AN APPRAISAL OF PRESS FREEDOM

The study is focused on examining the state of press freedom in Nigeria during President Muhammadu Buhari's administration.. It aimed at finding out the attitude of media practitioners toward policies that affect press freedom during President Muhammadu Buhari tenure, finding out the limitations to press freedom during the tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari, investigating the impact of government control on press freedom during the tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari. For its theoretical framework, the study adopted the libertarian theory of the press theory to further buttress the point of the study. While the survey research method was used to gather the data used for the study. Findings of the study revealed that President Muhammadu Buhari administration implemented policies that negatively affected the operations of media organization and that positive steps have not been taken to protect press freedom and journalists. The findings also revealed that the manner in which events in the society are reported is determined by existing policies and bills put in place by the PMB administration. The researcher therefore concluded that it is necessary to have special freedom for the press guaranteed by the constitution. The researcher recommended that any existing legislations which tends to unduly strangulate the freedom of the press should be reviewed The researcher also recommended that freedom of the press should be clearly enshrined in the constitution. This includes the right to receive and disseminate information and protect the source of information.