Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Poor Capitalisation and Corruption Within the Nigerian Press

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Newsmaking Cultures in Africa

Abstract

Exploring the poor capital base of the Nigerian media and the corruption within the media itself could help in understanding the major challenges faced by the media in that country and in Africa at large. This chapter studies the nature of the poor capital base of the Nigerian media by means of qualitative interviews. It dwells on issues of poor capitalisation by situating this study within the context of the recapitalisation of Nigerian banks and provides a critique of using a corporate approach in recapitalising the media industry in Nigeria. The chapter discusses the findings according to three major themes: corruption within the Nigerian press, poor capitalisation and bad working conditions under which the press operates. The study then suggests alternative sources of financing for the Nigerian and African media.

See Yusha’u, Muhammad Jameel (2010a): Coverage of Corruption Scandals in the Nigerian Press: A Comparative Coverage of Northern and Southern Newspapers. Unpublished PhD Thesis. University of Sheffield United Kingdom.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Abeokuta is the capital of Ogun State in Nigeria.

  2. 2.

    Atiku Abubakar was the vice-president from 1999 to 2007. Together with President Olusegun Obasanjo, he was accused of diverting money from the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) for personal use by a senate committee.

References

  • Adebanwi, Wale. 2004. Hegemony and Spatial Politics: The Press and the Struggle for Lagos in Colonial Nigeria. Africa Development XXIX (4): 75–91.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ado-Kurawa, Ibrahim. 2006. Press Coverage of Islam in Nigeria. Paper prepared for the International Conference on Fundamentalism and the Media, Boulder, CO, 10–12 October.

    Google Scholar 

  • Allison, Simon. 2013. African Journalism Is Being Stifled by a Lack of Resources. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/mar/01/african-journalism-stifled-lack-resources. Accessed 3 Mar 2016.

  • Anderson, Christopher J., and Yuliya V. Tverdova. 2003. Corruption, Political Allegiances, and Attitudes Toward Government in Contemporary Democracies. American Journal of Political Science 47 (1): 91–109.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arnold, Guy. 2005. Africa: A Modern History. London: Atlantic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Babalola, Emmanuel Taiwo. 2002. Newspapers as Instruments for Building Literate Communities. The Nigerian Experience. Nordic Journal of African Studies 11 (3): 403–410.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bayley, David H. 1966. The Effects of Corruption in a Developing Nation. The Western Political Quarterly 19 (4): 719–732.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • BBC. 2015. Nigeria’s Brown Envelop Journalism. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-31748257. Accessed 15 June 2015.

  • Blundo, Giorgio, Jeanne-Pierre Olivier de Serdan, and N.B. Arifari. 2006. Everyday Corruption and the State: Citizens and Public Officials in Africa. London and New York: Zed Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bohra, Alok K., Neil J. Mitchell, and Carl F. Mittendorf. 2004. Compound Democracy and the Control of Corruption: A Cross-Country Investigation. The Policy Studies Journal 32 (4): 481–499.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Canel, Maria Jose, and Karen Sanders. 2006. Morality Tales: Political Scandals in Britain and Spain in the 1990s. Cresskill, New Jersey: Hampton Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cawthorne, Pamela. 2001. Identity, Values and Method: Taking Interview Research Seriously in Political Economy. Qualitative Research 1 (1): 65–90.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chang, Eric C.C. 2005. Electoral Incentives for Political Corruption Under Open-List Proportional Representation. The Journal of Politics 67 (3): 716–730.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chiluwa, Innocent. 2007. News Headlines as Pragmatic Strategy in Nigerian Press Discourse. The International Journal of Language Society and Culture 27: 63–71.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Burgh, Hugo, ed. 2000. Investigative Journalism: Context and Practice. New York: Routlege.

