Ngozi Comfort Omojunikanbi

My study is on freedom of expression and the ban on Twitter by the Federal government of Nigeria: Criticism and Consensus by the public/users. On the 5th of June 2021, the Federal Government of Nigeria officially announced an indefinite ban on Twitter, restricting it from operating in the country, threatening to prosecute anyone who uses Twitter. The reason given for this was due to circulation of hate speech, misleading information, online violence and harassment. However, the ban came two days after Twitter deleted Tweets made by the President Muhammadu Buhari, warning the South Eastern people of a potential repeat of the 1967 Biafran war due to its insurgency in South Eastern Nigeria. The study is connected to journalist safety in the sense that Twitter is used by many including journalist as a source of news, information dissemination etc., threatening to prosecute anyone who used Twitter is seen as a threat to the safety of journalist who makes use of Twitter in the course of their daily natural duties. This threat is perceived to affect journalist both psychologically, physically and emotionally. The threat/ban is seen as an infringement in the freedom of expression of the journalist and the public/users in general.

Definition of journalists' safety

According to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: All individuals are entitled to the full protection of their human right, whether the State recognizes them as ‘journalists’ or not, whether they are professional reporters or a ‘citizen journalist’, whether or not they have a degree in Journalism, whether they report online or offline (p.7). Journalist safety is the total safety of a journalist in the course of performing their normal duty of keeping society informed and educated through the gathering, processing and dissemination of public information. A journalist should be able to discharge their duties without fear of revenge as a consequence of undertaking these duties. Many journalists globally get killed, murdered, persecuted, serve jail terms and suffer insult yearly. Journalists are targeted for elimination due to the nature of their job. This makes them prone to attacks especially by those who feel threatened by their reports. Journalists as watch dogs of the society therefore require freedom/autonomy, fair treatment to be able to perform their assignments. Journalists are vulnerable to psychological, physical and emotional harm and even death.

Future plans for research on journalists' safety

Evaluating social media use in the fight against violence, negativity and online harassment of female journalists. Journalism is a tedious and hazardous job due to the nature of its function as the watchdog of the society. Journalists, daily, are faced with threats, insults, harassment, imprisonment or even death in the process of discharging their duties. Recent studies have suggested that female journalist in particular face different levels of online harassment, intimidation and violence. The different forms, consequences, harassments, violence and how this may be caused due to race, gender, journalist role, religion etc will be considered. Drawing on in-depth interviews with female journalists, an inductive qualitative analysis of journalists narratives will be made.