PRINT MEDIA AS ELECTIONEERING TOOL IN NIGERIA GOVERNORSHIP ELECTION

PRINT MEDIA AS ELECTIONEERING TOOL IN NIGERIA GOVERNORSHIP ELECTION

Background of the study

Unquestionably, media is a potent and swift mode of communication. It has a significant effect on education, politics, culture, and social cohesion, as well as a large audience. The media function as vigilant watchdogs, highlighting the flaws of the political system. It studies the system, recognizes its weakness, and strives to fix it via creative writing, drawing, and presenting, with cartooning and photography acting as an example of creative presentation.

The media play a vital role in the Nigerian democratic system. They have played crucial roles in the electoral process by acting as important sources of information, providing basically free and reliable data that has led to more balanced voter education and opinion development. In particular, the Nigerian media, renowned for their vitality, variety, boisterousness, and, in the case of the publicly owned broadcast media, blind follower behavior, have carried out their roles within the country's electioneering context. (Pate 2015 p3). Considering the history of Nigerian elections, Pate's above comment may be readily understood. Elections being the lifeblood of contemporary democracies, the frequency, fairness, and transparency of such elections via public relations are crucial to the political stability of the nation.

Importantly, competition and power struggle are inevitable in an open society with several political parties if democratic institutions are to remain robust. The majority of political parties attempt to outsmart or outdo one another by employing a variety of strategies to win the hearts of voters and portray their party representatives in a positive light. High anticipation, misinformation, and anxiety over Nigeria's continued unity characterized the period preceding the governorship election. At both the federal and state levels, political assassinations were commonplace. Consequently, the Nigerian media have played a crucial role in the country's current political system, notably during elections.

The broadcast media are channels for concurrently interacting with a big and diverse audience. They have been actively engaged in establishing the agenda for political discourse, providing perspectives and guidance on political disputes, shaping the agenda for political decisions, and rallying the people for political participation. These communication channels may be characterized generically as print, broadcast, and digital media. While broadcast media like radio and television send information electronically, print media like newspapers and magazines convey information in a written manner. Internet and mobile devices, which are relatively new digital media, transfer information digitally. Indeed, print media are the most strategic way to win the hearts and minds of voters, who are the deciding factor and kingmakers in any democratic, free, fair, and transparently credible election. They are the method by which political parties and their candidates might reach a huge portion of the voters who may not be able to attend political gatherings to hear campaign themes. Through the transmission and printing of campaign messages, such as news, interviews, speeches, documentaries, commentary, debates, and commercials, the mass media has the capacity to influence the voting choices of the voters. Consequently, a valuable electioneering instrument in Nigerian gubernatorial elections.

1.2 Statement of the problem

The broadcast media have played a crucial part in the country's political electioneering campaigns throughout the years. The vital role of Nigerian media in the nation's political history cannot be omitted from the annals of Nigerian politics. It is a well-known fact that under democratic governance, the mass media are not merely referred to as the fourth estate of the realm, but are recognized and accorded respect due to the privilege, that is, societies have granted the press its right and place in political and democratic processes, as well as function and responsibility in the administration or how men are governed internationally. These instances illustrate why "societies" regard election news so highly. According to Orhewere (2003, p.140), the Nigerian print media lacked sufficient commitment to professional ethnics in the past, which led to the electoral crisis in western Nigeria in 1965 and subsequent elections. Newson and Scolt (1981) contend that the most effective media coverage is that which aims to avoid or, at the very least, resolve crises while they are still small.

The emphasis has been placed on traditional print media, also known as the press, due to its unique characteristics of permanence, indefinite exposures, ability to be read multiple times, being more intellectually engaging, better sectioning of topics for detailed analysis, and ease of content analysis in comparison to electronic media such as radio and television. Many social media information are false, unverifiable, and misleading, allowing untrained writers and commenters to disseminate misinformed and unethical news that contradicts the code of conduct that governs media activity in Nigeria (Ajibulu, 2016). By preserving truth, news verification, balanced reporting, and impartiality, the print media are often required to pass a rigorous vetting and screening procedure. These cultures contrast with those of online journalism and social media, which are permitted to publish information without verification (Anindya, 2015). Over time, media organizations in democratic nations evolved journalistic norms for assessing and confirming information (Fukuyama, 2020). While some segments of the print media were said to have sought to report responsibly, professionally, and with enough coverage in compliance with the Electoral Act, many others were accused of bias, access denial, and professional misconduct. Although there is much literature on the role of electronic and new media in elections, traditional media, especially print media, have received very less attention. This study tries to investigate the role of print media in the Nigerian gubernatorial election as a campaign weapon.

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