyber Crime Act.
He said the Nigerian Press Council would not relent in carrying out its statutory mandate of promoting high professional standards for the Nigerian press.
This, Dr. Ezughah said, the Council had been doing through capacity building of practising journalists as well students of mass communication/ journalism.
He said, this year alone, the Council had conducted workshops on ‘Public Trust and Ethical Journalism in the Digital Age’ in three geopolitical zones of the country, namely, the North Central, North East and South West, while arrangements were being concluded to cover the rest of the zones.
He observed that such capacity building workshops/trainings had greatly improved professionalism and ethical compliance in the nation’s media ecosystem .
Signed
Dan Ede
Director, Research and Documentation.
