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General News

Addressing Ethical Challenges in the Use of Digital Media in Nigeria

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By Gabriel T. Nyitse, PhD and Felix C. Elele

Digital media has revolutionized the communication landscape globally and disrupted traditional media’s dominance in all its ramifications by ushering a new vista in citizen engagement. The world has witnessed unprecedented growth in the adoption of digital media as the global population of internet users hit 5.18 billion, representing 64.6 percent of the world’s population according to data from Statista.

Out of the entire global population, 4.8 billion individuals use social media. On the other hand, DataReport on “The State of Digital in Nigeria in 2023” reveals that there were 122.5 million internet users in Nigeria by December 2022, representing a penetration rate of 55.4%. In addition, social media users in Nigeria stand at 31.60 million, or 14.3 percent of the total population.

With technological advancement, the number is also projected to grow, as there will be more convergence of social media, artificial intelligence (AI), and virtual reality.

Digital media, according to Wikipedia, is “any communication media that operate in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, viewed, distributed, modified, listened to, and preserved on electronic devices, including digital data storage media and digital broadcasting”.

It refers to the transmission of digital information via screen and/or speaker. It includes websites, online video/audio broadcasts, email, online social platforms, online communities, online forums, blogs, Internet telephony, Web advertising, online education, and a great deal more. In addition, digital news media includes online journalism, blogging, digital photojournalism, citizen journalism and social media.

There has been a growing concern about ethical issues in the utilisation of digital media space due to its unregulated, instantaneous, and decentralized nature. This is made possible because anyone with the necessary device and minimal technical knowledge can be a prominent participant in the digital world, proclaim their message to the world, and demand an audience.  In the midst of every innovative disruption, novel possibilities emerge while established customs and practices are threatened and today is no different.

Digital media is transforming to a new genre in journalism that is a blend of professional and citizen-driven journalism where one feeds the other as a news source. This fusion is noticeable even in developed countries as studies show that journalists monitor social media activity closely and use them in their reporting.

Shannon C. McGregor, Assistant Professor, Hussman School of Journalism and Media, at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, postulated that tweets are increasingly incorporated into traditional journalistic coverage of political events and that journalists rely on Twitter to decide which events and voices are newsworthy.

This assertion is also corroborated in an article published in the Nation Newspaper on August 29, 2021 where the author stated that these days in Nigeria, a radio or television program is incomplete without media outlets’ social media handles, through which they can be followed and reached.

This Ethics is one of the cardinal principles of journalism and the fulcrum of media practice. It is the conscience and integrity quotient of journalism. Digital media ethics focuses on the unique ethical issues, practices, and standards of digital news media.

It addresses how professional journalism should utilize new media to conduct research and publish stories, as well as how to use text or images provided by citizens.  Globally, the nature of journalism is being transformed as professional journalists are contesting the media space with tweeter users, citizen journalists, social media users, and bloggers.

These new entrants raise emerging ethical issues in journalism. Stephen J.A. Ward of the Centre for Journalism Ethics, University of Winconsin-Madison opined: “We are moving towards a mixed news media – a news media citizen and professional journalism across many media platforms.

This new mixed news media requires new mixed media ethics–guidelines that apply to amateur and professional whether they blog, tweet, broadcast or write for newspapers. The nagging question then is: What implications can ethics hold for a profession that is required to deliver immediate news and analysis, in an era where anyone possessing an internet-enabled device with a modem can act as a publisher?

This brings to the fore, the overall ethical controversy between the traditional journalism culture of gatekeeping, balance and objectivity and the online culture of immediacy and non-editorial review.

In relying on citizen journalists for information and in the quest to remain relevant and join the bandwagon of being the first to break the news, the ethical standards of balance, objectivity, facts and verification are being compromised. Through social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, blogs, mobile phones, and email, news and images circulate around the world with astounding speed.

Speed places newsrooms under pressure to publish stories before they have been adequately checked and verified as to their source and the veracity of alleged facts. The phenomenon of sensationalism and rumourmongering in journalism is attributed to the economic competitiveness of the industry and the constant demand for 24-hour digital news coverage.

In addition, conventional journalists and media organisations have adopted various social media platforms such as a means of connecting with their audience and sharing their perspectives and viewpoints. Consequently, the absence of substantial reporting or analysis leads to a disregard for journalistic integrity.

The internet contains vast amounts of information, a significant portion of which lacks proper evaluation for both accuracy and relevance. These grave ethical lapses call for concern as a media that thrives on speed has the potential to cause significant damage to society.

On a broader perspective, there is this ethical issue of who is a journalist and what is journalism in the digital media ecosystem. The democratization of media technology muddles the identity of journalists and the definition of journalism. In the traditional media, journalists were a clearly defined set of professionals who wrote for mainstream media.  It was easy to identify “gentlemen of the press.” But today, citizens without formal training in journalism write in ways that fit the definition of a journalist as a person who frequently writes for the public or audience about public issues.

