CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
The Ma Media made up
of print and electronic play a huge role as veritable instruments of
communication in every society. Radio as a medium is a tool for journalistic
education, enlightenment, mobilization, culture propaganda and entertainment.
Radio promotes economic development, stimulates political participation and arouses
national consciousne and unity.
Radio was originally
brought to Nigeria in 1932 by the British colonial government and was known as
Radiodiffusion Service (RDS). It allowed the public to listen to programmes of
British Broadcasting Corporation as foreign radio. In April 1952, RDS became
the Nigerian broadcasting Service and introduced radio stations in Lagos,
Kaduna, Enugu, Ibadan and Kano. This service was upgraded to the Nigerian
Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) in 1957 by an act of parliament. The NBC was
designed to serve the communication needs of the people in the regions. In the
same vein, the Broadcasting Organizations of Nigeria (BON) was founded in 1933
to aid successful interaction of the broadcasting media in Nigeria. The
organization is used as a rallying point for coverage of major national and
international events.
Radio has the ability
to serve both illiterate and literate people unlike the print media. Radio has
played major roles in greasing the wheels of the country‟s political economy.
It makes unbeatable contributions to the enhancement of the country‟s growth as
exemplified in its massive political education, enlightenment, awareness,
consciousne and provision offered for discussion, debates and presentations.
These functions were manifested during campaign towards the 2003 general
elections. It therefore provided the electorate the opportunity to set the
manifestos and programmes of political parties with a view to helping them make
mature choices during the elections. The ma media are organized means of
communication designed to reach large numbers of people without the necessity
of personal contact. Radio is regarded as the guardian of the public that
examines the political policy and programmes, educates the masses, motivates and
mobilizes them for active participation in political programmes and activities.
The ma media are indispensable to the political system in a democratic society.
They constitute the fourth estate of the realm, independent, free and
responsible to the Public. They create awarene in order for the citizens to
know the problems and issues confronting the state and their possible solutions
and consequences. They provide people with information they need and can
stimulate them by presenting the ideas of others. The ma media should play a
crucial role in nurturing and sustaining the succe or failure of our practice
of democratic government. To a large extent, their succe depends on how well
the ma media carry out their functions as the midwife of democracy.
In Nigeria, the ma media
have become instruments of political transformation of the masses. According to
Akpan (1987, p.22), media information has a tremendous energy for change.
Change in this context refers to learning which manifests mostly where a good
number of people are wallowing in ignorance. The media are needed for
information to improve all aspects of life. In the political sphere, the
electorate need media information to participate fully in elections and learn
their obligation. Furthermore, Eze (1988) while presenting his article, “Ma Media
and Social Political Transformation‟, noted that the politics of any nation
depends heavily on the ma media as platforms of articulating and marketing of
ideas and issues on national problems to the people.
The study will
therefore examine the contributions of Radio in mobilizing and galvanizing the
people towards putting in place a stable and acceptable democratic government
in Ezza North Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.
1.1.1 Brief History of
the Salt FM Radio (EBBS)
Ebonyi Broadcasting
Service (EBBS) transmits on 98.10MHZ frequency modulation (FM) 2×2 TX. The
Radio Station was established on 3rd February, 1997 with an initial 200 feet
mast and later increased to 250 feet. The test transmission of the Radio station
commenced on March, 22, 1997. Earlier, the pioneer military administration of
Ebonyi State, Navy Captain Walter Feghabo, applied for both Radio and
Television Licenses to the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) on March 3,
1997. On July 22, 1997 EBBS Radio started airing commercial programmes. On
August 5, 1997 the first news bulletin was transmitted while the first global
news came on air on April 1, 1998.
Legal Instrument
On 5th March, 1997 the
management of EBBS forwarded the draft edict of the organization to the
Ministry of Justice,Ebonyi State, through the Ministry of Information and State
Orientation for vetting. Consequently, the Ministry of Justice on September 22,
1998 forwarded a copy of the Edict to the then Military Administrator, His Excellency,
Commissioner of Police, Simeon Oduoye for assent. Thereupon, the Military
Administrator assented to it and consequently, Ebonyi Broadcasting Service
(EBBS) Abakaliki received its legal instrument (backing by Edict No.10 (1999).
1.2 Statement of the Problem
The issue of media
political education and participation in the 2007 general elections especially
in the electronic media has always been a subject of considerable controversy
in Nigeria. This issue is worsened by the diversity in culture and other social
values among Nigerians. This obviously is the reason why the struggle to
broadcast and control of the media as a means of gaining political power has
remained an issue in Nigerian politics.
