TOPIC

Assessment of the Impact of Participatory Journalism on Good Governance

AUTHOR

Ugwu Nnenna Jovita

ABSTRACTThe operations of the mainstream media structure in  most African  countries,  often  leads  to  public  disengagement  in  politics  and  mass  alienation  from governance. Public media are often too bureaucratic while private media are commercialized and none of these media systems serve grassroots interest in Africa. Media systems in Africa have reflected journalistic  professional  hegemony,  through  mediation  in  the  construction  of  political  reality; boundary setting in the public sphere; disillusionment of liberal media operations and perpetuation of the elitist political class, who are often alienated from their grassroots or origins. The Nigerian case is a typical example of grassroots alienation whereby most politicians visit rural areas only during electioneering periods, which come once in four years, to seek supports and votes. Political communication in most African democracies have thus manifested vertical or top-down model that prevents equality and leads to poor political participation of grassroots people. This has often resulted in voter apathy, low voter turnout, public distrust in leadership and a host of attendant social, economic and political crisis. Consequently, this paper evaluates the capacity of the mass media in engendering wide political participation, which is crucial to good governance in Nigeria, and on the continent at large.Keywords: Mass media, Participation, Politics, Good governance, Commercial

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PUBLISHED

2023-01-11

HOW TO CITE

Ugwu Nnenna Jovita (2023)Assessment of the Impact of Participatory Journalism on Good Governance. IAA JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES, 9(1):12-18.