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175
Audience Perception of NTA's Coverage of the 2015
Presidential Election Campaign
Nkechi A. Chukwuma
Madonna University, Okija
Nkiru C. Ezeh, Ph.D.
Madonna University, Okija
&
Nkechi A. Umuze
Delta State Polytechnic Ogwasi-Uku, Delta State
Abstract
This paper is an attempt to evaluate how the
dominant Nigeria Television Authority
(NTA) covered the 2015 Presidential
Election campaign that involved an
incumbent President running for re-election
and a strong opposition candidate polled to
beat him. NTA is a government-owned
station and since other studies have
established a strong link between media
ownership and editorial influence, did the
station show partisanship in support of the
incumbent against his political opponents?
Using the survey research method and
anchored on the cultivation and agenda-
setting theories, this paper found NTA's
coverage to be unfair, partisan, and
unprofessional. The paper thus argues that
to develop an involved, well informed and
rational electorate, the media must be at the
centre of civic education and enlightenment
176
Table 2: Tone of Children Stories
Tone Publication
Total The Punch The Guardian Tell The News
Positive 78 103 5 10 196
39.4% 59.2% 71.4% 76.9% 50.0%
Negative 103 60 2 3 168
52.0% 34.5% 28.6% 23.1% 42.9%
Neutral 17 11 0 0 28
8.6% 6.3% 0.0% 0.0% 7.1%
Total 198 174 7 13 392
100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
of the voting electorate on the political
process. To this end, the paper recommends
that all legitimate measures and strategies
should be exploited to make it possible for
the citizens to have the required
information or alternative sources of
getting information before making very
important political decisions.
Keywords: NTA, Power, Government
media, Audience perception,
Campaign, Election, Media.
Introduction
An essential element to the principal-agent approach to
understanding politicians and voter behaviour is the notion that
political incumbents both at the national, state and local
government levels act in certain ways to raise their chances of re-
election and to further their political careers. They often do this by
taking undue advantage of the government media at their disposal
to spread political propaganda that favours their re-election
ambitions. Media and politics have had a contentious relationship
since the beginning of democratic rule in Nigeria (Ekeanyanwu,
2007); however, the pivotal role the media play in politics has
never been in contention. This makes it attractive for politicians to
venture into media ownership so as to control the political
narrative that influences electoral outcomes (Ekeanyanwu, 2008).
After the transitional elections of 1999, Nigeria has
witnessed two other General Elections conducted respectively in
2003 and 2007. At the heart of the issues surrounding these
elections appears a strong intervening variable namely the
abusive use of the incumbency factor by those already in power to
block the alternation of power between the ruling party and the
opposition. This phenomenon constitutes a serious threat to the
Audience Perception of NTA's Coverage of the 2015 Presidential Election Campaign
177
process of democratic consolidation. A good case in point is the
election conducted in April 2007 won by the late Musa Yar'Adua
whose success in the primary was attributed to the support of
incumbent President Olusegun Obasanjo (Ashby and Bloomfield,
2006). Obviously, the mass media especially the broadcast media
(radio and television) are the means by which the citizens of
Nigeria are informed of current events in politics. Aliede (2003, p.
30) says, “the broadcast or electronic media are… the most
convenient, speedily and reliable means of transmitting values,
information, ideas, message and culture as a result of their unique
attribute like immediacy, audio-visual qualities, linguistic barrier
breakage, massive outreach, portability and availability.” The
immediate task of political mobilization, Okafor (2000) submits
must be anchored on how to ensure that the environment and
activities of partisan politics contribute towards the realization of
the major objectives of natural developments through establishing
awareness and civil liberty. Pate (2003) submits that political
reporting is very necessary for the sustenance of democracy,
where the system of checks and balance is required for good
governance.
It is self evident that television and radio reporting affect
politics in Nigeria and there is no way an individual can obtain for
himself or herself the information needed for the intelligent
discharge of his political responsibilities but it should be realized
that the potency and relevance of the broadcast media is on its
ability to reach a large number of scattered audience members
simultaneously with concrete information about the activities of
different candidates, interest groups, events and issues
particularly during periods of election. The media are thus
arrogated the responsibility of mobilizing the masses for
responsible participation in the electoral process. The quality of
the information conveyed to the public by broadcast media
structures is capable of encouraging and stimulating massive
The Nigerian Journal of Communication Vol. 13, No. 1, June 2016
178
participation in the electoral processes and increasing the
credibility of such processes too.
However, the biased, inaccurate and one-sided coverage
of electioneering campaigns and the projection of certain
candidates and political groups in the manner that exonerates them
high above the others is capable of causing deep-rooted crisis that
can escalate into bloody disputes in the quest to exert relevance,
competence, and achieve political objectives or goals. The
audience accusation of unethical practices among mass media
practitioners and the allegation of unfair coverage levelled against
the government media during election periods seems to find
support in Orhewere (2003, p. 140), when he argues that the
Nigerian media in the past did not show enough commitment to
professional ethics in the build-up to the 1965 electoral crisis in
western Nigeria.
Umechukwu (2003) aptly captures the political character
of Nigeria in the democratic dispensation by stating that “the word
politics in the Nigerian context conjures up images of power,
domination, and struggle to grab state apparatus”. At the moment,
a deep source of worry is on the mind of every rational thinking
Nigerian, about the current practice of politics, for even with the
coming of democracy since 1999, much has not really changed
(Iwokwagh, 2005). It is on this premise that this paper sought to
determine the audience perception of the NTA's coverage of the
2015 Presidential Election campaign.
Objectives
This paper is guided by the following objectives:
1. To find out how the Nigerian audiences perceived and
interpreted the 2015 Presidential Election campaign on
NTA.
2. To investigate whether or not there is any marked
differences in the way individuals or groups of audiences
interpret the campaign.
Audience Perception of NTA's Coverage of the 2015 Presidential Election Campaign
179
Research Questions
Based on the above objectives, the paper sets out with the
following Research Questions:
1. How did the Nigerian media audiences perceive and
interpret the 2015 Presidential Election campaigns on
NTA?
2. Are there marked differences in the way individuals or
groups of media audiences interpret the Presidential
Election campaigns on NTA?
Literature Review and Theoretical Framework
The degree to which incumbency is viewed as a compulsory
privilege to next office holding is becoming worrisome in
Nigerian politics. Previous researches suggest a categorisation of
views tilting towards three different but related opinions. First
group of scholars have argued that the apparent advantage of
incumbency factor is really a selection effect which means that
there is no causal link between incumbency and re-election.
According to this group, office holders and challengers are simply
not comparable types of candidates; incumbents are ex ante better
politicians (Jacobson and Kernell, 1981). Others have argued that
it is incumbents' actions in office and records of service, which
help their probability of re-election (Fenno, 1978). According to
Trounstine (2009), both of these views are encouraging;
regardless of the reason for winning, the re-election of incumbents
reflects the success of representative democracy. A third, less
optimistic possibility is that incumbents, once elected, become
entrenched regardless of their performance in office (Key, 1949).
In this view, incumbents implement or take advantage of
institutional structures that decrease the contestability of the
electoral arena.
Distinguishing among these causal processes is difficult
because re-election is the observational equivalent for all three.
Just noting high re-election rates cannot help to untangle the
The Nigerian Journal of Communication Vol. 13, No. 1, June 2016
180
source of the advantage, but doing so is crucial for evaluating the
success of democracy. A lack of competitive elections is not, in
and of itself, problematic (Buchler, 2007). But, if winning is
disconnected from quality or from voter approval then
constituents may lack meaningful representation and may be
unable to control their government. As a result less policy
responsiveness is expected when incumbents are protected by
institutional structures. The “incumbency advantage” typically
refers to the increase in vote share a party can expect from running
an incumbent versus a non-incumbent. Trounsine (2009) use the
term more vaguely to refer to the higher probability of winning
enjoyed by incumbents compared to non-incumbents. It suffices
to mean that incumbency is the assumed privilege a present office
holder has over his/her opponent including the monopoly of the
electronic channel of communication in the society.
The mass media should make election possible and easier
by engaging in its functions of enlightening, informing, and
entertaining the people (Pate, 2003; Aliede, 2003; Okafor, 2000).
The mass media are expected to advance national interest and
promote certain key values and behavioural patterns within a
given society. Supporting the above assertion, Ekeanyanwu
(2007) asserts that the media exist as an organ of information
sourcing and dissemination, educational promotion, surveillance,
social enlightenment and mobilization. These functions set the
media apart as an important link/factor in the relationship between
the government and the governed and make them a sine qua non to
societal growth and development. McNair (2002) aptly pointed
out that “in democratic political systems, media function both as
transmitters of political communication which originates outside
the media organization itself and as senders of political messages
constructed by journalists”.
The only way the public can monitor the activities of their
elected representative is through the fair and accurate reporting of
Audience Perception of NTA's Coverage of the 2015 Presidential Election Campaign
181
events by the media. If the public has the hope that the media are
capable of reporting government activities well, interest and
participation in the political system begins to nose drive and when
this happens, it becomes almost impossible to have a free, fair and
credible election. It is therefore, expected that the mass media
should be involved pre-election awareness which include voter
registration, electioneering campaign, actual voting and post-
election activities.
According to Hallin and Mancini (2004), “the mass media
are assuming many of the information that political parties once
controlled. Instead of learning about an election at a campaign
rally or from party canvassers, the mass media have become the
primary source of campaign information. There has been a
tendency for political parties to decrease their investments in
neighbour-to-neighbour canvassing, rallies and other direct
contact activities, and devote more attention to campaigning
through the media.
This investment in the media is primarily meant to control the
political narrative. According to Ekeanyanwu (2015, p. 167):
What is the connection between the media,
politics, and democratic practice that seems
to make the link tight? The connection
between the media and politics is very
obvious and strong. The role of the media in
politics is no longer debatable as many
democracies all over the world regard the
media as instruments of political
mobilisation and sensitization. In advanced
societies particularly, the mass media are
actually an integral part of political life,
serving for most people as their major and
sometimes, only link with the government
and a major source of information to
correlate events in their environment. The
media also provide their audiences the
The Nigerian Journal of Communication Vol. 13, No. 1, June 2016
182
information they need to make sense of
political issues, which helps them to make
political judgments based on their political
attitudes and perceptions.
The mass media also play
important roles in the society or social
system. That is why no known government
can do without the mass media. In addition to
providing information about the political
process, the mass media can confer status and
legitimacy on political leaders and issues.
This is known as status conferral function of
the mass media.
The growth of electronic media, especially television has
tended to diminish the role of the party. The electronic media also
make it easier to communicate events and issues through
personalities. Swanson (2004) notes that in place of or in addition
to traditional campaign practices such as rallies of the party
faithful, political parties and candidates relied on the sophisticated
use of the mass media to persuade voters – the “consumers” of
political communication to support them at election time, and they
offered campaigns that feature the appealing personalities of party
leaders.Television provides an 'aesthetic' platform for the
presentation (airing) of political advertising and electioneering
campaign messages. Norris (2004) asserts that “fair access to the
airwaves by opposition parties, candidates, and groups is critical
for competitive, free and fair elections.” He points out that it is
particularly important that state-owned or public television
stations should be open to a plurality of political viewpoints
during campaigns, without favouring the governments.
Corroborating these positions, Swanson (2004) asserts that
“editorial independence, freedom from close government
supervision and censorship, and the like, create credibility for
newscasters everywhere.” According to Abati (2006),
Audience Perception of NTA's Coverage of the 2015 Presidential Election Campaign
183
government-owned Nigerian Television Authority with
nationwide branches was particularly notorious for unequal
coverage of candidates during election periods. Newscasters were
openly sycophantic, making State governors whose states had no
television or radio stations prior to their assumption of office to
immediately set up their own stations to court such media
sycophancy.
Owolabi (2008) conducted a research study on the topic:
“media ethics and the issues in the Freedom of Information Act in
Nigerian democracy” using historical research methods to find
out that FOI act is neither a substitute for good governance nor
does it address the fundamental problems of the rich-poor divide.
It is only a potent tool that certainly improves transparency and
accountability rating of our nation. The public records which
were, hitherto shrouded in secrecy will now be made available for
public scrutiny, thus creating an enabling environment for fraud
prevention and corruption control. The study therefore
recommended that the practice of journalism in Nigeria should be
immediately professionalized like law, medicine, and engineering
and all the quacks in the rank and file of the media should be
weeded out.
Ekeanyanwu (2008) also conducted a study on the “News
flow controversy: the global media coverage of Nigerian
democracy”. Ekeanyanwu's study found that the news flow
controversy is real and there exist imbalances and inequalities in
global news flow particularly from the developed world to third
world. Nigeria as a third world nation, despite all its efforts to
correct its bad international reputation and image, unfortunately is
still a victim of this treatment by the global media. The study
therefore recommended that media channels that have global
reach should be established in Nigeria. This will help secure a
voice for the third world to be able to actively compete with the
west for the attention of the global audience.
The question now is that if we are still complaining about
The Nigerian Journal of Communication Vol. 13, No. 1, June 2016
184
news imbalance in the global media, which we know existed right
from inception, what then do we have to say about news
imbalance in the local media especially where the media
purposefully refuse to apply the Fairness Doctrine to all
politicians?