    Google Scholar 

  • Denzin, Norman K., and Yvonne S. Lincoln, eds. 1998. Collecting and Interpreting Qualitative Materials. London: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Doig, Alan, and Robin Theobald, eds. 2000. Corruption and Democratisation. London: Frank Cass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ette, Mercy. 2000. Agent of Change or Stability? The Nigerian Press Undermines Democracy. The Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics 5 (3): 67–86.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Franklin, Bob. 2004. Packaging Politics: Political Communication in Britain’s Media. London: Bloomsbury Academic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gicheru, Catherine W. 2014. The Challenges Facing Independent Newspapers in Sub-Saharan Africa. Reuters Institute Fellowship Paper, Reuters Institute of Journalism, University of Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Golden, Mariam A., and Lucio Picci. 2005. Proposal for a New Measure of Corruption, Illustrated with Italian Data. Economics & Politics 17 (1): 37–75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hallin, Daniel C., and Paolo Mancini. 2004. Comparing Media Systems: Three Models of Media and Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hansen, Hans K. 1998. Governmental Mismanagement and Symbolic Violence: Discourses on Corruption in the Yucatan of the 1990s. Bulletin of Latin American Research 17 (3): 367–386.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harcup, Tony. 2007. The Ethical Journalist. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herman, Edward, and Noam Chomsky. 2002. Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media. London: Pantheon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Humphrey, Christopher, and Bill Lee. 2004. The Real Life Guide to Accounting Research: A Strategy for Inclusion. Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management 1 (1): 66–84.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Idimeli, Sam O. 1978. What the West African Pilot Did in the Movement for Nigerian Nationalism Between 1937 and 1957. Black American Literature Forum 12 (3): 84–91.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jain, Arvind K. 2001. Corruption: A Review. Journal of Economic Surveys 15 (1): 71–121.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, R.A. 2004. The Struggle Against Corruption: A Comparative Study. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones, G.I. 1979. Press and Politics in Nigeria, 1880–1937. The International Journal of African Historical Studie 12 (3): 562–563.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Joseph, Richard A. 1988. Democracy and Prebendal Politics in Nigeria: The Rise and Fall of the Second Republic. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klitgaard, R. 1988. Controlling Corruption. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lawson, Chappell H. 2002. Building the Fourth Estate: Democratisation and the Rise of Free Press in Mexico. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lodamu, Berhanu, and Terje S. Skjerdal. 2009. Freebies and Brown Envelops in Ethiopian Journalism. Ecquid Novi: African Journalism Studies 30 (2): 134–154.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Luo, Yang. 2004. An Organisational Perspective of Corruption. Management and Organisation Review 1 (1): 119–154.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mabweazara, Hayes M. 2015. It’s Our Paper: Ethnic Identity Politics and Indigenous Language Newspaper Readers in Zimbabwe: The Case of UMthunya. In Racism, Ethnicity and the Media in Africa: Mediating Conflict in the 21st Century, ed. Winston Mano, 100–116. London: IB Tauris.

    Google Scholar 

  • Malaolu, Oluwaniran. 2004. The Effects of Militant Press on Nigeria’s Democratic Evolution. Unpublished MA Thesis submitted to the Department of Mass Communications, University of Florida.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mano, Winston. 2005. Press Freedom, Professionalism and Proprietorship: Behind the Zimbabwean Media Divide. Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture. Special Issue. November, 56–70.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moyo, Dumisani. 2004. From Rhodesia to Zimbabwe: Change Without Change? Broadcasting Policy Reform and Political Control. In Media, Public Discourse and Political Contestation in Zimbabwe. Current African Issues No 27, ed. Henning Melber, 12–28. Sweden: Nordiska Afrikaininstitutet.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murphy, Sharon M., and James F. Scotton. 1987. Dependency and Journalism Education in Africa: Are There Alternative Models. Africa Media Review 1 (3): 11–35.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nwabueze, Chinenye. 2010. Brown Envelope and the Need for Ethical Re-orientation: Perceptions of Nigerian Journalists. Africa Communication Research 3 (3): 497–521.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nye, Joseph S. 1967. Corruption and Political Development: A Cost-Benefit Analysis. The American Political Science Review 61 (2): 417–427.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Olaleye-Oruene, Taiwo. 2007. Corruption in Nigeria: A Cultural Phenomenon. Journal of Financial Crime 5 (3): 232–240.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Olayiwola, Rahman Olalekan. 1991. Political Communications: Press and Politics in Nigeria’s Second Republic. Africa Media Review 5 (2): 31–45.

