Are Bloggers - Instrument Of Good Or Evil ?

Maku urges Commission to regulate operations of social media bloggers

Information Minister Labaran Maku on Tuesday urged the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to monitor the operations of social media in Nigeria, ahead of the 2015 elections. Maku said this in Abuja at a forum on broadcast media coverage of the 2015 election, jointly organised by the NBC and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). He said that there was a lot of negative and untrue information that had been disseminated by some internet bloggers that could destabilise the polity. “One other place we need to watch is the social media blogs. “We need to call some of the social media blog owners, sit with them; some of the messages we see on the social media are very harmful. “We need to re-examine what we are doing there; social media is a source for good. “We are using them to reach the masses but we must also develop an attitude to ensure that whatever goes in there will promote the development of our country,’’ he said. Maku pointed out that as the electioneering period drew nearer, politicians and their supporters would likely explore available media of information dissemination to spread messages that were inimical to development.

He urged the media to increasingly deploy its gate-keeping responsibility in the reportage of political activities. He appealed to newsmen to down play reports that could cause anarchy and crisis in the society. Maku reminded them of their responsibility to maintain harmony in the aftermath of the 2015 election saying that its success depended largely on the media. Earlier, former Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice Mohammed Uwais, stressed that newsmen had a constitutional responsibility to ensure harmony in the polity both before and after the elections. Uwais said that practitioners and media proprietors should put aside their interests and biases for the good of the country in the forthcoming elections. “The media provide the platform for public debates, dissemination of information, expression of opinion on political and social issues, setting agenda on societal issues and enlightenment. “Therefore, the role of the media is critical in facilitating the participation of citizens in public discourse. “ If properly employed, the media will contribute to the development of a consensus on national issues. “There are numerous legislations and professional precepts that made provisions on the role of the Nigerian media in our electoral process,’’ he said. In his address, the NBC Director-General, Mr Emeka Mba, said that the forum was organised to provide a road map on the coverage of the 2015 elections. He said that the forum would equip media professionals and their employers with the necessary background on how to approach issues relating to the elections. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the outcome of the forum will guide the conduct of the media in the coverage of the forthcoming elections in Ekiti and Osun States and in the 2015 elections