Journalists put on the scale on 2015 elections coverage

APC & PDP jointly got 92 percent media coverage of the March-April 2015 elections against eight percent of the other 24 parties, while the coverage of women politicians was dismal compared to the spotlight that men enjoyed, a conference on the media coverage of the election has shown It was a full-house attendance when media […]

APC & PDP jointly got 92 percent media coverage of the March-April 2015 elections against eight percent of the other 24 parties, while the coverage of women politicians was dismal compared to the spotlight that men enjoyed, a conference on the media coverage of the election has shown
It was a full-house attendance when media professionals gathered to witness the launch of a book which is also serving as a report-card of print and online media coverage of political issues before, during and after the 2015 general elections.
The book,Reportage of 2015 Elections – A Monitoring Scorecard of Print and Online Media, is centered on media capacity building, mentoring and monitoring for conflict-sensitive, public-issue and ICT-driven reporting of 2015. It was commissioned by Democratic Goverance for Development (DGD), supported with funds contributed by the European Union (EU), UKAid, the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The Nigerian Press Council (NPC) and International Press Centre (IPC) were however the bodies who carried out the exercise.
While giving an insight into the process that led to the commencement of research and drafting of the report, the DGD Project Director, Mourtada Deme, said the stake was very high as they were very concerned about having in place a project that would be world-class in scope and reach.
“At the outset, we were very conscious of having in place a world-class project capable or rivaling similar exercise in any other part of the world. Today, we are happy that the media monitoring report we have is indeed one of the largest in scope that could be found in any part of the world. Of course we are aware that the report cannot be said to be the overall mass media coverage and that was why we are very specific about our intervention that the scope of study was actually limited to print and online media. And in the course of the study, I can also say we have a few lessons to learn just as there were few challenges, all of which I can say have been very valuable,” Deme who was represented by DGD Media Expert, MrsToyinAdewale-Gabriel, said.
On the exclusion of broadcast media, Deme said it was not in anyway deliberate but that the available time frame to work with the number of electronic media outfits available in the country.
Deme’s position was also supported by LanreArogundade, Director IPC.
As one of the brains behind the whole project, Arogundade said the experts who handled the exercise were forced to leave the broadcast media out considering the volume of work at hand and the six-month time lag between November 2014 and April 2015.
According to Arogundade, a total of 12 national newspapers, including Daily Sun, The Nation, National Mirror, Vanguard, The Punch, This Day,
Daily Independent, The Guardian, Nigerian Tribune, Daily Champion,
Leadership and Daily Trust were monitored. On the other hand, 10 regional newspapers: Nigerian Chronicle, Daily Star, Nigerian Observer, Nigerian Pilot, Abuja Inquirer, Peoples’ Daily, Blueprint,
The Gleaner, Desert Herald, and Fresh Facts were also examined.
Hestated, though, that publishers of some of the designated ‘regional’ newspapers insisted that they are national.
Also, Arogundade said four online news media: The Tide, The Cable, Sahara Reporters and Premium Times as well as three social media platforms:Enough-is-Enough Nigeria, Reclaim Naijaand INEC social media platform were also reviewed.
“The period covered meant that it was possible to assess the performance of the concerned media outlets, prior to, during and immediately after the elections in the five topical areas of use of sources, conflict sensitivity, language use, coverage of issues and coverage of the election management body,” the IPC Director said.
He added that parts of the objectives of the exercise include gauging media professional performance in the reportage of parties, candidates and electoral stakeholders, analyzing the trend, issues, context and quality of media reportages of election and electoral issues as well as identifying strengths, gaps and challenges of media coverage of election and electoral and election issues, among others.
In writing the analysis, the IPC Director said the team used both quantitative and qualitative methodologies.
“Talking about quantitative analysis, we ensured that there is identification of all relevant reports in the selected media outlets and social media platforms, determine the number and percentage of reports according to the topics and sub-topics, calculate space allocation to the topics and sub-topics as well as identify relevant reports to determine the number and percentage according to the genre and format of reporting. The genre had to do with whether the relevant reports were published as news, features, investigations, interviews, opinions, columns/articles, photographs, cartoons, among others,” he said.
On the specific findings of the report, Arogundade noted that although 26 political parties were listed on the website of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the mention of political parties in the monitored reports yet was highly skewed in favour of only two parties – the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
“For the six months covered by this report, political parties were used as sources 8,318 times out of a total of 42,595 sources. The APC had the highest mention with 3,911 or 47.01 percent closely followed by PDP with 3,716 or 44.67 percent. All other 24 political parties shared the remaining 8.4 percent of mention with a significant number without mention at all.
“On issues relating to women, under-represented groups and other sources, the report also discovered that there were 15,296 male voices out of a total of 16,046 voices used as sources. The male voices represent 95.32 percent. The female voices on the other hand recorded dismal 750 voices which represents 4.68percent. Consistent with other findings, the female voices have again been muffled in the political discourse leading to and transcending the 2015 general elections in Nigeria,” Arogundade said.
Also speaking, the Executive Secretary of NPC, NnamdiNjemanze said the report encapsulated a number of activities in the pre, during and post-election periods. He said it is the belief of the Council that the media assessment captured in the report will help in charting a new path for the media especially as it affects their coverage in future elections.
“The 2015 general election has come and gone. Whatever we are doing now falls into post-election and appraisal of events. Now the media is expected to set agenda for the new administration and as it does that, it is expected to focus attention on the coming elections in Kogi and Bayelsa states,” Njemanze said.
Also speaking, the President of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Waheed Odusile commended the initiative of the organizers, saying he is no doubt convinced that the report will prove useful as a media resource guide. He however frowned at the exclusion of NUJ in the research exercise and the compilation of findings, saying such exclusion undermines practitioners.
“We implore the organizers to ensure that NUJ is fully co-opted in future engagements like this. This is because we are ready and determined to move journalism forward in Nigeria,” Odusile said.