Role Of The Mass Media In Propagating Human Rights Abuse

1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The political entity called Nigeria has continued since independence under one form of governance to the other. The military rulers have had to rule by decrees thus suspending the constitution that guarantees the citizenry their fundamental human rights.
It, therefore, 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 had over time been recorded and even in the most bizarre manner.
This is where the mass media comes into focus, as though, the government and the governed are better informed about their various privileges and limitations as they are entrenched in the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria, able it only under a democratically elected government.
The mass media serve as the cornstone of any progress in the society both economically and politically. And because they serve as an essential ingredients in the successful management of human right abuse all over the world. It is therefore expected that their role as societal watchdogs should not be abandoned for some mundane issue. For a society that its citizens cannot be guaranteed for the protection of their fundamental human rights cannot be said to be free in the real sense of the word.
The mass media have always been a chamel through which human rights abuse had been exposed to the public. But there are times that human rights abuses have been quite intractable for the mass media to manage either due to tribal or religious sentiments or out right ownership interference. In such cases, the citizens whose rights have been abused are unfortunately given the sthort end of the stick.
The mass media should be able to effectively manage the issue of human right abuses as they are unfolded in the society. Considering the fact that they most of the time set the agenda for public discourse, they should in the process be able to distinguish what should be known and what should not be known.
Except 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 (Odyseey press 1966:28) “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 PROBLEMS
The management of human right abuses by the Nigerian mass media is what is being discussed. 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 rights abuses and how 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
1. This study sets out to see what extent the mass media had been able to manage human right abuses in Nigeria.
ii. It is aimed at putting in the right perspective the order of management of human right abuses by the Mass Media.
iii. This study sets out to know whether religious and ethical consideration are responsible for how the Mass Media in Nigeria Manage Cases of human right abuses.
iv. Finally, it is to find out whether ownership factor plays any role in the Management of human right abuses in Nigeria.

1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
This study is out to make know the benefit of the effective management of human right abuses by the Mass Media in Nigeria.
Furthermore, 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 owners in the know about the limitation of their interference on reportage of news.

1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
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 abuse reportage been without censor?
iii. How has government policies affect the reportage of human right abuses?
iv. Are religious and ethnic factors responsible for the management of mass Media organization in Nigeria.
v. Is the Mass Media in Nigeria free in its coverage?
If these questions are answered without prejudice then we can definitely say that professionalism will enhance. As the various problem that have plagued the profession it would have been. Resolved; thereby helping to produce objective and balanced reportage of human right violations in Nigeria.

1.6 RESEARCH HYPOTHESES
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 manage human right abuses in Nigeria.
H0; Mass Media does not rally Manage human right abuses in Nigeria.

1.7 ASSUMPTION OF THE STUDY
1. it is presumed that ethnic tendency influences the reportage of newspapers in Nigeria as it concerns human rights abuse.
2. The researchers assume that ethnic biases play a considerable role and most times precede the objective coverage of political issues.
3. It is also assumed by the researcher that tribal sentiments will naturally prevail over rational writing in the reportage of human rights abuse.
4. Ownership consideration, the researcher presumes will interfere or play a prominent role in the reportage of human right abuses especially when it does not favour the owner.
5. Assumable, ethnic biases to a reasonable degree affects the credibility of the various media houses across there country.

1.8 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 the non – challant or should I say uncooperative attitude of some staff of the Media houses visited.
Another constraints was time. Due to the shortness of time I could not really lay my hands on enough material since there are other class work and assignments to be taken care of.
Financial constraint did not help matters. Finance really limited my scope of converge, as I could not move around a lot. Therefore, I had not choice but to scale down on the rage or scope so that I can be able to meet with other schedules.

