Mass Media And The Management Of Human Rights Abuses

INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The political entity called Nigeria has continued since independence under one form to the other. Especially with military rulers who have had to be rule through decrees thus suspending the constitution that guarantees the citizenry their fundamental human rights.
It there makes it obvious that the basis for government, which is for the ultimate good of the people, is defeated when their rights are not guaranteed. And indeed authoritarian rule has not helped human right issues, as abuse has been recorded time and again even in the mass media bizarre manner.
This is where the mass media comes into focus , as through it, the government and the governed are better be informed about their various privileges and limitation as it is entrenched in the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria, albeit only under a democratically elected government.
The mass media serves as the cornerstone of any progress in the society both economically and politically. And, because it serves as an essential ingredients in the successful management of human right abuse all over the world. It is therefore that their role as societal watchdogs should not be abandoned for some mundane issue.
For a society that it’s citizens cannot be guaranteed the protection of their fundamental human rights cannot be said to be free in the real sense of the word.
The mass media has always been a channel through which human right abuses has been exposed to the public. But there are times human right abuses have been quite intractable for the mass media to manage either due to tribal or religious sentiment or outright ownership interference. In such cases, the citizens whose rights have been abuses are unfortunately given the short end of the stick. The mass media should be able to effectively manage the issues of human right abuses as they unfold in the society. Considering the fact that they most times set the agenda for public discourse. They should in the process to be able distinguish what should be known and what should not be known.
Expect in that case, they want to leave the role of agenda setting to the government; which is this case means that the people are indolent and as Plato stressed “they look up to the leaders of the state to say what goes”. Despite the inability of the mass media to at times manage human right abuses in Nigeria, they have at other times pre – empted the activities of human right groups in the past, thus, leading to clampdown on members of the groups.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEM
The management of human right abuses by the Nigerian mass media is what is being looked. The main thrust of this research is to bring to the fore the role of the various variables in the proper management of human right abuses.

The issues of political human right abuses and the various ethnic and religious factors have seriously short – circuited the proper management of human right abuses will be perused with a view of finding a way out of them.

1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
I. This study sets out to see what extent the mass media has been able to manage human right abuses in Nigeria.
II. It also aimed at putting in the right perspective the order of management of human abuses by the mass media.
III. This study set out to know whether religious and ethnical consideration is responsible for how the mass media in Nigeria manages cases of human right abuses.
IV. Finally, it is to find out whether ownership factors plays any role in the management of human right abuse in Nigeria.

1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
This study is out to make known the benefit of the effective management of human rights abuses by the mass media in Nigeria. Further, it will enhance the knowledge of various players in the mass media on their role in effective and effectual reportage of human right abuses in Nigeria.
Also. It will now put the mass media owners in the know about the limitation of their interference on reportage of news.

1.5 RESEARCH QUESTION
The various questions, which this research sets out to answer, are as follows;
I. Has the mass media been able to manage human right violations in Nigeria.
II. Has human right abuses reportage been without censor.
III. How has government policies affected the reportage of human abuse?

1.6 RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS
H1: Privately owned media outfits report more on human right violations
H0: Privately owned media outfits do not report more on human right violations.
H2: The government owned media are professional in the reportage of human right abuses.
H0: The government owned media are not professional in the reportage of human right abuses.
H3: Mass media really manages human right abuses in Nigeria.
H0: Mass media does not really mange human right abuses in Nigeria.

1.7 CONCEPTUAL AND OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS
In the course of this research, there are terms that are the foundation on which this research is based. The words such as mass media, management and human right abuse will be looked into, for they are to be a proper understanding of the research.
MASS MEDIA
Mass media which is the main means of communication with large number of people especially through television, radio and newspapers.
The main thrust of the mass media is primarily to inform , educate and entertain, It is an agent of change as it most times sets the agenda for national discourse.
MANAGEMENT
Management as a fold of knowledge seeks to systematically understand why and how men work together systematically to accomplish objectives, set objectives as laid down by an organization for it to continue, to exist or still be in business. Management in the media context has primarily to do with how the mass media practitioner handles issues that comes to his desk so as to aim the media organizations aim of educating and informing.
HUMAN RIGHT ABUSE
Human rights are immutable, unalienable right that cannot be denied anyone. They are right and privileges that are given by nature to man by virtue of being a human being . These right include right to life, freedom of association, freedom of speech, freedom of movement etc. And they are enshrined in the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
It is the duty of both the government and the governed to respect the provisions of the constitution as it concerns human rights. When we talk of human right abuses, we are talking of a situation were human being are denied their natural rights, rights that are inherent, that are natural, that were not created by the state. They are not allowed to exercise these rights on their own either through the instruments of the state using them to dent them, depriving them of their free rights.

1.8 ASSUMPTION OF THE STUDY
i. It is presumed that ethnic tendency influence the reportage of newspaper in Nigeria as it concern human rights abuse.
ii. The researcher assume that ethnic biases plays a considerable role and most times precede the objective coverage of political issues.
iii. It is also assumed by the researcher that tribal sentiments will naturally prevail over rational writing in the reportage of human rights abuses.
iv. Ownership considerations, the prominent role in the reportage of human right abuses especially when it does not favor the owner.
v. Assumable, ethnic biases to a reasonable degree affects the creditability of the various media houses across the country.

1.9 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
This research work was without its constraints. Notable among them was the issue of gathering materials for the work. It was a tedious process that was not helped by nonchalance or should I say un- cooperative attitude of some staffs of the mass media houses visited.
Another constraint was time. Due to the shortness of available time, we could not really lay our hands on enough materials. As there were other class work and assignments to be taken care of.
Financial constraint did not help matters. Finance really limited our scope of coverage, as we could not move around a lot. Therefore, we had no choice but to scales down on the rage or scope so that we can be able to meet with other schedules.