History of Nigerian Mass Media is discussed in this article and we hope you find it informative and able to meet your research needs.
History of Nigerian Mass Media
Read Also: History of Communication in Nigeria
Mass communication is simply the production and transmission of messages and information by media houses to a large audience, which could be a community, a state or the nation at large.
Media houses are technology-driven channels that act as a bridge in conveying information to a large number of recipients.
Some very common examples of mass media include television, radio, movies, the internet, magazines, and newspapers. It began with the publishing of a Yoruba newspaper called Iwe Iroyin Fun Awon Egba first in the year 1859.
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This ushered in the Nigerian Tribune, West African Pilot, African Messenger, Lagos Weekly Record, Lagos Standard, and Anglo-African newspapers.
These newspapers paved way for the undiluted journalism which heralded the activism that brought about independence.
Howbeit, as early as the 1930s, Nigerians had begun to connect BBC via radio sets. And in 1939 radios could be used from Ibadan, not just Lagos which was the administrative headquarters of Nigeria, at that time.
In 1950, when the Nigerian Broadcasting Service (NBS) came to be, radio could now be used not only in Lagos, but also in Enugu, Ilorin, Kano, Kaduna, and other states.
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Not until 6 years later, Nigeria did not get its Broadcasting Cooperation (NBC). Two decades later, the Federal Radio Cooperation was established and this saw the first external radio was created in 1990, called Voice of Nigeria. Now there are many radio stations in Nigeria; private, public, online, and offline.
Considering the cost and technicalities of owning television stations, the first television companies were government-owned. They were established in the late 1950s and by 1962, all three regions had their own television stations.
The Western region was the first to have its TV station in 1959, the Eastern region got hers in 1960, while the Northern region had its first television station established in the year 1962.
Until 1992, the television stations were exclusively government-owned and monopolized. For almost three decades now, private individuals who have the wherewithal are setting up television channels.
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While the Nigerian government owns over 70 channels, Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) which was established in 1977 is the most popular. Other popular privately owned television stations are Channels TV, AIT, Silverbird Television, and others. It is important also to note that since 2007 Nigerians have begun to enjoy international transmission.