Political broadcasting tends to tilt in favour
of the government of the day, however, with the deregulation of the industry,
the trend changed, particularly with the nation’s return to democracy. This is
obviously why many Nigerian broadcasting stations go all out to
satisfy the interest of their owners during electioneering periods. Many
Nigerians often accuse the media for not playing an independent role during
electioneering periods as they often deny the oppositions the chance to use
them in getting to the electorates. For instance, some all the broadcasting
stations in Benue state are owned by the government (including Radio Nigeria)
and during elections, they are used to serve the interest of the party in
power. This it does contrary to Section 1.5.4 of the National broadcasting
Commission’s code which deals on Political broadcasting.
The values and
expectations of audience members in Benue State which is the major catchment
area of Radio Nigeria does not present a shift from the status quo and
due to the differences in the psychological make up of the people, they exhibit
varying perceptions when faced with political messages and they comprehend political
messages differently even when they live in the same environment.
The problem
remains, how does the audience rate the performance of Radio Nigeria in the political
education and participation in the 2007 general electionss? Were their
operations effective from the period of electioneering campaign to the
elections proper? Was the station biased in terms of favouring the ruling party
and denying acce to the oppositions? Was the station able to mobilize the
audience through inducing attitudinal and behavioural change during the
elections period?
The problems highlighted above make it
imperative to examine the perception of the audiences of Radio Nigeria in the
station’s promotion of political education and participation in the 2007
general election in the state.
1.3 Objectives of the Study
The following
objectives were drawn to set the base this research to ensure a better
understanding and assessment. To ascertain the level of promotion given to the political
education and participation in the 2007 general election in Benue State by Radio
Nigeria.
1.
To ascertain the level
of political education and participation in the 2007 general elections by Radio
Nigeria with a view to ascertaining whether they were objective to all parties
involved.
2.
The find out the
level of political influence in the station’s political education and
participation in the 2007 general elections if there were any.
3.
To assess audience
perception on the performance of Radio Nigeria promotion of political education
and participation in the 2007 general electionss in terms of functional duties
and the effectivene of its operations in Makurdi LGA.
4.
To find out if the
ownership status of radio Nigeria affects her coverage of political issues like
campaigns and elections in Makurdi LGA?
1.4 Significance of the Study
This study will be of great significance to the
following people and in the following ways.
a. The media from time immemorial are charged with
various roles of informing and enlightening the public, so this work will be
useful to them by encouraging the media to carry out their functions well,
despite the challenges that they face from time to time.
b. The study will provide reliable feedback data on
audience view of media political education and participation in the 2007
general elections and also provide its strengths and weakne which will serve as
a tool for improvement in the media outfit including both electronic and print.
c.
It will serve as a
data base for Ma communication researchers and scholars who may be embarking on
similar research in the future.
d.
It will also avail
political actors and players more and better information on the role of the
media in electoral processes, especially on the coverage of elections.
1.5 Research Questions
The
following research questions will be of guide to this study.
1.
What is the level of
promotion given to the political education and participation in the 2007
general election by Radio Nigeria in Makurdi LGA?
2.
What is the
direction of political education and participation in the 2007 general
elections by Radio Nigeria to ascertaining whether they were fair to all
parties involved in Makurdi LGA?
3.
What is the level of
political influence in the station’s political education and participation in
the 2007 general elections if there were any?
4.
How does the
audience of Radio Nigeria perceive the station’s performance in terms of the promotion
of political education and participation in the 2007 general electionss in Makurdi
LGA?
5.
Does the ownership
status of radio Nigeria affects her coverage of political issues like elections
and campaigns?
1.6 Scope /limitation of the Study
It will be
nugatory, attempting to study the whole of Nigeria as it relates to the
perception of Nigerians to the media promotion of the last general elections in
the country. This is so because apart from the fact that it will be too
expensive to embark on such a research, the inability to measure the large
number of people that will be involved posses another serious challenge. In
view of this, this study would therefore be limited on one hand, to radio
audiences of Makurdi LGA in Benue state; while on the other hand, it would be
limited to the Radio Nigeria. Also, the refusal of the audience to fill the
questionnaire posed another challenge. Time and finance was also a challenge,
as the researcher could not go round in other to meet up with time.
1.7 Definition of terms
A clear understanding of major concepts in any
study goes a long way in illuminating the reader views by engendering better
comprehension.
Perception is meant to be a proce by which we become aware of change in our environment
through the senses. Perception about a thing or an issue leads
to opinion formation or change
about that thing or issue. Perception is often selected support an inner
consistency among a person’s beliefs, attitudes and value.
Audience
is taken to be the group or selected number of
people who watch, read or listen to the same thing. For this study we
will take the audience to be the number of people who watches (sees) everything
that has happened in the environment.
Coverage is
the amount or way that (the media) covers an area. The coverage is to be taken
from the 2007 election area.
Media Dictionary
meaning sees it as the main ways which large number of people receives
information. In the cause of this work, it’s taken to be the radio station
where Radio Nigeria falls under this media in disseminating information to
large heterogenous audience.
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