CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1.
Background to the study
Media and
society are closely related to each other. The extensive impact of media on
society can easily be seen these days. Media reflects our society, how it works
and what it constitutes. With the advancement in technological area, our
society has also observed the expansion in the thoughts and ideas of people.
Every single invention starting from the printing press to the latest
smartphones our society has accepted it. Earlier people used to communicate
things with the help of sketch and print forms but as time passes the medium
became more advanced. Today people are just a click away from any and every
information that is available on the internet. There are various forms of media
that help to inform, educate and entertain our society. Media can be in print
form that is through newspapers, books, magazines etc. Media includes an
electronic form for spreading information which is one of the most used media
of mass communication. With the help of radio and TV, listeners and viewers not
only get updated but it also creates an understanding of current happenings.
Radio being an audio medium helps in disseminating information to every nook
and corner of our country. Radio has also played a vital role in creating a
platform for imagination. The reach of this audio medium is not only limited to
urban areas but it has covered a wide range even to the remote areas of our
country. The people living in rural parts of the country are getting more
benefits from the audio medium of mass communication. The programs on radio
cater to the interest of
rural section which
constitutes small-scale industries,
farming, forestry etc. The
crisis arising from elections seems to be the major problem confronting the
development of African democracy. Notably, although Africa comprises sovereign
nations, not all the countries in the region are able to organize credible
elections. The media being the Fourth Estate of the Realm have a duty to hold
the leaders accountable to the people for the crises emanating from elections
in the region. Gordon (2006) rightly observed when he stated, “I frequently
feel that other people would be better off if, instead of doing as they wished,
they followed my advice; but in a democracy, there is not much we can do about
imposing our views upon the people” (p. 37). Unfortunately, many countries in
Africa are yet to conduct very successful elections without the support of the
Election Observation Mission. For instance, in some African countries, if
elections are free and fair, people are surprised. Hence, Smith (2009) observed
that the peaceful conduct of Ghana’s very close national elections in late 2008
was unusual in that it did not lead to any sustained questioning of the outcome
unlike in some other countries in the region. In contrast, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe
and Kenya each has witnessed a degree of post-election violence in their recent
elections. (p. 868) The European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM)
confirmed that the 2008 Ghana elections were held in line with the
international and regional standards for conducting elections. The presidential
and parliamentary elections took place under an open, transparent, and
competitive atmosphere, where the parties and the candidates for the elections
had equal opportunity to solicit for public support to win the elections
notwithstanding their different political affiliations. The electoral
commission, the judiciary, and the security forces played an impartial role in
ensuring that the elections were conducted with transparency and openness (EU
EOM, 2009). Apart from Ghana, other African countries that have a good
reputation for conducting free and fair elections are South Africa, Tanzania,
and Zambia.
Election is a
festival of democracy. It fosters an inclusive state; democracy rooted in
popular sovereignty and sustainable peace and tests the competitive strength of
political parties and leaders through programme and ideologies. In this
context, it is important for the press to keep the hope of citizens’ by serving
key roles in democratic initiatives, democratic consolidation, democratic
expansion and democratic system.
Since the press is
the prime channel of transmitting electoral message, politics will be played
out increasingly in communication space. Press can contribute to ease the
nation’s transition process by creating election friendly environment,
democratizing the public sphere and legitimizing political initiatives. These
factors are essential to strengthen the integrative capacity of the political
system and its external adaptability and open the citizens’ mind to universal
principles of democracy human rights and rule of law. But, the public function
of the press is largely contingent on its own framework of ownership, finance,
control and regulation.
Politicians talk more
to the press than among themselves. It is the press that shapes their over-all
cognitive understanding about politics. A strong identification of citizens
with political parties steered by the press provides greater motivation to vote
and engage in politics. But, party is only a part of society, not the whole.
The articulation of
partisan contents marks the partial reporting of political truth. It mirrors
only the ideological representation of society and contributes less to
democratic well-formation. Citizenship begins with the membership of the state;
therefore, Civic responsibility of the press requires a contribution to public
opinion formation. In this process the press has to provide civic awareness to
citizens, equip them with participatory Information and resources,
stimulate active public engagement and foster meaningful dialogue and ownership
of public in the agenda settmg of post-election process.
Familiarization of
citizens with various ideas and issues such as knowledge about the transition
management, objectives of the election, election system and processes,
registration of voters, nomination of candidates, ransparency of election
process, neutrality of electoral and security officials, monitoring of code of
conduct, roles of various agencies in improving the election environment,
monitoring of human rights, redesigning the state, inclusive dispensation,
durable peace etc is essential to provide the citizens a greater measure of
free will and self-confidence and enable them to use their own political
choice.
The press has to work
together with civil society and citizens to prevent electoral malpractices,
such as vote buying and selling, character assassination of candidates,
belittling national sensitiveness, social harmony and decent voting behavior,
abuses of the state and market power, etc and enthuse in citizens a sense of
reason, conscience and civic responsibility. The ability of the press in doing
so places it in a esteemed position to make political with sufficient bearing
for the nation and people.
