Challenges of Public and Private Television Stations in Nigeria: A Comparative Study of NTA and AIT

Abstract

The quest to strengthen the media in their noble cause of fostering national development informed this study. Among other things, the study set out to do an analysis of the problems confronting public and private television stations in Nigeria, using the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) and Africa Independent Television (AIT) as a test case. To accomplish this objective, the study adopted the survey research method and the purposive sampling technique was used to draw a sample of 180 subjects from the population of the study. Findings from the analysis of the data generated through the questionnaire, showed that harsh economic terrain; increased news commercialization; and impediment to the process of driving national development, were among the problems facing television broadcasting in Nigeria. It was also found that the private television stations are worse affected by these challenges than public ones. Concluding that driving innovation, change and development requires the right environment for broadcasting, it was recommended that television owners and journalists be committed to enthroning professionalism and ethical standards and that there should be provision of funding and subventions for the media, especially as Nigeria approaches the full implementation of the digitization policy.