A STUDY OF MEDIA OWNERSHIP AND THE CREDIBILITY OF NEWS REPORTING IN NIGERIA

ABSTRACT: The issues of media ownership and control can never be overemphasized due to the dwindling situations surrounding media practice in Nigeria. The media is said to take the coloration of where the practice is being carried out i.e the way the media operates in Nigeria cannot be the same as the way it will function in other countries such as Soviet Union, United States, Britain etc. The study is aimed at reviewing the various types of media ownership and how it is being controlled either privately or publicly and how the control affects the media operation linking it to the Marxist and Pluralist theory. The study revealed among other things that although Nigerian private media flourishes but their continuity depends on not overstepping or overriding on the government power. Individual own the media while government policies influences its operation. The study recommends that both private and government media should be allowed to practice freely without any internal or external forces. The media should not allowed to the hands of the rich at the expense of the poor.