1.2 Statement of the
Problem
The results of the
2007 Nigerian elections were embarrassing because of the electoral
irregularities that occurred during the conduct of the elections. The Nigerian
judiciary later canceled most of the results of the elections that were earlier
approved by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). This
confirmed that the elections were actually rigged as alleged by both the
internal and the external observers that monitored the elections. The Nigerian
press being the Fourth Estate of the Realm has a duty to hold the government
accountable for the conduct of the 2007 elections. McQuail (2005) quoted Edmund
Burke who used the term “Fourth Estate” to describe the political power
possessed by the press, which is equivalent to the other three estates of power
in the British realm: Lords, Church, and Commons. Unfortunately, the public and
private media failed to take a uniform position in condemning the
irregularities that occurred during the elections, thus, explaining the
rationale for the study. The role the media played in the 2007 elections was
similar to the contributions the press made toward the 1964-1965 postelection
crises that later culminated in the collapse of the Nigerian First Republic in
1966. The
press is to serve the governed, not the governors. The government power to
censor the press was abolished so that the press would remain free to censure
the government. The press is protected so that it could bare the secrets, of
government and inform the people, only a free and restrained press can
effectively expose deception in government. And paramount among the
responsibilities of a free press is the duty to prevent any part of the
government from deceiving the people
The work will
therefore show to large extent the relevance and the role of press to live up
to its responsibility to educate and enlighten mçrnbers of the public about
democratic principles and avoid adopting a sensational or divisive approach in
coverage of political issues.
1.3 Research
Questions
The study is intended
to answer the following questions;
what extent are the
roles of the press in a free and fair election?
To what extent has
the press been socially responsible?
To what extent can
government and people assist the press playing its role? To ensuring free and
fair election?
What are the problems
and the future challenges?
1.4. Purpose or
Objective of the Study
This study has sought
to examine how the press has fared and legally performed its role for a free
and fair election. The impetus for the study is the reoccurring debate about
the role of the press in a free and fair election. The study is therefore
concerned with assessing the press performance in an election, the political
election and the general contribution of the Nigeria press to a stable policy.
I.
To understudy roles, uses and
applications of the press by
stakeholders
in previous elections.
II.
To evaluate the adherence to the basic
human rights as upheld by
international
best practices during elections with specific interest in
online
press freedom, online hate speech and media bias.
III.
To determine the impact of the use of
press professionals on
the
outcome of the elections.
IV.
To understudy the roles public
diplomacy played in the Nigerian
electoral
process.
V.
To determine the roles press men
participation play during the
election
with specific interest in citizen journalists and Nigerians in
the
diaspora.
VI.
To identify lacuna in the Nigerian
constitution with regard to the use
of
new media technologies to support the electoral system.
Methodology
We are going to adopt
qualitative method in undertaking the study. We are going to rely on secondary
data. We will consult relevant literature in books, journals, internet,
newspaper and magazines.
We will also seek
people’s view on the subject and people’s assessment of the press and the
government through structured interview.
1.6 Relevance of the
Study
The role of the press
has always been a controversial issue depending on whether that society is
authoritarian or democratic or communist or libertarians, opinions differ and
vary widely as to the specific role of the journalists in the society.
The press should be
free from state control and ownership as against or a opposed to the accepted
credo of the Eastern world. Many press and hardened critic are of the view that
journalism could only be considered good and proper, if it keeps the government
or administration on its toes with spate of criticism.
Nevertheless, some
journalists writing in Eastern journals such as Pravda believe that the press
is really free and democratic only when it is edited by the people themselves
and represented by their various mass organizations. The point worth noting is
that many developing countries can not easi1ftt well into the four theories of
the press, which are authoritarian, libertarian, social responsibility and
communist theories.
As the press is an
essential organs of the democratic set-up; an important vehicle of
communication and instrument in the creation of public opinion, the journalists
should regard their profession as a trust to serve public interest. In
pursuance of this objective, the council demands that the press should provide
a truthful, comprehensive and reliable account of events in a context which
gives meaning, project a representative picture of the constituent groups of
society, regarding itself as a forum for comments and criticisms and discharge
its social responsibilities by clarifying good and values of societies.
Limitation
The project has been
able to touch various aspects concerning the topic “The role of press in a
free and fair election” but there were some factors that led to setback and
constraints in getting facts arid material for the project. The first
limitations of this study are financial constraint, time constraint and lack of
adequate materials for the study. During the course of sourcing for materials
the researcher faced a lot of financial difficulties and also lack of relevant
textbooks for review.
DEFINITION OF TERMS
- ROLE: Role according to Oxford
Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (6thedition) is the degree to which somebody
or something involved in a situation or an activity and the effect that
they have on it. - MASS MEDIA: Defleur and Dennis
(1981) defined mass media as the devices for moving messages across
distance or time to accomplish mass communication - CANDIDATE: A nominee or aspirants
for any position or honour.
4.
ELECTION: Is a process of selecting one
person or more for an office, public or private, from a wider field of
candidates.
5.
Newspapers: Newspapers are written
publications containing published news and information on issues periodically
published daily. It refers to the newspapers that covered and reported about
the issues relating to depression and suicide
in Nigeria.
6.
Communication: This is the process of
sharing of information which includes five basic factors: an initiator; a
recipient; a vehicle or channel; a message and an effect. The initiator designs
or encodes the message and transfer the message through the vehicle with the intent
of stimulating an effect.
7.
Print media: The print media refers to
the channels of communication that present information on paper, published,
printed medium such as newspapers and magazines as opposed to the broadcast
media.
8.
Coverage: Coverage refers to the amount
or totality of news and information provided by the newspapers on issues
through its contents over a specific period
9.
The Electoral Cycle: The electoral
cycle is a graphical model or tool used by electoral assistance providers to
plan and to train and to understand cyclical nature of the processes that lead
up to a democratic election.
10.
Big Data Analytics: This is the process
of examining large data sets containing a variety of data types, with a view to
uncovering hidden patterns and unknown correlations. This type of data is often
accessed online and it has several applications in business and consumer
intelligence. Because of its versatility, in recent years, its application has
spread to the acquisition of social data from online sources.