2015 polls: X-ray of unprecedented use of media
The use of media in the 2015 general elections has been described as unprecedented in Nigeria’s electoral history. “It was simply extra-ordinary,” Abdulhameed Ujo, former INEC resident electoral commissioner, said while assessing the elections in a television programme.
From political campaigns to elections and announcement of the results, the media were heavily involved as they followed the polls closely.
Though some sections of the media displayed partisanship but, according to other analysts, the profound involvement of the media was not only informed by the credibility of the elections on the reason that votes will count but by the growth of the media itself.
There are now more robust publication platforms as traditional media were kept on their toes by other platforms, Gbenga Adefaye, former president of Nigerian Guild of Editors, told BusinessDay.
According to him, what most publications did was to strengthen their platforms and rise to the occasion. “It was the right time for the media to rise to the occasion, if not they would have blamed themselves,” he said.
In his view, Adedayo Ojo, CEO of Caritas Communications, agreed that the media woke up to their responsibility, and attributed this to the blossoming of information occasioned by the new media.
Assessing the seemingly partisanship of some media organisations in the gamut of the reportage, Ojo said all political parties enjoyed one support or the other in the media. “The media reflects what people are saying but at the end of the day the media have moved up,” he said.
The belief that the elections were going to be free and fair was also another reason for the heavy use of the media to shaping voting pattern. This time, the votes largely mattered unlike before when certain godfathers secretly determined the outcome of the elections for the entire people, an analyst said.
The March 28 presidential election was one hotly contested as PDP, APC and other major parties massively employed the media to communicate to the electorate. This is with the understanding that the election was going to be free and fair, against the previous elections understood to have been rigged.
Newspapers, billboards, TV, the social media and the roads were taken over by campaign materials. The massive communication assisted to jolt debate and discussion among the citizenry as many groups and individuals which hitherto could have been lukewarm had interest in politics.
A marketing communication practitioner, Akonte Ekine, who assessed the depth of communication, said the “investment in communication during this election is unprecedented and somehow the electorate aside knowing the issues is also a critical part of the issues.
“Even though the parties are making claims and counter claims, the audience was able to discern the truth in the campaign messages.”
He said while ethnic and religious cards could have influenced voting, the electorates were guided by their understanding, partly informed by the messages as “some messages were apt while others were less edifying but ultimately.”
With much focus on the media, due to the deep understanding of their centrality in the elections, they were advised prior to the elections to avoid promoting hate speeches to avert instability,
Garba Mohammad, the Kaduna State chairman of Correspondents Chapel of the NUJ, said, saying media organisations must avoid promoting statements that could cause instability in the country.
According to him, media organisations must be objective at all times in order not to create the ground for civil unrest and deaths.
Hate speeches had always resulted in deaths and destructions across the world, he said, and warned that the Nigerian media must avoid that path at all cost.
The Correspondents’ Chapel chairman urged journalists in the country not to allow themselves to be used by politicians to destroy the nation.
Daniel Obi