IMPACT OF MEDIA OWNERSHIP ON PRESS FREEDOM IN NIGERIA

Abstract

This study set out to examine the impact of media ownership structure on press freedom in Nigeria. Over the years, ownership and control of the media has been a thing of concern among communication scholars across the globe. This is because the phenomenon usually has an adverse effect on media content.  The belief that ownership ultimately determines the nature and contents of the media is not just a Marxist theory but virtually common-sense axiom sums up Altschul’s (1984) second law of journalism; the content of the media always reflects the interest of those who finance them. As such, media ownership and control are today a topic of discourse in the practice of journalism in Nigeria, most especially because media owners always use the media owner’s under their control as megaphones to project their ideas even at the detriment of developmental issues. This study thus examined the impact of media ownership on press freedom in Nigeria. While adopting the media ownership theory and the political economy theory the study revealed that the concentration of media ownership in the hands of capitalists’ economists have grave consequences in the democratic foundations and rights of Nigerians to accurate, objective and unbiased news reports and reportage.