Scanning Good Governance Through the Lenses of Investigative Reporting: The Case of Democracy in Nigeria

Abstract

In its bid to ensure good governance, the media often engages in accountability reporting otherwise known as investigative reporting. This is aimed at fulfilling its agenda-setting role towards ensuring checks and balances in governance. This qualitative study, “Scanning Good Governance through the Lenses of Investigative Reporting: The Case of Democracy in Nigeria” sets out to examine the role of investigative reporting in Nigeria through the frameworks of the Libertarian and Social Responsibility media theories. The authors identified inability to bring corrupt public office holders to justice and lack of righteous indignation on the part of journalists as responsible for massive corruption and lack of delivering democratic scorecards. The researchers recommended providing incentives and debuting complete insurance covers for journalists as useful ways of ensuring good governance. The study concluded that as partners in progress with other stakeholders in every democratic process, journalists have the critical role of using the lenses of investigative reporting to bring corrupt public servants to justice even as they contribute to nation building.