Brown envelope journalism

Brown envelope journalism in Nigeria is a practice whereby monetary inducement is given to journalists to make them write a positive story or kill a negative story. The name is derived from cash inducements hidden in brown envelopes and given to journalists during press briefings. It is a common practice in Nigeria and many local journalists do know that it is considered unethical elsewhere. One of the effects is that the Nigerian media has become a thriving arena for sponsored stories.

In some broadcast television stations sponsored news programs can reach close to 50% of news stories.

The effect of this form of journalism is that there is a shift in journalism from being a fourth estate to a publicity seeking outlet available to the highest bidder; integrity, objectivity and balance is weakened as a result and news is commercialized. It also creates an avenue for publicity seeking journalists to write commentaries that is intended to address personalities and not sensitive issues. Hence the Nigerian media is weakened and inefficeint and cannot function independently of politicians and businessmen.

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Wikipedia