… Says Front-Page Coverage Fuels Fear
… Urges Shift To Highlight Security Gains
Daud Olatunji
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, has urged Nigerian media organisations to scale down the prominence given to terrorists and criminal elements in news reports, warning that such coverage inadvertently advances their agenda.
Speaking at a security summit organised by the Nigerian Union of Journalists in collaboration with the State Security Service, the minister said excessive publicity fuels fear and gives violent groups the attention they seek.
“Please take these terrorists and criminals off your front pages. This is what they crave for free of charge,” Idris said.
The two-day summit, which drew participants from security agencies, media bodies and other stakeholders, is part of efforts to strengthen collaboration between the press and security institutions amid Nigeria’s worsening security challenges.
Idris expressed concern that media reports often highlight attacks by terrorists, bandits and kidnappers while downplaying the efforts and sacrifices of security personnel.
“It saddens my mind. I feel very unhappy when I see our front pages reporting the activities of these criminals and underplaying the ones by the security agencies,” he said.
He clarified that his position does not amount to a call for censorship but rather a push for responsible journalism anchored on national interest.
According to him, “Nobody is calling for censorship. Nobody is asking the media not to do its job, but we must know that we must have a country to keep.”
The minister stressed that journalists must exercise editorial judgment in deciding not only what to report but how to present such information, noting that professionalism includes knowing “what not to report in the interest of nation-building.”
He also highlighted the evolving nature of security threats facing the country, including terrorism, banditry, cybercrime, misinformation and organised crime, saying these challenges require stronger synergy between the media and security agencies.
Idris commended what he described as improving relations between journalists and the DSS, noting that the NUJ had reported no cases of journalist detention by the agency in the past one and a half years.
He urged other security agencies to emulate the standard, expressing optimism that cases of harassment and detention of journalists would soon become a thing of the past.
The minister reaffirmed the Federal Government’s commitment to enhancing cooperation through dialogue, strategic communication and capacity-building initiatives.
Nigeria continues to grapple with widespread insecurity, with insurgency in the North-East, banditry in the North-West and North-Central, and emerging threats in parts of the South.
Despite the challenges, the Federal Government says security forces have recorded significant gains, including the killing of thousands of terrorists and the surrender of many others in ongoing military operations.
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