The president of the Senate, Senator David Mark, recently came under attacks from users of the social media for allegedly calling on the government to introduce measures, controlling the use of such media. Group Politics Editor, Taiwo Adisa, examines the issues at stake.PRESIDENT of the Senate, Senator David Mark, is one man that is not new to controversies. He must have been used to the tendency of his compatriots dragging his name into one controversy or the other at various stages of his political career. Starting from his days in the military, when he served as minister of communications and was ascribed the controversial statement- 'telephone is not for the poor,' which he variously refuted, Mark has been a known face in Nigeria's book of controversies.Whether the controversies are borne out of sentiments or mere juggling of facts, the truth, however, remains that Mark's personal, sometimes easily misread statements give room to imputations of certain connotations into his speeches. Here is a man given to frank talk, no matter whose ox is gored. In a recent interaction, Mark clarified his often quoted 1984 statement indicating that the telephone was not for the poor. He said that what he was telling Nigerians was just that telephones would be available to all as far as they were ready to pay for it. He said that since telephones were not manners from heaven, no one should not expect free phones. According to him, his postulation has since come to pass in the case of the Nigerian Telecommunications (NITEL) Plc, which has gone moribund due to unpaid bills.Twice in July, Mark's public submissions came under public scrutiny. First, he spoke at a Senate retreat in Uyo, Akwa-Ibom State where he asked northern leaders to do more in resolving the Boko Haram menace. He said it appeared that some northern leaders were pretending to know what they didn't actually know about the sect, declaring that it was time such persons owned up. Again in July, Mark spoke at another retreat for Senate correspondents, this time in Umuahia, Abia State. He asked authorities to devise means to tackle the negative aspects of social media, since the users were largely faceless and unaccountable to anyone.Immediately, the Senate president came under ferocious attacks from affected stakeholders. Some leaders in the North accused him of denigrating their role and reminded him that he was also a northern leader. Though Mark insisted that he only said that truth and that he didn't excuse himself from being a northern leader, the criticisms went on for a while.But the attacks from users of the social media on the possibility of a regulation of their activities raged like wild fire. Commentators on, and users of Facebook, Tweeter, Skype and even Blackberry targeted Mark for what they termed attempts to introduce sanctions to the use of social media. They circulated a mobile phone number, which they claimed belonged to Senator Mark and insisted that his line be 'occupied.'Incidentally, Mark spoke at a media retreat which featured the theme Journalism and Development. Apparently trying to avoid the sort of controversy that was thrown up by the social media users, Mark said he would read a prepared address rather than speaking extempore.Mark had submitted in his speech: 'The emergence of social media like Facebook, twitter, blackberry messenger, YouTube etc have changed the face of media practice by making information sharing easier, faster and quicker. But this is not without its demerits. Social media has become a threat to the ethics of media practice and good governance because of its accessibility and absolute freedom. Every freedom carries a responsibility. Even in advanced democracies, where good governance is practised, there is no absolute freedom.'I therefore believe that there must be a measure to check the negative tendencies of the social media in our country. I say this because media practice, particularly journalism, process its news gathering and dissemination. It also operates a feedback mechanism and where the practitioners err there is room for rebuttal. But in the social media, a faceless character can post any information that is absolutely false and misleading, but will never retract it. At the end of the day, one is bombarded with questions over what one has no business with.'I suggest that schools of mass communication and journalism should review their curricula to include the operations of social media.'Apparently misinterpreting Mark's submissions, users of the social media heaped abuses on the Senate president for trying to turn Nigeria to North Korea and censor the media. They even related his recent comments to the famous 1984 quote which he has severally clarified.Blackberry messenger users circulated messages indicating that Mark's lines must be occupied till he retracted the 'offensive message.'But looking at Mark's submissions in relation to the torrents of attacks unleashed by social media users afterwards, it would appear that social media activists have fallen for the same error the Senate president was warning against.Mark had submitted that unlike the established media outfits which process their news stories and can retract any error, social media users were faceless and could not even be traced to carry rebuttal when a news item had been found to be incorrect. He said that measures should be put in place to check the negative use of the social media. The Senate President cannot be said to have made wrong assertions when he suggested that measures have to be in place to check the negative use of social media. In Nigeria, recent examples have shown that Mark was not just raising undue dust when he talked about negative use of the social media. Recently, someone posted on the Facebook that tens of persons have been killed in Bauchi camp of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) due to a bomb attack. Another posted that something untoward had happened to Yeye Oodua, Chief Mrs HID Awolowo, forcing the Nigerian Tribune to publish a rebuttal.Also recently, a post on the Facebook indicated that fierce fightings on Jos/Abuja have left hundreds dead and cut off many Abuja bound passengers. All the aforementioned cases turned out to be false, but nobody laced a rebuttal the next day.In his speech at the Umuahia retreat, Mark paid glowing tributes to the media and restated that the commitment of the government to freedom of the press informed the passage of the Freedom of Information Act by the sixth National Assembly. He stated that throughout history, the role of the media had revolved around informing, educating, entertaining and acting as checks on government, while also acting as the voice of the voiceless.'The media also serves as the public watchdog against the excesses of governments and its functionaries. In our situation, the media beams its searchlight on the executive, the judiciary and the legislature. In parliamentary parlance, the media oversight the executive, legislature and judiciary,' he said.Besides acting as watchdogs, he said that the media could also arouse the consciousness of the people from their complacency, leading them to assert their rights and demand accountability from those in authority. According to him, the media provide the channel and platform for the people to know what is happening in their environment and beyond. It can be said to be the holder of the mirror which enables the society, including the leaders and the led, to see their reflections.Mark further said: 'The 1999 Constitution (as amended) recognises the media in Section 22 as one of the organs constitutionally mandated to hold government or public officers accountable. Section 22 states, inter alia, 'the press, radio, television and other agencies of the mass media shall at all times be free to uphold the fundamental objectives contained in this chapter and uphold the responsibility and accountability of the government to the people.' In order to carry out this role creditably, media practitioners require good conduct and high level of responsibility.'According to him, a vibrant and energetic media which every decent society desires must not only strive to strengthen the executive, the legislature and the judiciary as well as all other agencies of government for development, it must also prod them to 'walk the talk' and keep faith with their covenant with the people. Mark submitted that an accountable, responsible and conscientious media was not necessarily confrontational and neither was it compromised, but that it was one that earned the respect of government as well as the governed by applying the sacredness of facts in its day-to-day reportage.He also asked what the sacred roles of the media should be in a developing world like Nigeria. He quipped: 'What is the priority of news reporting or its area of focus in a developing nation like ours' Is it the political class or the mundane aspects of scandals, corruption and violence in our society at the expense of developmental issues''Sometimes these issues are over sensationalized and blown out of proportion. For me, any responsible media, aside from educating, entertaining and informing the public, must also create agenda for agencies of government on how to improve the lives of the people.'In attempting to further put the issues straight, Special Adviser to Senator Mark on Media, Kola Ologbondiyan in a response to the barrage of attacks from the social media said that Mark did not call for sanctions on the social media. He stated that Mark only called for a check on the negative use of social media.
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