CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
by Kenneth Dareng, Nigeria, September 1998
THEME = CHURCHES
The Church-run media played a prominent role in many aspects of
Nigerian society.
Now it seems to be failing the reading public, so where lies the way forward?
The Church pioneered today's Nigerian press and credit must be given to Rev. Henry Townsend who, in 1857, launched the first Nigerian newspaper. This paved the way for other religious newspapers such as: The Anglo African, Lagos Times, Lagos Observer, Mirror, Catholic Herald and Independent, to name just a few. These publications (which no longer exist) were initially intended to enhance the spiritual, social and economic emancipation of Nigeria's citizens, but a great deal was achieved in other areas. They became the medium for launching Nigeria's struggle for freedom.
In 1951, the Sudan Interior Mission started a newspaper-magazine called "The African Challenge". Then came others such as "Christian Comment", "Ekklesiya (Hausa)" and "Catholic Life", all of which featured political news and political editorials. Some of these publications were well-produced (for the time) and had important outlets in Accra, Togo, Freetown and far-off London among the Nigerian emigrant population.
True, during the colonial period, the Media was dominated and owned by religious missions, colonial administrators, nationalists and political parties, politicians and private foreign organisations. But at the same time, the Church press served as a medium for sustained public debate and political protest. It was an uncompromising advocate of administrative and political reforms, and a severe critic of the excesses of the colonial regime.
During the struggle for independence, the Church media organisations, in addition to their purely spiritual role of spreading the Gospel, served to attract adherents, first of all to political movements, then to party organisations once these came into existence.
Eventually the religious press was to play a prominent role in the constitutional development of modern Nigeria.
The Church press was among the major weapons used by the nationalists leaders to launch their political ideas. Even the predominantly Muslim north could not withstand the power of the Press, and so the northern ruling classes had to make use of the Church-run media in order to gain and consolidate political power.
In the post-independence era, the Church-run media played a vital role in sustaining and promoting public debate on a wide range of issues including the national census, creation of States, revenue allocation, national reconstruction, reconciliation, rehabilitation, the International Monetary Fund, the Green Revolution, Ethical Revolution, Operation "Feed the Nation", the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (the debate over Nigeria's alleged membership) and the war against indiscipline. The Church which owned a particular publication, influenced to a large extent its editorial direction and coverage of events whether political or religious. Likewise the sequence of news gathering and general presentation.
With the growth of political awareness, political leaders were encouraged to establish their own newspapers to made known their ideas and propaganda. Newspapers such as: National Concord, Satellite, Guardian, The Standard, came into being. These "new breed" newspapers were well-managed with a sophisticated circulation network. Their owners were mainly businessmen and people with both the means and political ambitions.
Between 1967 and 1980, the Church press was still a force to be reckoned with. Newspapers such as Catholic Life, and Independent were spread all over the country, The Catholic Herald, published from the Catholic Secretariat in Lagos, led the way because of its fearless and unbiased editorials. Religious journalism became popular among Christian groups, each striving to own its own publication.
Then came magazines such as Tell, The News, Newswatch, Newsweek, TSM, which took centre stage. People appreciated the new-style editorials and general appearance with superb photographic coverage. Human interest stories and banner headlines replaced the many Bible quotations and solid text of the Church press.
These days, the Church press is but a shadow of its former self. The Church media has not been able to keep up with population growth, the progress and technology of the modern press. Church newspapers and magazines have all but disappeared from the newsstands.
The Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria has tried to relaunch a national newspaper, but the project being too expensive was abandoned.
The following reasons are given for the apparent failure of the Church press in today's Nigeria: Church leaders are not totally convinced of the importance of the Media in evangelization; government censorship; the Churches lack the necessary financial means - they can't get help from the government and foreign donors; lack of professionalism; poor circulation (frequently restricted to individual dioceses or parishes); illiteracy among the people.
Recent efforts to publish professional newspapers have frequently ended with nothing more than "in-house" information leaflets.
Archbishop Ganaka of Jos Archdiocese accepts the reasons given above for the failure of Church publications, but adds: "Society has become anti-religious and most of the population who can read, prefer "sensational" newspapers to religious magazines".
Among the 88 newspapers and 25 magazines in the country, the Churches cannot boast one daily newspaper, rather it seems to be content with the publication of monthly or quarterly newsletters or pamphlets.
Four suggestions have been made for ensuring a Christian presence in the Media. First of all, Christians who are qualified media personnel must be present in the commercial media. Christ must be made present in the world as it is - through the events of daily life. Secondly, the various Christian publications must put away their differences and share their facilities. This would cover such areas as technical equipment, advertising, distributing, use of personnel. Thirdly, Christians everywhere must be encouraged to cultivate the habit of reading Christian newspapers and magazines. Fourthly, an illiterate person is obviously cut-off from the printed word. Therefore the problem of illiteracy must be tackled.
END
CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
PeaceLink 1998 - Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgement