An assessment on the role of electronic media in 2014 gubernatorial election in osun state a

case study of OSBC

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF STUDY

Human life depends on communication. Cut off from it, people cannot develop or attain their full
potentials. Communication is the basis of social interaction and the lifeblood of human societies.
without communication, each individual would merely be an island isolated from all other such
islands. It is sine qua non for the formation of any society. As a matter of fact communication is
vital to earth’s highly interdependent and intricate web of life (Daramola 2012)

Communication is the exchange or transfer of meanings in the form of ideas or information from
one person to the other. When people communicate they do so by means of a medium, some
device, or process through which they convey information. Media is the plural of medium which
means a channel or vehicle through something is carried or transmitted. In other words, mass
media are channels of communication in a modern society , primarily the print and electronic
media. The fact that they reach a wide heterogeneous audience makes them influential and hence
its tremendous impact on society.
From the late 40’s when Redifussion Services were first introduced into Lagos, radio, and later
television, were under the sole ownership and control of government. It was clear that
Government, colonial or post-colonial, saw the electronicmedia essentially as an instrument that
had to be closely monitored and controlled.

The media’s role becomes especially important in influencing voters’ judgments about the
candidates because most people are poorly informed about the candidates (Joslyn, 1984) as cited
by xinjung wang . What’s more, political knowledge is particularly essential to citizens’ ability
to self-govern and shape the course of the country.

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
In the contemporary life,the electronic media is playing tremendous role in providing
information about every sphere of life round the clock. In the field of polity, media has become
the basic need of individuals everywhere. Since every is posed towards finding a solution to a
particular problem, these research is tilt to assess the role of OSBC in the Osun gubernatorial
election and finding out if it was objective,fair ,accurate and non-partisan in the coverage and
reportage.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS

This research work will query pertinent area

1. To what extent did the ownership structure of OSBC affect the reportage of the osun

gubernatorial election?

2. To what extent was OSBC objective in the reportage of Osun gubernatorial election?

3. Considering the role of the electronic media in the society, how balance was OSBC in
his reportage of the Osun gubernatorial election?

1.4 PURPOSE OF STUDY

The purpose of this study is to take a look at the role of OSBC in Osun Gubernatorial election
inorder to know if truly the electronic lived up to its expectations being the watchdog of the
society or it was used as a weapon by the incumbent government to secure his re-election against
his opponent.

It will examine how the election activities was treated by OSBC with a look at Objectivity,
Balance,and most importantly Ownership influence/Political partisanship in the election
reportage.

1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study will contribute to the body of knowledge, as it will form an extension of knowledge to the
academics in learning and teaching.It will serve the purpose of providing accessibility of findings of
the study in libraries and other learning centers.It will also be very useful to academics, student,
government as well the audience to see how cultural values are portrayed in Nigeria Generally, this
will broaden the audience knowledge and add to the body of existing knowledge

1.7 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The respondents for this study will be restricted to 18years and above.
 CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter reviews the literature relevant to this study. It will be divided into the following
headings: Conceptual Review, Empirical Review and Theoretical Framework.

2.1 CONCEPTUAL REVIEW

The concept of election is associated with so many meanings that it is hardly difficult to say its
exact meaning. In the edition of the International Encyclopaedia of Social Science Vol. 5,
Election is defined as one procedure and preferences of particular kind. The two features of this
definition are procedure and preferences. By procedure, the concept it used to describe a special
way of doing something. Preference connotes choice between alternatives. During elections the
electorate is given the opportunity to choose between alternative programmes of contestants.

Election can, also, be described as a procedure that allows members of an organization or

community to choose representatives who will hold positions of authority within it. The most
important elections select the leaders of local, state and national government. Elections also
promote public accountability. “The threat of defeat at the polls exerts pressure on those in
power to conduct themselves in a responsible manner and take account of popular interests and
wishes when they make their decision.” (1993-1998 Microsoft Corporation) as cited by awopeju
(2011).

In the words of Dowse and Hughes (1983: 322) as cited by awopeju (ibid):

Election is a procedure recognized by the rule of an organization,

be it a state, a club, a voluntary organization or whatever, where

all, or some, of the members choose a smaller number of persons

to hold an office, or offices, of authority within that organization.

Beetseh (2008) as cited by Beetseh, Kwaghga1 & Akpoo, Tarfa (2014) , election is the process
whereby an electoral chooses, by voting, officers either to act on its behalf or represent it in an
assembly with a view to governing or administering. An electorate refers to a class of citizens
entitled (by a law course) to vote in an election, by whatever procedure.
Osun Election And Politics

Osun state was formed on 1991-08-27 when it was split from Oyo state.from then till date a lot
of leaders has emerged in this state and participate actively in his political journey.

Major general (retired) leo segun ajiborisha served as the first administrator of osun state during
the military regime of general ibrahim babaginda and his administration saw to the creation of
Osub state broadcasting corporation which was commissioned on 30th of September 1991. He
however handed over to the elected cvivilian governor isiaka adetunji adeleke in January 1992
whose rule was aborted by themilitary government in 1993.

The military administrator and navy captain (rtd0anthony udofia served as the administrator of
osun state from 1993 to august 1996.His military didn’t last long as lt. colonel Anthony obi took
over in august 1996 and ruled till august 1998 under general sani abacha military regime.

He handed over to colonel theophilus o bamigboye (rtd) who ruled before the the return to
democracy in may 1999.

The mantle of the leadership in osun state in the democratic dispensation dropped on the
shoulders of abdulkareem adebisi bamidele akande who was the governor from 1999 to 2003
under the auspices of the Alliance for Democracy party.

In 2003, olagunsoye oyinlola was democratically elected as the governor of osun state and was
also re-elected in 2007 under the umbrella of the people’s democratic party (PDP) but his tenure
hit the rock when the court nullified his election in 2010 and thereby paving way for the tenure
of engineer rauf aregbesola who managed the state and got re-elected on the 9th of august 2014.

MEDIA OWNERSHIP
There is a common saying in regard to mass media control in Nigeria, which has now become a
cliché, that “he who pays the piper dictates the tune,” meaning that the owner of a mass media
channel controls what the medium publishes and how it is published. Surely, control through
ownership is a fact of life in every society, but then the nature of this control usually varies
greatly, depending upon the political system, the orientation of political leaders in control of the
government, the political climate prevailing, the caliber of journalists and other professional
communicators, the economic situation of the mass media, and the stated objectives and policies
of the media organizations. The objectives of the media channels further vary considerably in
line with what the owners hope to achieve with the media organizations

According to Noun (2008:50), media ownership can be divided into

1. Government owned media: This refers to public ownership of the mass media. Government
for political reasons owns the media, especially radio and television.

2. Privately owned media: This refers to the private ownership of the media.
3. Joint Government and Privately owned media: This is a joint venture between the government
and private businessmen.

4. Public Owned media: This refers to media operated on behalf of the public by charter and is
supposedly “autonomous” or independent to a great extent.

5. User ownership: This is the initiative of the audience e.g. fan clubs coming with their radio
and television stations.

However, in Nigeria, while radio and television (broadcast media) is mostly owned by
government at federal and state levels, which they have used to achieve either political or
economic gains. It is no secret that most politicians in the country strive to own one media or the
other to lubricate their political aspirations and ideologies.

Watson (2003:92) postulated the mass media ownership model into the following three distinct
patterns
 Propaganda

 Profits

 Power

Propaganda was also described as a mass manipulative model of ownership influence on the
audience. propaganda which entailed the use of brazen strategies of persuasion, with distorted,
partisan or untrue information to illicit interested in people is said to be one of the treacherous
way through which the media maneuvers over facts and give farce to the people owing to selfish
wishes or policies of its dictator. This model was clearly utilized at the last election in which the
president Dr.Goodluck Ebele Jonathan used the fresh breath of air campaign streaming on
television and aired on radio and written boldly on different newspaper front page in a bid to sell
his propaganda as the messiah to rescue Nigeria from its stagnant problems.

