By Olusesan Ogunyooye
I have just completed Kemi Adetiba’s eight-episode thriller, To Kill a Monkey. Like her earlier work, King of Boys, it is another masterclass in storytelling and study of the dramatisation of violence in media.
In the episodes, there are many themes that got me interested in Adetiba’s mind. One of them is what I consider her signature of pushing the boundaries of villainy, pain, and violence. Since a work of art is usually linked to the artist’s experience, I will leave that connection to more qualified critics.
Nonetheless, my view of violence in Adetiba’s movies aligns with my thesis about the evolution of the media landscape over the past few years: media democratization is pushing our society to the brink. My thesis stems from two domains of media research – violence theories and social responsibility theory of the press.
Media violence is a body of theories that suggest that when violence, materialism, and deviance are normalized in the media, they can subtly reshape societal values.
In Nigeria, this reshaping is getting visible. From the glorification of lifestyles devoid of substance, to the amplification of controversial figures, and the setting of a new socio-cultural agenda, our media (both institutional and individual) is becoming a mirror of our excesses more than a cultivator of our national values.
A vendor once told me, “There are no apprentices anymore. Everyone wants to be a content creator.” This anecdote, while personal, reflects a broader effect of media cultivation: the decline of vocational interest and the rise of fame-seeking as a career aspiration. You can expand this to other areas of endavour and let’s imagine together, the dearth of skills in the next decade.
Viewed from this lens, these theories posit that Adetiba’s and other dramatizations of violence in films could be teaching us or exposing a new audience to previously unimagined ways of cruelty, crime, and fame. But that is just one part of the whole. The goal is to stretch our imagination to consider how today’s media is reshaping and gradually eroding our social and national values in homes, relationships, workplaces, and beyond.
Mainstream Media is Getting Complicit
In the golden age of Nigerian journalism, the media was a bastion of truth, a watchdog of governance, and a shaper of national values. From the fearless pages of The Guardian Newspapers to the investigative rigour of Premium Times, the press once stood as a moral compass in this nation. But that compass seems to be struggling with the whirlwind of virality, monetization, and digital disruption.
The democratization of content creation via digital and social media has undeniably expanded access to expression and is contributing to Nigeria’s economic growth. According to the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the creative sector grew by 6.9% in 2024, outpacing agriculture and manufacturing. But some activities of this sector are also blurring the lines between journalism and entertainment, and between truth and trend.
The quest to mint advertisers’ money through attention and sensationalism is pushing ethical media practices to the precipice. Our mainstream media, once the gatekeepers of national and societal values, are now playing digital catch-up and, in a bid to retain relevance, are increasingly mirroring the soft news, clickbait, and celebrity gossip tactics of digital influencers.
The Cost of Chasing Eyeballs and Normalization of Inanities
Between the NBS report on the creative sector and what it signals for innovation is a troubling shift in values and social consciousness.
First, a 2023 report by Jobberman found that 58% of Nigerian youth aged 18–30 now aspire to careers in the “influencer economy,” while only 12% expressed interest in skilled trades or public service. This imbalance poses a huge threat to the long-term health of our economy because we can’t build a nation and economy on entertainment alone. How do we build our roads, teach our children, or engineer economic infrastructure if everyone’s goal is to become the next viral sensation?
Second, a few months ago, I watched a youth-focused show on a reputable TV channel that featured a TikTok sensation with no notable civic relevance, other than a “make-believe” relationship with another TikToker. Another TV station was involved in a feud between two controversial social media personalities, between whom the themes of blackmail and personal vendetta reigned. We have also seen mainstream channels promote materialism and other fake-it-till-you-make-it lifestyles that are inadvertently reshaping societal norms. While human angle is a technique in media publishing, the media has a responsibility to frame narratives in ways that advance positive societal values.
The Media, Its Social Responsibilities, and A Call to Conscience
Granted, the social responsibilities of the media are like walking the edge of a razor. I remember a former Nigerian minister of information who argued that reportage about ransom paid in kidnapping crimes could encourage others to see kidnapping as lucrative. However, at another level, keeping the same under wraps could prevent the public outcry that might prompt authorities to act. We have seen social media used for good, and we have also seen the other side of its coin.
Whatever side of the divide one sits, we must be reminded that the media is both a business and a public trust. Therefore, its mandate of informing must be balanced with upliftment and entertainment and must be spiced with a good dose of moral and ethical education.
In a nation grappling with unemployment, insecurity, and moral drift, all media must be a stabilizing force. The media must move away from shaping a generation of trend-seekers to a generation of thinkers. It must promote values that build our nation, not ones that tear its social fabric.
To stakeholders in various media domains such as film, content creation, news, publishing, podcasting, etc, this is not yet a call for censorship. However, it is a call for ethical responsibility. We must choose what kind of nation we want to build, with full consciousness of the implications of our choices for today and tomorrow.
Article written by Olusesan Ogunyooye, a marketing communications expert writes from Lagos, Nigeria.