The authors used two distinct but related theories in this
context to address the issues raised in the paper. The theories are
Cultivation theory and Agenda Setting theory.
Cultivation theory was propounded by George Gerbner
and Larry Rose in 1980. They assert that the mass media
especially television, exerts a tremendous influence by altering
individuals perception of reality. The theory went further to
explain that among modern media, television has acquired such a
central place in daily life. Put in a more classic description, the
television set has become a key member of the family; the one
who tell most of the time.
Miller (2005) argues that the purpose of the Cultural
Indicators project was to identify and track the "cultivated"
effects of television on viewers. They were "concerned with the
effects of television programming (particularly violent
programming) on the attitudes and behaviours of the American
public.” The primary proposition of cultivation theory states that
the more time people spend 'living' in the television world, the
more likely they are to believe social reality portrayed on
television”, Cohen and Weimann (2000) affirm that Cultivation
leaves people with a misperception of what is true in our world.
The Agenda Setting theory was first introduced in 1972 by
Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw in their ground breaking
research which studied the 1968 US Presidential campaign in
Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Maxwell McCombs and Donald
Shaw attempted an assessment of the relationship between what
voters in one community regarded as important and what the
media considered important to publish (Ngoa, 2012, p. 4). The
Audience Perception of NTA's Coverage of the 2015 Presidential Election Campaign
185
study, however, suggests that “Although there could be other
interplaying factors not mentioned, the media, to a large extent,
shaped the way the American public voted for certain candidates
who campaigned using the issues that were given more emphasis
by media houses” (Denis, 2012, p. 260).
Folarin (1998, p. 95), classifies Agenda-setting theory as
“The Conditioning Powerful Media Theory”, and defines it as
“the theory that implies that mass media pre-determine what
issues are regarded as important in a given society”. It, however,
does not determine what we actually think but does ascribe them
the power to determine what we are thinking about. Ekeanyanwu
(2005, p. 115) is also of the view that “Agenda-setting is where the
mass media is accredited with the power to set the agenda of the
topics for discussion”.
McLuhan (1968, p. 204) cited in Folarin (2005) is of the
view that “the press can colour events by using them in a particular
way, or refusing to use them all”. This means that it is what the
media want us to think or talk about that they project to the public
as important and at the end, it appears important in the public's
eye. This then means that as NTA airs the 2015 presidential
election campaign, it registers in the mind of the audience as
important. The NTA audience may go ahead to accept the framing
or perspective the station presents and are thus guided by it.
Television medium therefore uses its power to influence audience
perception of reality. The type of news and how often NTA
showcases a particular candidate more than the other can change
the perspective/meaning for the audience.
Method of Study
The survey research method was used to address the research
objectives and questions raised for this paper. This method
The Nigerian Journal of Communication Vol. 13, No. 1, June 2016
186
provides the most effective means of collecting the views of NTA
audiences, particularly audiences of the 2015 presidential election
campaign on NTA. Sobowale (2008) avers that “the survey
technique is the most commonly used by behavioural scientists
and it involves drawing up a set of question on various aspects of a
subject to which selected members of a population are requested
to react to”
The population of this study was adults living in Onitsha
and Asaba metropolis who watch NTA. The total population of
Onitsha and Asaba amounted to 500,312. The population was
obtained from GeoHive (2015), Nigeria population statistics. The
population for Onitsha is 350,280 while Asaba is 150,032. It was
from this population that a study sample of 400 was drawn using
Taro Yamani's formula.
The purposive sampling technique was used because
respondents needed to be selected based on certain criteria (the
respondents watch NTA and were exposed to Goodluck
EbeleChukwu Jonathan campaign on NTA). Data were collected
from the respondents to determine their perception of 2015
presidential election campaign on NTA. The questionnaire
contained closed-ended questions and was administered
personally to the respondents by the researchers. The copies of the
questionnaire were shared equally to the two metropolises. Out of
400 copies of questionnaire administered to the respondents 385
copies were returned, therefore responses derived from 385
respondents formed the basis upon which data were analyzed and
research questions answered.
Results
From the 400 copies of the questionnaire that were administered to
the respondents, only 385 were properly filled and returned. This
represents a high response rate of 96%. Responses from the 385
fully completed copies of the questionnaire from the two cities are
used to answer the research questions and discuss the implications
Audience Perception of NTA's Coverage of the 2015 Presidential Election Campaign
187
of the findings.
Research Questions 1
How did the Nigerian media audiences perceive and interpret
the 2015 Presidential Election campaigns on NTA?
The first research question sought to determine how the Nigerian
audiences perceived and interpreted the NTA media campaign on
the former president Goodluck Jonathan during the 2015
Presidential Election. Data gathered from participants who were
exposed to the NTA media campaigns show that more than 50%
of the respondents were unsatisfied with what they saw. Further
details are presented in Table 1 below.
Table 1: Audiences' response on how they perceive 2015
presidential election campaign on NTA
Responses Frequency %
Averagely
Satisfactory 85 22.1
Very
Satisfactory 45 11.7
Undecided 15 3.9
Satisfied 40 10.4
Unsatisfied 200 51.9
Total 385 100
Another research question sought to find out how the
Nigerian media audiences interpreted the messages on the 2015
presidential election campaign on NTA. Data gathered from the
respondents who were exposed to the NTA media campaign show
that more than 80% of the respondents frowned at the way the NTA
granted air time to the PDP Presidential Candidate to the
disadvantage of the other presidential candidates. The details are
presented in Table 2 below:
The Nigerian Journal of Communication Vol. 13, No. 1, June 2016
188
Table 2: Opinion of the respondents on unfair coverage of NTA
during the presidential election campaign
Responses Frequency
%
Agree 147 38.2
Strongly agree 180 46.8
Undecided
13 3.4
Disagree 15 3.9
Strongly disagree
30 7.8
Total 385 100
Research Question 2
Are there marked differences in the way individuals or groups
of media audiences interpreted the Presidential Election
campaigns on NTA?
The second research question sought to find out whether there are
any marked differences in the way individuals or groups of
audiences interpreted the representation of 2015 presidential
election campaign on NTA. Data gathered from the audiences who
were exposed to the NTA presidential election campaign show
that over 80% of the respondents were convinced NTA was unfair,
partial and partisan in its coverage of the 2015 Presidential
Election campaigns. The details are presented in Table 3 below:
Table 3: Audience Reaction to NTA Coverage of the 2015
Presidential Election campaign
Reaction to Coverage Frequency
%
Lacking balance and fairness 138 35.8
Partial and partisan 185 48.1
Impartial 17 4.4
Provided equal airtime 15 3.9
All of the above 30 8.6
Total
385 100
Audience Perception of NTA's Coverage of the 2015 Presidential Election Campaign
189
Discussion
The implication of the data presented above is that majority of the
respondents who participated in the study considered NTA's
coverage of the 2015 Presidential Election campaign to be unfair,
partisan, and generally unsatisfactory. This conclusion is in line
with Abati's (2006) position that government-owned broadcast
stations are notorious for unprofessional conduct in support of a
government in power in their coverage of political or controversial
issues. This situation is primarily symptomatic of
underdevelopment in third world nations where such is rife. The
media, in all situations and circumstances, should be fair,
professional and incorruptible especially in political reporting
(Ekeanyanwu, 2007) but our circumstances in the third world
makes it difficult if not impossible for the media to play by the
books and not support their ownership base. There are enough
studies that have established a strong link between media
ownership and editorial influence in the Nigerian media industry
(See Ekeanyanwu, 2007; Ekeanyanwu, 2008) and most times this
leads to a violation of ethical expectations by the media. In
essence, one who pays the piper calls the tune.
Notwithstanding the above scenario, one cannot easily
discard the pivotal role media play in the political setting of a
developing nation like Nigeria. This may have informed McNair's
(2002) assertion that “in democratic political systems, media
function both as transmitters of political communication which
originates outside the media organization itself, and as senders of
political messages constructed by journalists”. McNair (2002)
also emphasizes that “the citizen's right to choose presupposes the
availability of alternatives from which a meaningful selection
could be made, a rational and knowledgeable electorate capable of
exercising its rights. Democracy was real, in other words, only
when it involved the participation of an informed, rational
electorate.”
The Nigerian Journal of Communication Vol. 13, No. 1, June 2016
190
In conclusion, to develop an involved, well informed and
rational electorate, the media must be at the centre of civic
education and enlightenment of the voting electorate on the
political process. Therefore, all legitimate measures and strategies
should be exploited to make it possible for the citizens to have the
required information or alternatives before making very important
political decisions. Anything short of this will truncate the
democratic aspirations and expectation of any State and its
citizens.
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Polimedia: Media and Politics in Nigeria. Enugu: ACCE
(Nigeria Chapter) and Prime Targets Ltd.
Audience Perception of NTA's Coverage of the 2015 Presidential Election Campaign