Profits as an impeding factor to media development come through the quest of the media owners
to deriving pecuniary interest in the organization. the lust for the finance al gains from the
organization other than its main purpose of establishments thus creates a great lacuna for
imbalance to set in as those who give support towards the achievement of this financial lust also
have their own Skeletal wishes which would only be made known after they have been able
cunningly to find a way into the organizations operations through supposed sponsorships or
assistance. James Watson described this media ownership pattern or purpose as a commercial
laissez-faire model’. The theory defines media ownership as simply being a financial enterprise
with no other goal than to make profit; that is, there are no ideological axes to grind; reader or
viewers or listeners (as the case maybe), are simply consumers whose custom has to be won and
sustained
Power the desire for power by some megalomaniacs in the society gotten through publicity from
the media is what triggers the action for getting media acquaintances by some people in the
society. At most times, media barons serve as external influencing factor to the media other than
being a part of the entire ruling or management process.

To Watson; ‘’ the most notable exception to the rule is that media barons influence the powerful
rather than join them in office ’’.

EMPIRICAL REVIEW

As noted by Siebert F.S. et al. (1956:1), “…the press always takes on the form and coloration of
the social and political structures within which it operates.” Thus, substantial literatures exist
which suggest that the press cannot be divorced with politics in any giving polity, even as factors
leading to this will be reviewed from the findings of various scholars.

Thus, for the purpose of this study, the following research works were reviewed purposely to
examine the direction of the past studies that could help in shaping the direction of this study and
also to build on the foundation of these field works.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Agenda Setting Theory

Okafor (2014) The power of the media to set society’s agenda by focusing public attention on
few key public issues is an immense and well-documented phenomenon. It was McCombs and
Shaw that carried out the first systematic study of the agenda-setting hypothesis . The agenda
setting theory posits that what the media finds important will eventually be mirrored by what
members of society will come to think are important. It facilitates the formation of public
opinions and the distribution of pros and cons of a particular issue.

Social Responsibility Theory

It is an extension of the libertarian philosophy in that the media recognize their responsibility to
resolve conflict through discussion and to promote public opinion, consumer action, private
rights, and important social interests. This theory has its major premise that freedom carries
concomitant obligations. The press has an obligation to be responsible to the public.
 CHAPTER THREE

METHODOLOGY

RESEARCH DESIGN
In any scientific research, there must be a method of research study. Some of the methods
available are survey, experimentation, case study, observation, exploratory, descriptive,
ethnography, content analysis and but a few to mention. However , these study will be adopting
the survey method

Asika (2000), “Research design means the structure of an investigation aimed at identifying
variables and their relationship to one another.”

3.2 POPULATION OF THE STUDY

Babbie, (2004) states that: “The population of a study is a census of all items or subjects that
possess the characteristics or that have knowledge of the phenomenon being studied.’’ In view of
this, the population for this research work would be people who are residing in Osun and
participated in the election.

3.3 SAMPLING SIZE

Considering population in Osun state, A total number of 200 respondents would be used for the
sample size.

3.4 SAMPLING TECHNIQUE

The sampling technique that will be adopted is simple random sampling which is a type of
probability sampling technique that gives every member of the entire population equal chances
of being selected.

The sampling gives the researcher opportunities to use it sample elements which will be
considered best to provide good outcome from a given population considering the relevance of
the research work.

The sample used in this study will be selected from the following Local governments in Osun
state;aiyedade,aiyedire,atakunmosa east,boluwaduro,boripe,ede north, ede south,
egbedore,ejigbo,

RESEARCH INSTRUMENT

The questionnaire will be used and designed in such a way to elicit necessary and adequate
response from the respondents on the role of OSBC in covering the OSUN 2014 gubernatorial
election. The questionnaire will be structured in such a way to allow analysis of findings as the
responses to majority of the questions will standardized.

DATA GATHERING PROCEDURE

Copies of the questionnaires will be self-administered to the respondents at the various levels.
The completed copies of the questionnaires will be returned by the students and will be used for
analysis.

METHOD OF DATA ANALYSIS

The analysis to be used is the simple one that is, the use of simple percentile. The data of the
study will be manually analyzed. The data collected will be pooled together, harmonized and
broken down into percentages in tabular form, according to responses to each of the questions.

VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY

Validity of research instrument measures what it is designed to measure. Some certain steps will
be taken to ensure the validity of the questionnaire and to reduce the numbers of errors.

According to Wilmer and Dominick (2006) as cited by tejumaiye(2003) says that pre-testing is
the best way to determine if the research design is adequate enough to measure the constructs of
your research. Tejumaiye (2003) supported the fact that a pilot study is necessary to know if your
research design and methodology are effective in measuring the constructs of your research.