| Abstract: |
The press often collides with individuals and with government which made the government to ensure that the power of the press is regulated to avoid unnecessary breach of relationships among themselves. It is in keeping with this principle of control that brought certain laws to checkmate the excesses of the press. Such laws include laws of defamation, libel, slander, sedition, invasion of privacy, obscenity, copyright,etc. In this study, we are look atthe laws of libel and sedition. Trying to examine these laws revealed the nature of the government that introduced them and why they still prevail. Classical theories of the press which tries to look at the press in terms of their relationship with government in power were exhaustively reviewed to see if the press fared well or not under the government. Objectives of the study include a review of the media laws before independence, examination of the Universal Human Rights of the United Nations as it affects the press, and the recently passed Freedom of Information. Some known cases on sedition and libel were also examined. The theoretical framework of the study is the transitional media approach theory, selectedbecause of the transitional nature of the media laws in Nigeria. |