    Google Scholar 

  • Omu, I.A. Fred. 1978. Press and Politics in Nigeria-1880–1937. London and New York: Longman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oso, Lai. 1991. The Commercialization of the Nigerian Press: Development and Implications. Africa Media Review 5 (3): 41–51.

    Google Scholar 

  • Owolabi, Toyosi O.S., and Eamonn O’Neill. 2013. Recapitalising the Mass Media Industry in Nigeria: The Implication for National Development. British Journal of Arts and Social Sciences 14 (11): 245–255.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oyovbaire, Sam. 2001. The Media and Democratic Process in Nigeria (1). http://www.waado.org/nigerdelta/Essays/Oyovbaire.html. Downloaded 15 Sep 2006. Accessed 16 June 2015.

  • Pew Research Centre. 2016. Crowdfunded Journalism: A Small but Growing Addition to Publicly Driven Journalism. www.Journalism.org/2016/01/20/crowdfunded-journalism/. Accessed 6 July 2016.

  • Righter, William L., and Francis Burke, eds. 2007. Combating Corruption, Encouraging Ethics: A Practical Guide to Management Ethics. London: Rowman & Lillefield.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ronning, Heldge. 2009. The Politics of Corruption and the Media in Africa. Journal of African Media Studies 1 (1): 155–171.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sandcholtz, Wayne, and Koetzle William. 2000. Accounting for Corruption: Economic Structure, Democracy, and Trade. International Studies Quarterly 44 (1): 31–50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sanders, Karen. 2003. Ethics and Journalism. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schudson, Michael. 2004. Notes on Scandal and the Watergate Legacy. American Behavioural Scientist 47 (9): 1231–1238.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seligson, Mitchell A. 2002. The Impact of Corruption on Regime Legitimacy: A Comparative Study of Four Latin American Countries. The Journal of Politics 64 (2): 408–433.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Skjerdal, Terje S. 2010. Research on Brown Envelope Journalism in the African Media. African Communication Research 3 (3): 367–406.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spector, Bertram I. 2005. Fighting Corruption in Developing Countries. Bloomfield, CT: Kumarian Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, John B. 1997. Scandal and Social Theory. In Media Scandals: Morality and Desire in the Popular Culture Market Place, ed. James Lull and Stephen Hinerman. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2000. Political Scandal: Power and Visibility in the Media Age. Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tumber, Howard, and Silvio Waisbord. 2004a. Political Scandals and Media Across Democracies, Volume I. American Behavioural Scientist 47 (8): 10–32.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2004b. Political Scandals and Media Across Democracies, Volume II. American Behavioural Scientist 47 (9): 11–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Waisbord, Silvio. 2000. Watchdog Journalism in South America: News, Accountability and Democracy. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wasswa, John B., and Michael Kakooza. 2011. Media and Corruption. Uganda Media Review 11: 1–54.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams, Eke I. 2014. Brown Envelop and the Future of Journalism in Nigeria. Interdisciplinary Journal of Scientific Research 1 (1): 148–156.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wimmer, Roger D., and Joseph R. Dominick. 2006. Mass Media Research. An Introduction. Boston. Thomson Wadsworth.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wu, Xun. 2005. Corporate Governance and Corruption: A Cross-Country Analysis. Governance: An International Journal of Policy, Administration and Institutions 18 (2): 151–170.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yusha’u, Muhammad Jameel. 2009. Investigative Journalism and Scandal Reporting in the Nigerian Press. Ecquid Novi: African Journalism Studies 30 (2): 155–174.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2010a. Coverage of Corruption Scandals in the Nigerian Press: A Comparative Coverage of Northern and Southern Newspapers. Unpublished PhD Thesis, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2010b. Regional Parallelism and the Reporting of Corruption in the Nigerian Press. Journal of African Media Studies 2 (3): 353–369.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Uni Focus Academy, VIC, Australia

    Muhammad Jameel Yusha’u

Authors
  1. Muhammad Jameel Yusha’u
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Writing and Journalism, Falmouth University, Penryn, United Kingdom

    Hayes Mawindi Mabweazara

Copyright information

© 2018 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Yusha’u, M.J. (2018). Poor Capitalisation and Corruption Within the Nigerian Press. In: Mabweazara, H. (eds) Newsmaking Cultures in Africa. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-54109-3_9

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation