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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Article
Media Ethics as Key to Sound Professionalism in Nigerian Journalism Practice
Author(s)
Ibituru Iwowari Pepple
Ijeoma Jacquelyn Acholonu
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DOI:10.17265/2160-6579/2018.02.002
Affiliation(s)
International Institute of Journalism, Abuja, Nigeria
Imo State University, Owerri, Nigeria
ABSTRACT
This paper examines the implications of ethics as
key to sound professionalism in Nigerian journalism. The paper sets out to assess
how ethics affect the standard of journalism practice in the country, using media
practitioners in Rivers State, Nigeria as case study. The population of study consisted
of the 300 registered journalists in Rivers State of Nigeria, including the editors
and managers. The survey research method was used while the questionnaire was
used as the primary instrument for data gathering. It was revealed that despite
the importance of ethics to journalism practice, journalists’ adherences to the ethical codes were low. The study also revealed
that journalists most times go against the ethics of the profession due to sycophancy,
security reasons, desperation, greed, ethical dilemmas, and ignorance of the code
of ethics. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that media establishments
should liaise with the Nigerian Union of Journalist (NUJ) to ensure that only trained journalists are employed to work as journalists.
Again the NUJ, it should institute standing disciplinary committee to discipline erring journalists
both at the State and National levels. The Ethics Committee of the Nigeria Union
of Journalists should regularly review the ethical conducts of journalists and encourage
them to adhere to their code of practice.
KEYWORDS
ethical codes, media practitioners, professionalism, Social Responsibility Theory
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