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John Bray, United State of America Consul General in Lagos has urged media professionals in Nigeria to hold the government accountable in order to guarantee the success of Nigeria’s democracy as media professionals, scholars and students converge on Lagos Television in commemoration of this year’s World Press Freedom Day with the theme, Critical Minds for Critical Times: Media’s role in advancing peaceful, just and inclusive societies” on May 3, in Lagos.
Bray said, “The press has a duty to hold government leaders accountable to the people, holding up for scrutiny any abuses of power by elected officials. Their role as the government’s watchdog is key to the system of checks and balances that is fundamental to the smooth running of every democracy,” he said.
According to Bray, the United States strongly supports freedom of the press. “We believe that an unfettered press is essential for democracy to thrive. The United States passed the Freedom of Information Act in July 1966, which went into effect the following year. Since then, there have been numerous amendments to strengthen the law”.
Nevertheless, Bray said not all governments accept such public attention. Citing a quote by Reporters without Borders, which read “More than a third of the world’s people live in countries where there is no press freedom. Most of them are quasi democracies, with systemic deficiencies in the electoral process, or countries where there is no system of democracy at all. Working under such conditions, journalists risk everything to hold regimes accountable”.
The United States strongly supports freedom of the press. “We believe that an unfettered press is essential for democracy to thrive. The United States passed the Freedom of Information Act in July 1966, which went into effect the following year. Since then, there have been numerous amendments to strengthen the law,” he concludes.
Nevertheless, The United States passed the Freedom of Information Act in July 1966, which went into effect the following year. Since then, there have been numerous amendments to strengthen the law.
This year’s World Press Freedom Day organised by the US Consul General Office in collaboration with LTV to highlights the risks journalists go through in the course of their job.
