The Dissemination of Knowledge

In this dispensation of insecurity and violent crimes in Nigeria, the urgent need for undiluted news and commentaries for the people cannot be overemphasized. However, the focus of most of the outlets owned by non-professionals revolves around pecuniary,political and self-driven interests. This has resulted in the dissemination of outright falsehood,half-truths and sponsored propaganda. Sadly,a sizable number of professionals have made patronage their guiding lights,even as mediocrity and quackery have now taken over the media space. In Victorian Britain,The Morning Post came into being in 1772 while the Times in 1785,during the period the government launched a campaign of restriction on the Press which resulted in the emergence of six notorious Acts in 1819. William Cobbett published the Political Register and later on Two Penny Trash which infringed the provisions of the publications Act of 1819. Wooller published The Black Dwarf,a miner's newspaper in 1817. John Gast owned The Gorgon, the First Trade Union newspaper in 1818, while Richard Carlile was responsible for The Republican. Carlile had several brushes with the government. There was also Hetherington, who published Poor Man's Guardian on July 9, 1831. The Guardian also had a prolonged brush with government. Of worry is the fact that those who lack knowledge are daily on the increase in Nigeria,while the government has been relentless in the application of covert and overt methods in suppressing the flow of knowledge and information to the curious population. The result is the overbearing backwardness,ignorance and indiscretion.