ROLE OF INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM IN CURBING PUBLIC CORRUPTION FOR NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA

Musa Alhassan

Abstract


This paper examined the role of Investigative Journalism (IJ) in curbing public corruption for sustainable development in Nigeria. It describes IJ as a form of journalism in which reporters go in-depth to uncover wrongdoing, review government policies and draw attention to societal ills that could hinder national development. The researcher conducted an in-depth interview with five senior broadcast and print journalists. Agenda setting theory is used to explain the role played by investigative journalism in curbing public corruption in Nigeria. Findings show that free, aggressive, and bold investigative journalism constitute a bigger deterrent to public corruption and enable citizens to hold public office holders accountable, which is critical to advancement and preservation of democratic institutions. Based on the data generated, the paper concludes that IJ is inversely proportional to public corruption i.e. increase in investigative journalism leads to decrease in public corruption in a country. The paper recommends that journalists should deepen their capacity to effectively perform their watch dog function through regular training. Media should device new means of generating revenue from non-political sources to make them independent and capable of conducting objective investigations to curb public corruption for national development in Nigeria.


Keywords


Investigative Journalism; Public Corruption; Watchdog; Accountability; Development;

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References


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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.47851/naujocommed.v2i2.139

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