The Media and Electoral Politics in Nigeria

It has always been a subject of controversy over the years whether or not the media has contributed to the development or stagnation of the nation as regards electoral politics in Nigeria. Views on the role of the media as regards the conduct of elections since the nation gained independence are diverse. The role of […]

It has always been a subject of controversy over the years whether or not the media has contributed to the development or stagnation of the nation as regards electoral politics in Nigeria. Views on the role of the media as regards the conduct of elections since the nation gained independence are diverse.

The role of the media in the conduct of Nigerian elections, especially the 2003 general elections forms the premise of the intellectual analysis by a renowned journalist and academic in the North Central region.

From the very beginning, the author of the book, ‘The Media and Electoral Politics in Nigeria’, Dr Tyodzua Atim makes it extremely clear that he is dissatisfied with the contributions of the media, both electronic and print in the conduct of free and fair elections across the country.

Dr Atim wrote in his abstract, “The major finding of the study is that the media instead of playing a neutral role in the coverage of the 2003 general elections, exhibited partisanship and were biased in favour of a particular party. Most of them reported out of context; selective in their reportage; did not focus on issues while ethnicity, religion and regionalism were promoted by the media”.

The book which is divided into ten chapters develops progressively from the history of elections in relations to the contribution of the media to their success or otherwise, especially in the areas of voters’ education, access to the media to the less privileged opposition parties and the reportage of critical issues that would influence the election.

The author who consulted local and international media works indicated in chapter two of the book that the media has a legitimate responsibility to assist in developing the electoral system of the country. He notes, however, that the media is in chains both in a democratic and totalitarian administration.

In chapter three, Dr Atim delves into the theoretical explanations of electoral politics and the media. He examines the class theory of Karl Marx and its relationship to the media. He also examines the state and the media and eventually how totalitarianism affects the media.

From chapter four to seven the author establishes the premise for the main discourse of the book, by critically analysing Nigeria’s colonialism and the world media in chapter four, the media and constitutional development in chapter five, the Nigerian media and the politics of regionalism between 1960 and 1966 in chapter six and the media under the constitution in chapter.

Chapter eight of the work appears to be the most important chapter of the book as it concentrates on the performance of the Nigerian media during the campaign period leading to the 2003 general elections. Dr Atim made no attempt to hide his opinion as regards his rating of the media as he lashes out at the media for failing in their quest to have a free and fair election, based on access to credible information that would give them the standpoint to make informed decisions during the 2003 elections.

Ironically, Dr Atim, relied on clippings from the media he believes is biased to buttress his point. He copiously quoted earlier editions of The Guardian and Punch Newspapers.

He wrote: “Most of the newspapers carried features in praise of the government in power. For example The Guardian of Tuesday, March 2003, the paper in an article written by Iyabo Sotunde titled: “At Ibadan, it is Obasanjo all the way”.

Writing further, Dr Atim states that Ibadan occupies a strategic position in the politics of Western Nigeria, stressing that in 1999 the people of Western Nigeria voted the Alliance for Democracy, AD, but pointed out that The Guardian report of that event tried to influence the readers that such a scenario has changed in favour of the ruling party.

He stated that on Monday April, 2003, The Guardian again published an article titled, ‘why Obasanjo deserves a second term’ written by Yemi Ogunbiyi. He classified the piece as an advertisement for former President Obasanjo, stating that the paper erred when no such article was published on the Buhari campaign organisation.

He added in this chapter that opinion polls by different media organisations were conducted and publicised in ways that promoted the ruling party’s interest.

“Advertisements also formed part of the campaign strategy for the candidates. Here again, the party in power effectively manipulated the system to its advantage,” he wrote in page 202 of chapter eight.

On the electronic media, he states that they failed to comply with the standards established by the National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, for the coverage of the 2003 elections.

According to him, the guidelines that was most violated by the broadcast houses was the section that states that the media shall not be employed to the advantage or disadvantage of any political party or candidate at any election.

In chapter nine, writing under the title, ‘The 2003 General Elections and Media Agenda Setting’, Dr Atim opined that the nomination of former military Head of State, General Muhammedu Buhari led to the polarization of the media along the north/south axis. He specifically accused the Lagos-Ibadan media of bias against the north, saying that they were extremely critical of Buhari, while promoting the candidature of former President Obasanjo.

He added that most of the papers, severally published sponsored feature articles aimed at undermining the candidature of Buhari, heading towards the election.

He wrote: “It is difficult to excuse the lopsidedness of media coverage of the campaigns and elections. In the campaigns for the presidential elections, in particular, President Olusegun Obasanjo and his ruling PDP dominated the media”.

Quoting different reports on the 2003 elections, the author regretted that several broadcast stations owned by the Federal and respective state governments became mere propaganda tools that were used to sing the praises of the government in power, while shutting the gates against the opposition.

Dr Atim concludes in chapter ten by declaring that: “the evidence of our survey research shows that the disturbances in some parts of the country which led to the burning down of INEC offices and media houses during the 2003 general election were also a response to perceptions of partisanship and open bias by government media, which prevailed during the 2003 general elections”.

At the end of the work, the author makes eleven recommendations on how to get the media to perform better as regards election coverage in future. Basically, he calls for training and re-training of media practitioners, establishment of more community based media houses and joint ventures by senior journalists in the establishment of media houses in the ways that lawyers and doctors establish hospitals and chambers.

Dr Atim’s research work is quite incisive and would assist any student of the Nigerian media to understand critical theoretical issues as they relate to coverage of elections.

However, the book is more inclined to academics, with very little practical information that would assist the daily practicing journalist on how to avoid the pitfalls and dangers inherent in the performance of his job that has claimed many lives of his colleagues with no reasonable action to protect his own.

Another gap that was clearly noticed in the book was the deliberate non representation of facts as they relate to Radio Benue, Makurdi, when the author mentioned cases of bias in Ekiti, Gombe and Edo States. The author served former Benue State Governor, George Akume as chief press secretary and would not be unaware of the numerous complaints of bias against Radio Benue in terms of its editorial policy towards the opposition. It was the same story with the State owned newspaper, The Voice. In fact, Radio Benue sub-station in Katsina Ala was razed to the ground by aggrieved residents because of its alleged partisanship in favour of the ruling party in the state.

It must also be noted that the work was short on credit to newsmen and women across the nation who have laid down their lives and made sacrifices to help in developing the nation’s democracy after having won same for the nation through determined struggle in 1999. One of the contradictions of the work is that most of the criticisms against the Nigerian media in the work were drawn from reports and features published in Nigerian newspapers. Where the editorial policies of these newspapers were not broad based and objective, such views and stories would not see the light of the day, let alone being published.

Furthermore, is the impression that media organisations cannot support particular candidates? This is an erroneous position that runs through the book. The book eulogises the international media, but did not reflect the fact that these organisations in their respective countries endorse preferred candidates during elections, based on the ideals that they stand for. During the last American election, Fox News Channel, a reputable American news organisation endorsed Senator McCain.

Beyond these observations, the book is well written and edited. However, it has a few factual errors which the publisher may wish to correct before the second edition is released to the public. In page 234 the author wrote that, ‘391,546’ voters registered for the 2003 general election nationwide. However, a zonal representation of registered voter on the same page indicated otherwise.

On page 240, the author wrote that ‘in 1999 thirty political parties contested the elections.’ A table from Thisday Newspapers on Page 241 indicated correctly that only three political parties took part in the said election.