Therefore, the topic motivating this study is Jos metropolitan residents' perception of public broadcast media coverage of the 2011 governorship elections in Plateau State, Nigeria. Which of the political parties received more coverage from the public broadcasting media in Plateau State during the 2011 gubernatorial elections. What is the role of the agenda setting of the public broadcasting media on party/candidate choice during the 2011 gubernatorial elections in Plateau State .
The campaign message contains the ideas the candidate wants to share with voters. Social responsibility theory, as noted by Asemah (2011a), is an offshoot of libertarian theory. The main assumption of the theory is that the media sets the agenda for the public to follow.
Review of Related Literature
The connection is stated in causal terms: in giving status to a case, the media structure is what matters. Going by agenda setting theory, the issues raised by the media usually attract people's attention (as cited in Obot, 2013, p. 174). Ramsden (1996) argues that while the media "can occasionally influence attitudes, they are more often effective as spotlights" (p. 66).
By putting the spotlight on which issues the public should focus on, the media helps dictate which issues voters should be involved in elections and which criteria they should use to judge politicians (Mondak, 1995). The media has the discretion to cover only the candidates they feel are legitimate candidates and have a realistic chance of winning the election. Ramsden (1996) says the media should cover all candidates equally so that voters can get to know them all.
The media can greatly influence elections by creating awareness, whether through negative campaigning or through their choice of coverage of a candidate. According to McNair (2002), political advertising refers to the purchase and use of advertisements to transmit political messages to a mass audience; the media used for this purpose may include instead of or in addition to traditional campaign practices such as rallies of the faithful, political parties and candidates rely on the sophisticated use of the mass media to persuade the electorate - the "consumers". Regarding the large amount of information available to citizens through the media about issues, political parties and leaders, election campaigns often represent a high point of political communication.
Concerns about political bias in the mass media are at the heart of debates about the media's roles and responsibilities in elections. The media are agents of information dissemination and can be used to persuade the population to accept a certain program, policy, etc.
Method and Materials
This therefore implies that the media, both printed and electronic, play a crucial role in election campaigns. Elections are the cornerstone of any democracy and the media play a vital role in informing the public about what the politicians are promising, in telling the politicians what ordinary people want or don't want, and in ensuring that elections are 'free and fair'. ' are. This is especially important in countries that do not have a solid background of democratic governance. The mass media is the most common source of information about election campaigns in democracies and societies in transition around the world.
Behind these concerns is the assumption that there may be effects, intended or unintended, on public opinion and political behavior and ultimately electoral outcomes. In addition, the use of a survey for data collection in this study is justified by the fact that it is the most appropriate method to collect and measure data related to demographics, attitude, opinion and perception (Asemah, Gujbawu, Ekhareafo , & Okpanachi, 2012). The population of the study consists of adult men and women in the Jos metropolis.
The Official Gazette of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (2006) lists 1,008,477 as the total provincial Jos Metropolitan Local Government Areas in the 2006 National Population Census. The selection of these cities was based on the fact that they are the most important cities in the Jos metropolis where you can get respondents who will provide reliable information on the subject. Simple random sampling was used to select the four hundred and twenty three respondents (423) from the four cities.
To ensure that the questionnaire provided consistent and reliable data, it was pre-tested on twenty respondents in metropolitan Jos. To ensure that the research tool measured what it set out to measure, mass communication experts scrutinized it to ensure its validity.
Data Presentation and Analysis
Of the distributed four hundred and twenty-three (423) copies of the questionnaire, only four hundred and ten copies were obtained, and four hundred five (405) usable copies. The table above shows that the return rate is 95% while the bounce rate is 5%. The presentation and analysis of the data obtained with the questionnaire was therefore based on 405 copies that were usable.
The respondents were asked about the extent to which the state-owned broadcast media paid attention to electoral campaigns in Plateau State during the 2011 governorship elections. In Table 7, 43% of respondents agreed that the extent to which the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) covered the 2011 governorship elections was very high, while 59% of respondents agreed that the extent to which Plateau Radio Television Corporation ( PRTVC) paid. attention to the election was a very big one. 31% of the respondents agreed that the extent to which NTA paid attention was great while 28% said that the coverage of PRTVC was 'to a great extent'. The data therefore shows that the Plateau Radio Television Corporation (PRTVC) paid more attention to the gubernatorial election campaigns.
The data in Table 8 shows that the ruling party (People's Democratic Party) got the highest coverage during the 2011 gubernatorial campaigns in Plateau State. Respondents were asked whether political advertising of the ruling party (PDP) through the government-owned broadcast media was responsible for the success of the 2011 governorship election in Plateau State. Out of the four hundred and five copies of the questionnaire received, 299 respondents (74%) agreed, while the remaining 106 respondents (26%) disagreed.
The next question asked of the respondents was whether the agenda setting role of the broadcast media had any influence on the choice of party/candidate during the 2011 gubernatorial election in Plateau State. This shows that the agenda setting role of the media contributed to candidate selection during the 2011 gubernatorial election in Plateau State. The final question for the respondents was whether residents of Jos metropolis were satisfied with the way and manner the government owned media covered the 2011 governorship election campaigns in Plateau State.
The data in Table 11 shows that respondents were not satisfied with the manner and manner in which the state-owned broadcast media covered the 2011 governorship election campaigns in Plateau State.
Results and Discussion of Findings
He mostly does this when he wants to use the media to protect his interests. In most cases, media managers are forced to publish certain stories that should not be published. The fact remains that the director of a newspaper or news media, who does not want to lose his job, has no choice but to submit to the dictates of the owner of the media.
The political and economic system within which the media operate partly also determines their roles. The above statement shows that the owners of the media determine what kind of program should be carried out at a given time. Findings further show that the media agenda setting function had a significant influence on the choice of party and candidate during the 2011 governorship elections in Plateau State.
The media generally influences the public through their power of influence by repeatedly presenting issues and news reports about news events, political candidates and issues that are in the public mind. The media played an agenda-setting role by focusing on the most acceptable candidate and paved the way for voters to view the candidates as who should be elected by their benchmark. This may explain why Grabber (1990) argues that "the media not only draw attention to matters of potential public interest, but also provide clues to the public as to the degree of importance of an issue." Graber's claim aptly captures the agenda-setting function of the mass media in modern societies.
The above suggests that the media has power, as evidenced by its agenda-setting role during election campaigns. The findings also show that the respondents were not satisfied with the manner and manner in which the media reported the 2011 governorship election in Plateau State.
Summary and Conclusion
Party (PDP), Da David Jonah Jang, made repeated appearances on Plateau State government broadcasts during the election campaigns.
Limitations of the Study and Suggestions for Further Study
Plateau State has a total of seventeen local government areas but only four that make up the Jos metropolis were elected. However, despite the exclusion of other local government areas in the state, the data collected was sufficient as a basis for inference for the entire state as they share many similarities. Furthermore, the population of Jos metropolis is sufficient to make valid generalizations about the perception of government-owned media coverage of the 2011 gubernatorial election in Plateau State.
Therefore, future researchers on a similar topic should try to expand the scope of the research to other areas. Future researchers may decide to extend the study to the three senatorial zones of Plateau State, Nigeria. Future researchers should try to cover the private and public media houses in Plateau State.
Public perception of print media coverage of election campaigns: A study of the 2007 and 2011 presidential campaigns in Nigeria, Makurdi Journal of Communication. Community relations and conflict resolution in the Niger Delta: A study of three major oil companies [Doctoral dissertation submitted to the Department of Mass. Influence of political advertising on voter choice in Idah during the 2011 Kogi State House of Assembly election.
