Table of ContentsSummaryIntroductionEthical Issues Encountered in the Nigerian MediaSocial IssuesProfessional IssuesSummarySummaryAs an important form of information dissemination, the media has a duty to always tell the truth and nothing but the truth. However, due to the competitive nature of the media industry, the guidelines that govern the media begin to become rules that are meant to be broken. This article aims to shed light on what the media industry is supposed to be and the various ethical issues that could prevent it from fulfilling its duty to the public. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essayIntroductionEthics can be defined as a set of moral principles that guide a person's behavior. They are also the values ​​that guide behavior in certain situations and environments. For example, the ethics that guide behavior at a pan-Atlantic university will not be the same as the ethical principles of a movie theater or club. This means that media ethics can be defined as a set of moral principles or rules that guide all sectors of the industry. media. This implies that media professionals promote and defend values ​​such as truthfulness, impartiality, humanity, responsibility, etc. Ethical issues facing the media are issues that media professionals face regarding ethical media practices and this can range from manipulation of information to impartiality. professional bodies responsible for guiding media practices in Nigeria. Here are some of them: The Nigerian Press Council – this regulatory body was established to regulate the practice of journalism in Nigeria. They also serve as a bridge between the press and the public. The Nigerian Guild of Editors - this is a professional association of Nigerian editors. The Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria – this is a trade association that involves Nigerian newspaper owners. The National Association of Women Journalists – an association that promotes women practicing journalism and also seeks to increase access to media and leadership roles for women in Nigeria. The Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria – this is a regulatory body that involves the approval of advertisements. Advertising practitioners must follow the rules and regulations that have been established, otherwise they will face sanctions. Although there are all these media regulatory bodies in Nigeria, we still face ethical issues due to the fact that there is hardly any regulatory system in place. A prime location for online media, media professionals adopt a casual attitude when approaching their work and do not follow the rules that have been put in place. Ethical Issues Faced in Nigerian Media It involves strong loyalty and intense protection of an individual's personality. tribe or social group. It involves behaviors and attitudes that arise from strong loyalty to one's tribe or social group. It also implies a lack of concern for other tribes/groups and promotes one's own tribe/group as the most superior. This affects media activities as some media practitioners do. are prejudiced against members of other tribes and tend to favor their own tribes. An example is a Kaduna native who tells a storyabout Boko Haram and its recent killings might show more emotion because he or she can identify with them more but won't. The same goes for reporting on killings in southern Nigeria. Social Issues Media professionals in Nigeria are very competitive, which sometimes leads them to resort to unethical methods to get a story. Some of these unethical methods include violating the privacy of individuals linked to a story. This is done most of the time to attract the attention of the public who may be interested in the information. An example of this is a media house publishing personal and intimate details about a popular afrobeat musician in order to garner public attention and interest from his fans who they know will be interested in the information. This invasion of privacy brings unwanted attention to these people and can put them and the people around them at risk because intimate parts of their lives are exposed to the public. a greatly exaggerated belief about a particular class of people about a particular class of people. An example of stereotypes in Nigeria is that Igbos are too rich, Yorubas are dirty and Hausa people are uneducated. Stereotypes are a social problem that affects the media because they do not give an accurate representation of how a group of people generally behave. As a result, people who generally don't get along with Hausa people, for example, will start to believe that not all Hausa people are educated and this is not the case. Nigeria is full of diverse people and media professionals should not be lazy and stick to stereotypes. when reporting on groups of individuals, but report individuals accurately without resorting to stereotypes. A death threat is a threat by one person or group to kill another person or group. Death threats are often made anonymously. The main goal is to intimidate victims in order to manipulate their behavior. This is generally intended to prevent certain information from being made public. An example is the death by letter bomb of Nigerian journalist Dele Giwa. He was a vocal critic of the Nigerian government at the time and never gave in to its demands. This means that in most cases where media regulators do their job well, individuals will still resort to violent means to coerce regulators and hide information. from the public.Professional mattersThis involves an action of receiving/demanding payment or benefits from an individual in exchange for not revealing harmful/negative information about them to the public. In Nigeria, blackmail can occur in the case where the media person generates a story and he is blackmailed by individuals including the journalist who might ask the journalist to meet certain criteria in order to kill a report. This is unethical because the public has a right to know what is happening. behaving around them and hiding their information goes against the ethical principle that guides the media. It is about damaging the good reputation of an individual, a company, a group, a nation, etc. This comes in two forms which are defamation (written form of defamation) or slander (oral form of defamation). In the media, defamation is expressed through written words (articles or reports), while slander can be expressed through musical images and dialogues. An example of defamation is where a journalist falsely publishes that a public figure.