In a less serious way, history is simply a collection of old ‘news’ that was once fresh news some years back. The news media has always existed from time immemorial, from the gong beaters and town criers to, of course, word of mouth. Civilization then brought newspapers, radio and television.
The news media carries opinion and information on government, politics, fashion, religion, lifestyle and a host of other topics you can think about, thus influencing what we the news media consumers think about these topics.
Before Nigeria had her own indigenous TV station, there was the British Broadcasting Corporation. In 1959, Chief Obafemi Awolowo established Nigeria’s first indigenous TV station in Ibadan called the Western Nigerian Television (WNTV).
WNTV was not just the first TV station in Nigeria, it was the first TV station in Africa. It became possible for a region to establish a TV station when broadcasting was removed from the exclusive list and added to the concurrent list, therefore allowing regionals the right to establish an independent (from government’s control) broadcasting station. Armed with this freedom, the Western Region House Parliament passed an act that established the Western Nigerian Television (WNTV).
While the establishment of the first TV station in Nigeria has some political underlinings, the Western Region House Parliament argued that the primary aim for the establishment of the TV station was to complement the under staffed educational sector and increase literacy among her citizens.
After the western region blazed the trail, the other regions followed suit, Eastern region in 1960 and Northern region in 1962. Each one entered into a partnership with a British broadcasting company called Rediffusion who supplied and installed their TV station equipments.