In Nigeria, there is this debate as to whether those who write for popular blogs such as Linda Ikeji Blog, Gistlover, and Zikolo etc., as well as social news sites such as Gamji.com and Nigeriavillagesquare.com, Pulse etc.,  or social media sites such as Nairaland, allAfrica, naNAIJA.com, and onlineNigeria journalists?

A lack of clarity regarding who constitutes a journalist results in foundational ethical conflicts regarding who practices journalism and the question of what journalism is in this context. It is becoming difficult and sometimes unclear to determine where the term “journalism” begins and ends. The ethical challenge is the articulation of guidelines that are consistent with the ethical principles of accuracy, verification, and transparency for dealing with rumours and corrections in digital media.

A related problem created by new media is how to handle errors and corrections when news updates, reports and commentaries are continually updated via live feeds and blogging posts or TV scrolls.

Live coverage of events such as breaking news, natural disasters, elections, handover, and sports are becoming increasingly popular among journalists in Nigeria. Errors, including misspellings and factual inaccuracies, are inevitable when working at this urgency, speed and pace. Occasionally, people retweet, share, or broadcast these factual errors before they are corrected, and the resulting ethical damage can be severe.

It is a fact that unregulated digital media thrives in anonymous and faceless writing. However, the mainstream media require content providers to be identified. Journalists are cautioned by codes of conventional media ethics to use anonymous sources sparingly and only under certain conditions. The question of when anonymity is ethically permissible is therefore yet another ethical issue.

Whether it is inconsistent for the media to enforce various anonymity rules for different media platforms. What should the ethical guidelines for offline and online anonymity be? Supporters of anonymity claim that it allows unfettered freedom of speech and sometimes aids in exposing corruption and official misconduct.

Impartiality is a fundamental principle of mainstream journalism. But this principle contradicts the tenets of the new media, which encourages people to freely and equivocally express their opinions and share their thoughts. Many bloggers and online journalists perceive themselves to be opinion or partisan journalists/activists for causes and political movements and take pride in expressing their opinions and positions.

The majority of them reject the concept of neutral or objective analysis. The ethical challenge redefining what independent journalism in the public interest entails for a media in which numerous new forms of journalism are emerging and fundamental principles are being questioned. Journalists should be guided by the principle of fairness and avoid news stories that are likely to generate conflicts of interest or diminish the dignity of others.

When collecting news sources, journalists should apply research ethics of balance, confidentiality, respect for opinions, and avoidance of sensational content. In addition, journalists should not hide under the cover of technology to distort the truth or reality, manipulate facts, or sensationalize events.

In the midst of plethora of unfettered information sources online, plagiarism in digital media has become widespread. Journalists have been accused of copying stories from less popular blogs and publishing them in mainstream media as their own. Journalists are expected to ensure that their stories are original and not plagiarized. This is related to the fact that journalists are sometimes implicated in copyright violations. However, copyright infringement is a legal issue as well as an ethical one.

On the flip side, the proliferation of new image modification technologies for both photographs and videos raises new ethical concerns too. In Nigeria where fake news, disinformation and hate speech thrive, the manipulation of images is a major ethical issue and prone to fraudulent practices. Citizens and professional journalists have access to new and simple methods for capturing and transmitting images.

These images can be altered and manipulated using new technologies. This convergence of ease of capture, ease of transmission, and ease of manipulation call into question the conventional photojournalism principles that were developed for non-digital image and video capture and transmission. One concern is whether newsrooms can rely on images readily obtained by citizens and citizen journalists.

Who is the sender, and how can we be sure that this photograph represents the event in question? Another issue is whether a journalist or a member of the public used technology to alter the photograph, such as to add or remove an object.

As a way to manage digital media ethical issues, some scholars have advocated for layered journalism, which combines various forms of journalism and different types of journalists to create a multi-media offering of news and analysis written in a professional style combined with citizen journalism and interactive chat. Stephen J.A. Ward recommended that the newsroom be layered vertically and horizontally, with different editors reviewing and editing texts, videos, photographs, and audio from various sources.

As digital media continue to evolve, new ethical issues will continue to arise. However, the mainstream media must not in the cause of joining the digital bandwagon, compromise the ethical principles of Aristotle’s ‘Golden Mean’. Professional journalists must remain the check and standard for measuring journalism practice and not for survival strategies and reasons revert to pre-19th century journalism that lacks the social responsibility norm.

The media as the fourth estate of the realm must continue to be alive to its ethical responsibility to society by upholding ethical principles while adapting and adopting digital technology, which has become a major component of journalism.


