Mark’s Epistle On Social Media

Salient attribute of the Senate president David Mark, both outside and within his military profession is his knack for honesty and ‘saying-it-as-it-is’ tendency, not minding whose ox is gored.
 On July 26, 2012 in Umuahia, the Abia State capital, the Senate president took the opportunity of the retreat programme of the Senate media team drawn from diverse media houses across the country to raise the alarm about the unethical use of the social media by some persons, including journalists to slander and defame some persons, including government officials. 
The Senate president also canvassed strict adherence to the code of conduct or ethics by media practitioners. But shortly after he delivered his speech, some media houses reported that the Senate president had canvassed that the noose be tightened around the use of the new social media in Nigeria. 

The ethical question, as well as the abuse of the social media raised by David Mark is quite germane.  I think his position is quite reasonable and objective and should therefore not be dismissed as canvassing for tighter laws on the use of social media in Nigeria, similar to what obtains in China,  Iran or even Saudi Arabia.
The Senate president had stated thus;  “The emergence of the social media like the facebook, twitter, blackberry messenger, YouTube have changed the face of media practice by making information sharing easier and faster;  but this is not without its demerits. The social media has become a threat to the ethics of media practice and good governance because of its accessibility and absolute freedom. Every freedom carries with it,  a responsibility. Even in advanced democracies, where we all agree that good governance is practiced, there is no such thing as absolute freedom.”
He spoke further; “I therefore believe that there must be a measure to check the negative tendencies of the social media in our country. I say this because media practice, particularly journalism also operates a feedback mechanism and where the practitioner errs, there is always room for rebuttal. But in the social media, a faceless character can post any information that is absolutely false and misleading, but will never retract it. At the end, one is bombarded with questions over what one has no business with.” 
David Mark suggested a simple solution thus; “I suggest that schools of Mass Communication and Journalism should review their curricula to include the operations of social media.” 
As a journalist who has actively practiced for about two decades, I know that the fear expressed by the Senate president is germane and it behoves on media workers to clean up their acts and resolve to be ethically correct in their  journalism practice.
I will be among the persons that would stoutly oppose any subtle moves through legislative process to muzzle or scuttle press freedom and we are prepared to go out on the streets to protest vehemently.
 I think trained media professionals are also as concerned as any right thinking person that there is absolute need for ethics to be observed in the use of the new social media.
 The problem is that the social media has made it possible for the untrained mind to become major actor in the dissemination of information and the inherent danger in this is that the basic ethical codes of conduct that ought to operate as checks and balances have been thrown to the dogs.
Do we sit back and allow  charlatans to destroy our hard earned profession as media workers? Media scholars have canvassed respect and observance of the professional ethics of total avoidance of plagiarism; total disclosure of sources of information and the total avoidance of allowing gratification to influence what is posted online. Honesty is also an important aspect of the ethical code.
In the United States and United Kingdom, people who use the social media to cause libel, have recently faced the wrath of the law because the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the policing institutions are so sophisticated and competent to tackle these emerging challenges. 
Nigeria should not be an exception, because as a nation governed by law, those who practice online journalism or those who use the social media must be aware that there are laws against libel and defamation which can be used to check their excesses. 

                                      Senate David Mark
The question remains whether our grossly incompetent police would be able to enforce the extant laws without breaching the time-tested freedoms and media rights of these practitioners.
Onwubiko is Head, Human Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria