CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background to the Study
The term mass media refers to a means of communication operating on a large scale that reaches practically everyone in the society. Media is plural of medium which implies a channel or platform by which an activity is communicated or transmitted. In other words, mass media are channels of communication in a contemporary society, mainly the print and the electronic media.
According to McQuail (2000), the fundamental aim of the mass media system is to ensure the provision of information to several millions of people. The mass media are extremely influential. Every media is assumed to affect the perceptions and behaviour of people in a distinctive way, as well as the society. In contemporary society, the mass media are perceived to have a unique role in public communication and their significance lies in the fact that they are a main cause of whatever modes of perception, thought, public discourse and political action (Onabanjo, 2014). This is because of their size and the larger audience they reach; as a result, they have tremendous impact on society. Obasi (2013) summarizes the society impact of the media in diverse ways which include oil, give and dynamite. According to Obasi (2013), the media keep the world running smoothly by helping individuals adjust to the reality of lives. In addition, the media keep the society on and healthy by recommending solutions that are socially acceptable.
According to Bakare (2015), there are basically three main types of media ownership in Nigeria, which are; government ownership, private ownership and partnership. According to Bakare (2015), government ownership refers to when the government establishes, takes controls and finances the media outfit; while private ownership refers to when a person or a group of individuals establish, control and finance the media outfit; whereas in partnership refers to when both the government and private individuals are into some sort of co-ownership in relation to the establishment, financing and controlling of the media house (Bakare, 2015). There is a symbiotic relationship existing between the media and the society. Thus, it is in the interest of the society to have strong and robust mass media because it is in the best interest of the media to uphold the values and protect the interest of the society from which they derive their impulse, support and patronage (Onukaba 2013). Onukaba (2013) further claimed that, no media organization can survive if it is seen to work against its own society.
In the opinion of Nwosu (2016), media establishments are as well expected to use their products to educate, enlighten, entertain, change public perceptions, reinforce attitudes and set agenda for the society. In several societies, individuals rely heavily on the media to know where to find jobs, to seek for information and news, where to shop, among others. Therefore, it is safe to say that the influence of the media extends to every aspect of human life and society. Thus, for media organizations to effectively play these roles, they are expected to uphold the values of objectivity, fairness, justice, accuracy, balance, moderation and decency (Eze, 2014). According to Ogbuoshi (2017), one main reason why the governments are actively involved in the media is that the private establishments cannot be trusted to faithfully uphold these values of the profession. Speaking further, Ogbuoshi (2017) claimed that the government accused them of promoting unrealistic expectations among the public, worsen the anxieties about conditions in the country, mongering, among others. Though, these are criticisms leveled against all media establishments in general, whether private or public (Ogbuoshi, 2017). Onukaba (2013) posited that, government media establishments are established superficially to address these weaknesses of the privately owned media houses as well as to bring nearer to the public, government programmes and policies and to promote peaceful co-existence among the various ethnic groups in the society in which they operate. However, they are usually limited by their modes of operation.
Ogbuoshi (2017) argued that, the dominant belief of individuals who advocate privatization of broadcasting in Nigeria seem to be that the electronic media practitioners would provide the best service when those media are operated as privately owned business or a commercial enterprise. One among the reasons is that, the privately owned media establishments would be able to avoid unsuitable government influence that content of broadcast news or current affairs in today’s Nigeria tend to be politically biased (Nwosu, 2016). According to Bakare (2015), it was pointed out that privately owned media organizations allows for healthy competition which could lead to improved services to the masses of Nigeria, as well as the encouragement of diversity in production, programming and other areas of broadcasting.
It is therefore based on the above that this study seeks to analyse the comparative study on the performance of government owned and privately owned media organization in Nigeria, using AIT and NTA
1.2. Statement of the Problem
The role of the media houses as agents of rural and national development, especially at the information dissemination level is now generally recognized and accepted by experts and policy makers. It is the duty of any media institution to keep the public aware of the ongoing activities around them by providing accurate, factual and timely information at all times. In addition, it is the duty of the media to warn and alert the public about impending dangers to interpret events or provide information needed by the public to make every day decision that will make them participate actively in the political, economic and social activities of a community and to assist the public in determining current trends.
However, it has been observed that the ownership of these media houses have in a number of ways influenced the media programmes and this has posed a number of problems. First of all, nothing runs the broadcast media practitioner down as having the option of either following the dictates of the owners or face the bitter music of being sacked. In addition, media ownership have been found to influence programme or content that have affected many broadcast media outfit in their operations and have as well made them lose their audience. The above assertion is mostly true especially in the case of the government owned media houses.
Given the liberation of media industry by General Ibrahim Babangida’s administration in 1992, a lot of privately owned media organizations have spring-up, among them are BCOS radio station, RayPower, TNT television, Solid radio and television, Arise TV, Silverbird TV, among others. Many of these new privately owned media establishments have produced standard programmes that out bids that of the government owned media establishments. Thus, a lot of people have neglected the government owned broadcasting media establishments for the privately owned media organizations.
The study problem is to compare the performance of the government owned and privately owned media organizations performs, by examining the public perception on the factors influencing their choice of television preference between Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) and African Independent Television (AIT).
1.3. Objective of the Study
The objective of this study is to analyse the comparative study on the performance of government owned and privately owned media organization in Nigeria, using AIT and NTA. However, the following specific objectives are to:
- find out which of the media establishment has better content in terms of programmes;
- examine the ownership control and power in both media establishments;
- investigate the performance of staff in both media organizations;
- examine which of the media establishment improves broadcasting generally
1.4. Research Questions
The following are the research questions posed for the study.
- Which of the media establishment has better content in terms of programmes?
- To what extent is the ownership control and power in both media establishments?
- To what extent is the performance of staff in both media organizations?
- Which of the media establishment improves broadcasting generally?
1.5. Significance of the Study
This study is important in the sense that, it will contribute to existing literature on mass communication and bulk of knowledge on the comparative study on the performance of government owned and privately owned media organization in Nigeria.
In addition, the findings will help to analyze the pattern of media ownership and its influence on Nigerian development. Also, the findings will provide the more information to individuals and stakeholders in order to make decisions on which form of media ownership is better and needful in Nigeria.
Furthermore, the findings will as well shed light on the challenges and critical issues affecting the growth and development of media organizations in Nigeria.
Lastly, the findings will serve as a reference point to other researchers willing to carry out a similar study.
1.6. Scope of the Study
This study examined the comparative study on the performance of government owned and privately owned media organization in Nigeria. The scope of this study is confined to AIT and NTA both in Lagos State, Nigeria. This study will adopt the use of questionnaire to gather data from the public who watch both media stations. The simple random techniques will be use to administer the questionnaire in order to ensure fairness in both gender participating in the study. Given that both media organizations are in Lagos State, it will offer the researcher a good sample for the study.
1.7. Operational Definition of Terms
Comparative Study: implies that the study will examine two media organizations, that is, NTA and AIT, in order to find out their similarities or differences
Government Owned Media Organization: refers to the use of NTA, which is a government owned media organization in Nigeria.
Privately Owned Broadcasting Media: refers to the use of AIT, which is a privately owned media organization in Nigeria.
Media: refers to the platform used for communication. In this study, it refers to the use of television to communicate to the public.
Performance: refers to the effectiveness of the media organization in carrying out their responsibilities to the society.