1.9 CONCEPTUAL AND OPERATION DEFINITIONS
in the course of this research, there are some terms used in this foundation on which this research is based. The words such as Mass Media, Management and human right abuse will be looked into, for there are to be a proper under standing of the research.
MASS MEDIA
A Mass Medium, in the words of Hall (1981 :215), “is essentially a working group organized around some device (sic) for circulating the same Message at about the same time to large numbers of people.”
Mass Medium however is a singular concept the plural of which is mass Medium. In the light of the above definition therefore, the mass Media are Modern channels of Mass communication used to disseminate news and information to very diverse CUM large numbers of people simultaneously.
This implies that mass Media Messages easily cut aross geo-political boundaries unlike that of traditional Media that suffer a limited reach. “this, “again, “ Means that with the epoch of the Mass communication system, relatively large audience Members could be quickly reached with specific massage irrespective of their diverse locations in the global, geopolitical and cultural map” (Nwodu,200)
MANAGEMENT
The term management has been variously defined by different scholars. For instance, while Drucker (1983) defines Management “as a multipurpose organ that manages business, Manages Managers, workers and work.” Ibekwe (21984 :12) defines it as the process of utilizing the resources of the firm to accomplish designant objectives.” And yet another scholar (cited in ibekwe, supra). Simple defines it as “ a decision making process”
However, a dissection of the definitions shows two key elements as inherently constant in management,
a. that management is a process
b. that management involves decision making.
Apart from decision – making, the process involves basic functions as namely; planning, organizing, staffing, directing, coordinating, controlling and more.
Mean while, it is pertinent to point out that in performing its functions Modern management adopts an analytical approach rather than intuition. This, according Ibekwe 9supra) is what is referred to as scientific Management. It entails defining and clarifying the problems or objectives, assembling and rigorously analyzing all factors critical to the solution of the problem and drawing Logical conclusion from the analysis. Scientific management stresses a constructive and systematized cause and effect approach that provides not only the problem solving frame work for increasing efficiency and productivity but the mental attitude that enhances performance.
HUMAN RIGHTS
This is those rights that all people are or should be entitled to. These rights are immutable, inalienable rights that cannot be denied anybody. They are rights and privileges that are given by nature to man by virtue of being a human being. These rights 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 rights abuse, 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 deny them, depriving them of their free rights.

1.11 THEORETICAL FRAME WORK OF THE STUDIES
There is no doubt, mass communication in Nigeria has not relented in exposing the human right abuse and has gone a long way in ensuring human right protection through promotional programmes in print and electronic Media.
However, the theoretical frame work of this studies is based on different geological and cultural dispositions. It is the fact that leads to different conceptual approaches to human rights. The three major approaches are the naturalist approach, the positivist approach, and the socialist approach. Let us briefly examine each of them.
THE NATURALIST APPROACH
For those who subscribe to this approach, human rights derive from natural law. They are rights conferred by god or nature, which are discernible by human reason. For them, man – made law must. Conform to this natural law this approach means that human rights are unaffected by social principles concerning one’s obligation to society, instead human rights in here in man simply by virtue of being God’s creation. The religious and moral approaches to human right are based on the naturalist conception of rights. Every religion imposes moral standards on its followers in their dealings with fellow human beings or at least co-religionists. The Christian religion, for example, had a great influence on the early development of human rights in Europe and, through colonialism, settlement, travel, trade and communication, has permeated human rights thinking in other part of the world. Its continuing influence is exemplified in the concept of the ‘social sin’ used in reference to structures that perpetuate social inequality and insecurity, as well as the liberation theology movement in Latin America, which was in the forefront of challenging social inequalities and authoritarian political structures. The natural rights approach has led to the distinction being made by some between “the rights of man” and the “rights of the citizen.” Rights of man are supposed to be those, which one has as a member of the human race, while the rights of the citizen political, economic and social rights- belong to individuals as members of a particular civil society.
THE POSITIVIST APPROACH
According to positivists, human right are those which have become part to the positive legal system, and decide either from the will of the state or the command of the sovereign. The development of this school, following the renaissance, the reformation and the decline of the role of the church in state affairs, led to the corresponding demise of the natural law and natural rights theories. The positivist approach, following in the wake of these changes, secularized the notion of law and rights by removing them from the realm of the supernatural and metaphysical.
While the positivist approach is more realistic than the purely idealist naturalist approach, it has its own short comings. At least its assumptions that human rights are just the will of the sovereign, given and withdrawn at will, and therefore are relative, that is differing from society to society and from epoch to epoch, are not exactly correct. For one, rights are never given, they are taken in struggle. The history of human rights shows that they are not the benevolent gifts of people in power, instead they have been taken by underprivileged persons and groups in struggle. Positive law is not the source of human rights, it is only an expression of the out come of social struggles for human. Rights for another, there are still many rights that human beings universally claim. Whether they have been won and expressed in positive law in a society is a secondary issue. The right to life and self- reservation is obviously one of such rights. Certainly, the universality of certain rights is the basis of international declarations, covenants and treaties about human rights that is the belief that certain rights accrue to human beings irrespective of nationality or alter sectarian considerations.
THE SOCIALIST OR MARXIST APPROACH
Marxist theory regards human rights and their evolution as the effect of society’s material living conditions, to gather with their adjuncts of social relations. In class societies, these relations are invariably characterized by the domination of some classes by others. Therefore, human rights always have a class character. The dominant and subordinate classes necessarily define human rights differently, each seeking to maximize class interests. We can illustrate this with capitalist societies in which the major contradictory classes are the dominant bourgeoisise (capitalists) and the subordinate proletariat (workers). There, we see that while workers define human rights to include rights to work and a living wage, capitalists prefer to limit them only to those that are advantageous to a propertied class, such as rights to own private property, to vote and be voted for in elections, to free speech and assembly.