MASS MEDIA THE LAW AND NATIONAL SECURITY ISSUE
Need help with a related project topic or New topic? Send Us Your Topic
DOWNLOAD THE COMPLETE PROJECT MATERIAL
MASS MEDIA THE LAW AND NATIONAL SECURITY ISSUE
Chapter one
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Because of their dominant role in national life, the media has an impact on other aspects of national development. Other sectors’ operations also have an impact on their functions. Against this context, one can see mass media and law as complimentary sectors that rely on one another to facilitate the activities of other policy sectors.
The operation of the law impacts and influences the way the mass media works. Similarly, the operations of the mass media have an equal and essential impact on the operation of the law.
The paper’s focus is on national security, which is a vital subject in national conversation. The question is, how do the mass media contribute to national security? It is assumed a priori that both sectors work to improve national security.
However, as they perform their separate roles, they encroach on each other’s domain, causing hitches or dislocations in the other’s system. This study will investigate this incursion, as well as the resulting dislocations, in order to gain a better understanding of how both sectors function.
It may also be required to propose remedies to the problem of interference with the goal of assuring better functioning in order to determine what is meant by the mass media, how they operate, and what the law is and how it impacts the mass media functions.
The mass media
Several scholars have described the mass media as gadgets used to affect mass communication. For example, Defleur and Dennis (1981) define the mass media as “devices for moving messages across distances or time to accomplish mass communication.”
The question of applying the word “mass media” to technological gadgets is critical to understanding the notion. In fact, the widespread recognition of this conceptual reality about mass media has culminated in Uyo’s (1987) pithy argument that mass media, as instruments employed to accomplish mass communication, cannot be practised.
According to him, referring to somebody as a “media practitioner” is “Verbicide” because one cannot practise gadgets. He compares the negative use of this phrase to such absurd terms as a “teacher practicing blackboard” or “a doctor practicing stethoscope.”
As a result, persons involved in mass media operations serve as gatekeepers, responsible for the dissemination of information across the mass communication process. They are thus part of the mainstream media.
The Law
The law has been conceived in a variety of ways, depending on the scholar’s viewpoint. Aigbovo (2000) provides the following definitions: Carl Liewellyn discusses how officials handle conflicts. John Austine: A order issued by a political superior to a political inferior, accompanied by punishment for noncompliance. Oliver Wendell Holmes.
Predictions about what the courts will do. Sir Edward Coke: flawless logic. Hans Kelsen: The basic standard that determines the punishments. These definitions demonstrate some of the practical features of law by focussing on how the law operates.
This has resulted in the creation of many schools of thought, each reflecting a separate group of researchers that share a similar perspective on law.
Thus, there are three types of law schools: positive, natural, and utilitarian. However, whether a certain term belongs to a specific school is outside the scope of this work. The question is how law works within the framework of a civilised society.
In general, the most frequent definition of law, which encompasses the numerous definitions listed above, is a set of rules created to direct human behaviour in a certain culture.
According to this definition, the various bye-laws in the states, the various codes guiding, professional practices of professional bodies, including the National Broadcasting Code, and even the mass communication policy are all part of the law because they are all intended to regulate conduct at various levels.
However, a detailed examination of the numerous definitions provided by scholars, as noted above, reveals a degree of consistency with how the law has operated in Nigeria at various times.
For example, the law under military regimes adheres to John Austin’s notion. It has been said that the focus of this study is on how the operation of the mass media and the law intersect, as well as the implications for national security.
It was also said that national security is a critical subject in national debate. National security is thus the erroneous conflation of national security and territorial security.
Nigeria now can brag of territorial security in the sense that it is completely shielded from its neighbours, who would never dream of attacking Nigeria on their own. Such a step would be suicide. However, the country cannot put its national security on the same level as its territorial security.
Ekoko (2004) divided the definitions of national security into two main categories.”The first is the military/strategic concept of security and the second (is), non-strategic socio-economic” According to the Encyclopaedia of Social Science, he eventually defines security as “the ability of a national to protect its internal values from external threat” (13).
In light of this definition, AI-Mashat (1985) argues in Ekoko (2000) that national security should go beyond territorial defence and focus on the physical, social, and psychological well-being of society and its members, both at home and in the larger regional and global context.
From the preceding, it is obvious that the primary indicator of national security is the preservation of values within territorial limits. This is especially relevant given the present emphasis on one nation attacking another in order to satisfy its expansionist tendencies.
Thus, national security now serves to protect a country’s internal working processes. This does not imply contempt for military security. Strategies may be used in national security. But that requires more external hostility.
We are more concerned with socioeconomic statistics, which are more significant to our lives. The essential question thus is: what values should be safeguarded to secure national security?
Values are closely related to norms since they dictate the rules that govern human behaviour. Nations have created constitutions in order to regulate human behaviour within the confines of civilisation.
As the supreme law, a constitution is the foundation of a country. And any law enacted that is in conflict with any article of the constitution is null and void to the extent of its inconsistencies.
However, the constitution may not adequately address all aspects of life. As a result, there are additional sources of legislation designed to guide citizens.
The Mass Media, the Law, and National Security: A Nigerian Perspective
Other sources of law in Nigeria include legislations, customary law, received English law, judicial precedents, and shortly, from time to time, policies are made and various agencies established to consistently remind us to fall in line with the
1) Surveillance
2. Correlation of environmental facts
3. Transmission of heritage,
4. Entertainment. The surveillance function requires mass media operators to snoop into the nooks and crannies of society in order to gather information that is relevant to the public.
In correlation, the media acts to mediate even people’s tastes since they analyse the information gathered by shifting and rejecting what may not be in the people’s best interests before presenting it to them. By doing so, they contribute to the development of cultural values, which are then passed down from generation to generation.
The three functions of the mass media, as described above, when closely investigated, indicate the media’s involvement in promoting national security. First, by effectively monitoring the environment, the mass media can identify regions, individuals, or entities that may pose a threat to national security.
Second, by correlation, the mass media assist other agencies in interpreting the information gathered about the environment and contributing to the use of such information to take steps to remedy any breach of national security or to promote the perpetuation of practices that enhance national security.
Third, by transmitting culture, the media strengthens the entrenchment of those standards, the defence of which is considered national security.
Need help with a related project topic or New topic? Send Us Your Topic