Abstract
The 21st century can be described as the age of information technology. Technology runs almost all human endeavors, including politics. In recent times, politicians have swerved from the use of traditional media (broadcast and print) to the use of social media to carry out their political and electoral campaigns in order to realize their political ambition. One of the major challenges of electioneering in the new media influence is that, due to the faceless nature of the internet, social media spreads propaganda, false information, and hate speeches about an electoral candidate. These go viral and are used to manipulate the electorate. The researcher examines the new media influence on electioneering campaign in Nigeria. Findings show that the new media influence, played a major role in mobilizing people, creating awareness, as well as participation and circulation of information about candidates. It therefore recommends, among other things, that regulatory methods on what should and
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1
Background to Study
The
use of new media in politics has continued to grow in recent years. Since
Barack Obama broke the world record in the history of social media use for
political purpose during the 2008 presidential elections, many nations and
politicians across the globe have continued to embrace the platform to mobilise
their citizens and candidates towards active participation in the political
process. Nigeria had the first real test of social media use for political
participation and electioneering campaign during the 2011 presidential
election. This was seen in the creation of Facebook and twitter profiles by the
candidate of the People Democratic Party (PDP) Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. This
move put him a step over its nearest competitor by over 10 million votes. It
has led to most scholars that President Goodluck social media game was the
reason for his dominant victory in the 2011 Presidential Election. This was not
so previously, as network television and newspapers dominated coverage of
electioneering and were the primary sites of election related information. But
today, the social media has become a major election information sharing
platform globally. Because of its ease of use, speed, and reach, social media
is revolutionizing the efficiency of election administration, coverage and
reporting.
Before
the advent of the new media, the older or conventional media – radio,
television, newspapers, magazines, etc., ruled the world, and had directly or
indirectly blocked popular participation in the electoral process. This is
because there has always been scarcity of space and airtime given by the
conventional media to the citizens to have their say in politics, governance
and in the electoral process. Conventional media critics such as (Graber, 1976;
Fallows 1996; Blumler and Gurevitch, 1995) cited in
(Abubakar, A.A, 2011.)
thus believe that
voters were left with paid political propaganda containing only meaningless
slogans, making them disinterested and cynical about politics. They argue that
there is absence of serious debate in the conventional media that could make
people to learn the substance of issues and policies proposals as well as
related arguments, and that this disallows citizens from participating actively
in political discourse. ÂÂÂ
Thus,
(Denver, 2007)
maintains that communicating with
voters in the hope of influencing their behaviour is not new. It is as old as
competitive politics itself. Denver continues that “For as long as there have
been contested elections . . . those standing for election and their supporters
have endeavoured . . . to persuade the relevant electorate to vote for
them.â€Â They also enlighten voters on the
election process which is an essential ingredient for a successful election.
This is particularly crucial in view of the fact that in developing societies
like Nigeria the level of political awareness is very low. Lack of political
awareness is greatly associated with the predominance of illiterates that
constitute the electorate. Consequently, the uninformed electorate tend to
ignore character or issues like infrastructure, unemployment, corruption,
insecurity, and living conditions. Their voting decisions are rather based on trivial
considerations like party loyalty, social ties, ethnic and religious
affiliation. This has inclined
(Jibo, 1997)
to the view that in Tiv land, the party followers used to say that “A lu kon
kpaa se votuâ€ÂÂ. That is, they were prepared to vote for even a tree if it was
their party’s candidate.†Politicians, thus exploit voters’ lack of knowledge
to perpetrate and consolidate the existing culture to their gain. This must
have prompted
(Idiong, 2010)
to admit that “In Nigeria, there has
been noticeable tendency on the part of the news media to overplay the
personality rather than the issue.†It is not surprising, therefore, that as
the Nigeria’s 2011 presidential elections approached and became more
competitive, politicians and other stakeholders sought more efficient means of
communicating their messages. One of the most efficient means was the media of
mass communication which have now constituted the mainstream of modern
electoral politics.
There
has now been a change over the last decade in the way people access, consume
and produce media: a shift away from mainstream media and toward internet based
content and social media. Fifty-one per cent of Nigerians use the internet – of
which 70 per cent are using social media (Facebook, YouTube and Twitter all
count in the top ten most visited sites in Nigeria). This is changing the way
people get their news, and learn about issues.
Social
media activity presents a novel way to research and understand attitudes,
trends and media consumption. There is a growing number of academic and
commercial efforts to make sense of social media data sets for research or
(more typically) advertising and marketing purposes. From the inception of
Ushahidi to collect and map reports of violence during the post-election period
in Kenya in 2007, to the reliance on Twitter during Iran