A regulatory framework established, either wholly or in part, by the Government presents an opportunity for it to exercise such controls and puts journalists and media establishments, which are supposed to be holding the Government accountable to the people, at the mercy of the Government, and therefore, at risk. The second principle is a little bit more complicated and it is that such a regulatory system, even if formulated by journalists themselves, cannot be established by statute as this tends to bring the body under the control of the State once it is set up by law. If it requires state power to enforce, then it cannot be a self-regulatory. A third principle is that the funding of the system should be done independently of the Government or at least that the Government should not provide such a substantial portion of its funding that will enable it to control the process indirectly by manipulating the funding. The rationale for this principle is encapsulated in the saying that: He who pays the piper dictates the tune. Financial Sustainability of the Media Many media organizations in Nigeria face a basic challenge of financial sustainability as very few of them are truly strong and economically viable entities. Besides the fact that this puts their future in jeopardy, it also makes them vulnerable to political and economic pressures as they struggle for survival. A major reason for this is that most media organizations lack access to capital to develop their businesses, expand and grow. Traditional banks and other lending institutions hardly find suitable for loans and other facilities for a variety of reasons. Such situations result in poor wages and working conditions for journalists and other professionals employed by these organizations. Many of them are even unable to pay the poor wages when they are due and in some cases, such media organizations owe their workers between five and 12 months arrears of salaries, and sometimes more. It would be extremely difficult for the media organizations and journalists working in them to act independently under such circumstances. They would be easy prey to interest groups seeking to compromise them to advance selfish agendas. The media organizations and their journalists would be far more 3. See Compulsory Membership in an Association Prescribed by Law for the Practice of Journalism, judgment of the Inter-American court of Human Rights[1986] HRLJ, Vol.7, No. 1 at Para. 75.