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How Investments in Reskilling and Trust Help Businesses Succeed in the Agentic AI Era

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Linda Saunders
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The ascent of agentic AI, systems that can perform tasks without human intervention, represents not just an incremental technological advancement but a fundamental reshaping of the business landscape. The possibilities for enhanced productivity and innovation are immense. Using AI agents, businesses around the world are unlocking a piece of the potential $6 trillion digital labor market opportunity.
Linda Saunders

Linda Saunders

Businesses that fail to adopt agentic AI, however, risk disruption by competitors or savvy upstarts. This demands a proactive and strategic response from leaders. In this new era of human-AI collaboration, leaders must center their efforts around two key pillars: large-scale employee reskilling and establishing a trustworthy AI ecosystem.

Reskilling for the agentic AI era

With just 15% of workers saying that they have the education and training necessary to use AI effectively, reskilling must be a priority for every business leader.

Employees must be given access to learning opportunities so they can adopt human-AI collaboration skills, including a foundational understanding of agentic AI and prompt engineering — a way to provide clear and effective instructions to AI systems.

Consider, for instance, the evolving role of developers. With AI agents capable of handling routine coding, developers can focus on bigger-picture tasks like system design and future planning.

According to Salesforce’s latest State of IT survey of software development leaders‌, more than nine in 10 developers are excited about AI’s impact on their careers, and an overwhelming 96% expect it to change the developer experience for the better. More than four in five believe AI agents will become as essential to app development as traditional software tools, the survey found.

In addition to technical abilities, cultivating human and business skills is vital for fostering a trusted environment where teams feel comfortable experimenting with AI. And, as every employee increasingly manages individual or even teams of agents, developing basic managerial skills across the workforce will become increasingly important.

Identifying the skills is just the first step. To succeed in the agentic AI era, businesses need to develop a comprehensive strategy that incorporates these skills into their workforce plan. This includes setting clear, measurable goals and actively tracking progress.

Managers need to provide active guidance and support to employees throughout this transformation, ensuring the workforce remains relevant and engaged.

Adopting trusted AI across the ecosystem

As the capabilities of agents grow, so too does the responsibility to manage ‌associated risks. It’s imperative to ensure these systems are fair and prevent stereotypes or alienation. The very qualities that make AI transformative can also lead to biases and erode trust if not managed.

To fully harness the potential of agentic AI, businesses must prioritize trust and safety at every stage of development and deployment. This means implementing strong security measures and adhering to ethical AI practices to safeguard data and ensure responsible use.

Guardrails for AI agents can be established using natural language topics and instructions specifying when an agent should escalate or transfer a task to a human. Concerns around data privacy and potential biases must be proactively addressed through strong data protection protocols and transparent communication.

Equally important are tools that foster transparency and empower users to make informed decisions regarding task delegation to AI. Employees need a clear understanding of the capabilities and limitations of the AI agents they collaborate with, alongside having control over the tasks being automated.

A key feature of Agentforce is its capacity for autonomous operation within specifically defined guardrails. This means that while ‌AI agents can operate independently, making decisions and taking actions, they do so within boundaries established by human teams, ensuring alignment with business objectives and policies. The Einstein Trust Layer enables Agentforce to use any LLM safely by ensuring that no Salesforce data is viewed or retained by third-party model providers.

The power of reskilling and trust to drive innovation

The transition to an AI-powered future will bring challenges, particularly ensuring employees have access to the right infrastructure, high-quality data, and relevant skills.

However, by investing in reskilling and comprehensive training programs, organizations can empower teams to work effectively alongside AI agents, adapt to the evolving nature of work, and ultimately drive innovation in this age of digital labor.

Building a robust infrastructure that prioritizes trust and safety, and fosters transparency, will also be instrumental in mitigating disruptions and unlocking new opportunities for growth.

Ultimately, investing in both AI agents and human employees, and actively fostering their collaboration in a trusted way, will enable businesses to operate at scale and realize their full potential in the agentic AI era.


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MTN Nigeria’s AGM Highlights Strong Q1 2025 Performance and Future Growth

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MTN Nigeria Communications Plc held its 2025 Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Lagos today, where shareholders reviewed the company’s full-year financial performance and endorsed its strategic priorities for the future.

The AGM came on the heels of a strong first quarter in 2025, during which MTN Nigeria invested a record ₦202.4 billion in capital expenditures and posted ₦133.7 billion in profit after tax, marking a major turnaround from a ₦392.7 billion loss in Q1 2024.

This 159% year-on-year surge in Q1 CAPEX—the company’s highest-ever quarterly investment—has gone into expanding network capacity, boosting data speeds, and enhancing service quality nationwide, in response to rising demand for digital services.

The Chairman of the Board, Dr. Ernest Ndukwe (OFR), addressed shareholders, saying: “On behalf of the MTN Nigeria family, I am proud to affirm that our business remains deeply rooted in strength and resilience.

