Diffusing the Tension among Journalists, Citizens' Speech and National Security in the Digital Era in Nigeria

Aside from being one of the journalistic codes of ethics, journalistic privilege is a right accorded to journalists to maintain the anonymity of a source of information. The paper evaluated the relationship between journalists’ claim to privileged communications and the government’s right to every man’s evidence. The paper sought to define who a journalist is and the duty of the court to ensure permitted derogations are reasonably justifiable in a democratic society. It examined the impact of emergent digital technologies and the internet, which have empowered the average person to perform the functions of a journalist – should such people be accorded journalistic privilege? In democratic settings, free speech is not the only interest demanding recognition, they may be subject to some restrictions of which national security actions are most profound. The paper recommends that journalists’ advocacy for legal guarantees should be matched by increased social responsibility and professional ethics as a panacea to national security excesses.