“Our foundation remains solid, and our role within the broader economic landscape is unwavering, even amidst the challenges we encountered over the past year.

“As we reflect on this journey, I am inspired by the resilience of the Board, management, and staff of our Company, backed by the unwavering confidence of our shareholders, the valued support of our customers, and the immense potential of our nation, Nigeria.”

Dr. Karl Toriola, chief executive officer stated: “The year 2024 undoubtedly tested our resilience as we navigated a challenging operating environment marked by severe macroeconomic conditions.

“At MTN Nigeria, we viewed these challenges as catalysts for innovation and decisive action.

“We focused on what mattered most, strengthening the resilience of our network, prioritising customer experience, and accelerating the growth of our commercial operations through our customer value management initiatives.”

However, the company reported a ₦400.4 billion net loss for the year, largely due to ₦740.4 billion in foreign exchange losses from the devaluation of the naira, alongside elevated operating costs, and higher interest expenses. Due to negative retained earnings, the Board was unable to recommend a final dividend for FY 2024, consistent with regulatory requirements.

Looking ahead, MTN Nigeria remains optimistic, citing tariff increases, currency stabilisation, and easing inflation as key factors that will support the company’s return to positive equity in 2025.

Chief Financial Officer, MTN Nigeria, Modupe Kadri, commenting on this optimism said, “Our Q1 2025 results reflect strong operational execution and financial discipline, with service revenue up 40.5% and EBITDA growing by 65.9%.

“We delivered N133.7 billion in profit after tax, marking a significant turnaround from the prior year, while maintaining a healthy cash position and robust balance sheet metrics.”

During the AGM, all resolutions were passed by shareholders, including the adoption of the 2024 financial statements, the re-election of directors, and approval of remuneration policies.

The Q1 2025 report shows the company has returned to profitability and remains committed to strengthening network investments, accelerating digital inclusion, and delivering sustained value to its customers and shareholders.


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NITDA Inaugurates Start-up Consultative Forum

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Nigeria has taken a bold step toward deepening its innovation ecosystem with the official launch of the Start-up Consultative Forum, an initiative designed to accelerate the implementation of the Nigeria Start-up Act (NSA) and strengthen the country’s tech startup ecosystem.

While addressing the forum, NITDA’s Director General, Kashifu Inuwa CCIE, who was represented by Barrister Emmanuel Edet, the Ag. Director, Regulation and Compliance described the platform as more than just a stakeholder meeting.

“It is a commitment to building a stronger tech ecosystem through collaboration, inclusion, and data-driven governance, marking a new phase in the implementation of the Nigeria Startup Act,” he said.

He noted that the Nigeria Startup Act is more than legislation—it is a framework for national development. “Startups are not fringe players. They are central to Nigeria’s economic future,” he asserted.

Inuwa further mentioned that over the past eight months, NITDA has driven key activities under the Act. These include stakeholder workshops across 10 states, roadshows at tech events like Lagos Tech Week, the Omniverse Summit, Moonlight Conference and the Akwa Ibom Tech Week, and awareness campaigns through digital and direct engagement.

The forum, according to Inuwa, will serve as a feedback engine, spotlighting regulatory gaps, guiding policy improvements, and shaping a startup-friendly environment.

Under the Renewed Hope Agenda and the guidance of the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, NITDA continues to support startups through initiatives like the Startup Portal, tech infrastructure deployment, and digital skill training across the country.

The DG emphasised that for startups to thrive, policies must be inclusive and responsive. “Inclusion is not charity. It is a strategy,” he said, calling for equal representation across gender, region, and sector.

While inaugurating the members if the Conservative Forum on behalf of the Director-General, the Director of IT Infrastructure Solutions, Oladejo Olawunmi, ignited the forum with a call to action, envisioning it as a vital nexus for collaborative breakthroughs.

He inspired the members, saying, “We remain deeply committed to nurturing a space where innovation can flourish, and I call upon each of us to embrace the task ahead by shaping ideas into concrete policy and outcomes that leave a lasting impact.”

Earlier, Victoria Fabunmi, National Coordinator of the Office for Nigerian Digital Innovation (ONDI), in her opening address called the Forum, a “structured dialogue between those building the future and those enabling it.”

She outlined five key pillars for success: access to funding, capacity building, supportive policy, inclusive innovation, and global competitiveness.

She urged startups to speak boldly, private sector players to offer more than capital, development partners to scale what works, and government to harmonize efforts. “This Forum must be a problem-solving platform, not another talk shop,” she concluded.

With the Startup Consultative Forum now launched, NITDA aims to turn policy into action, ensuring startups are no longer on the sidelines, but at the center of Nigeria’s innovation journey.

The virtual event was attended by private sector players, development agencies, verified Ecosystem Support Organisations (ESOs), angel investors, venture capital firms, and labelled startups from across the country.


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