Mass Media and Government Restriction in the 21st Century Using Twitter Ban in Nigeria as a Case Study
CHAPTER ONE
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The primary objective of this study is to examine the restrictions on mass media in the 21st century. Using Twitter as a case study, the following objectives are instrumental for this study;
- To investigate the extent to which the government interferes or restricts the mass media from fully exercising its rights.
- To investigate how often government places restrictions on the various mass media.
- To determine the effects of government restrictions on mass mediums like Twitter.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Social media: evolution and social transformations
Social media consists of computer-based technologies for easy communication, interaction and collaboration. They are digitally-mediated communication software that enable users to create, share and view content in publicly networked one-to-one, one-to-many, and/or many- to-many communications (Hopkins, 2017). The social media as we have it today, evolved in generations. Internet use in the early 1990s was mainly a one way flow communication system. Users could only read through contents posted online without a means to participate by either liking, commenting, sharing or interacting with other users. Cormode and Krishnamurthy (2008) explains that Internet use was primarily configured around “passive” consumption of static content posted on websites without any meaningful input or interaction on the part of the content‟s readers or viewers and this era marks the first generation in the evolution referred to as “Web 1.0”
The late 1990s and early 2000s saw the emergence of the second generation of the evolution of the Internet known as the „Web 2.0‟. This era of Internet evolution is characterized by feedback, interactivity and multimediality. Yar Majid (2018), puts it that what distinguished Web 2.0 platforms, applications, and services from their predecessors was their erosion (and possible effacement) of the distinction between producers and consumers of content, with users generating their own multi-media content (e.g., text, images, animations, audio-visual recordings). This could be shared with multiple other users and it is precisely the user interactivity that puts the “social” into “social media.” Notable among the social networking sites in vogue today that exhibits the above described features of the Web 2.0 and more includes: Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp Twitter, Intsagram, Snapchat, Flickr, Tumblr, Skype, LinkedIn, Telegram, Reddit, MySpace, Viber, and many others.
Social impacts of the social media are evident across several countries of the world. The Arab spring became a reference point in many discourses given the role it played in amplifying and accelerating regime changes in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. Al-Jenaibi (2014) in a survey of respondents from the Arab region found that social media outlets complemented old media and served as a catalyst for the uprisings that have swept several Arab states in the Middle East. Social media was used to mobilize for rioting, street protests and violence in Hungary in 2006. During this period, radical political and cultural groups used the Internet for exchanging information, mobilizing supporters and developing their narratives of the events (Jakubowicz, 2012) cited in (Agbaenyi, Okafor & Nwagbo, 2015).In a bid to assess the relationship between social media use and political knowledge among the Turkish electorate, Andı, Aytaç and Çarkoğlu (2019) found that social media use is positively associated with higher levels of political knowledge and participation. The challenge, however, was that users are more likely to be misinformed and more likely to be opinionated about politics than non- users (Andı, Aytaç & Çarkoğlu, 2019).
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
INTRODUCTION
In this chapter, we described the research procedure for this study. A research methodology is a research process adopted or employed to systematically and scientifically present the results of a study to the research audience viz. a vis, the study beneficiaries.
RESEARCH DESIGN
Research designs are perceived to be an overall strategy adopted by the researcher whereby different components of the study are integrated in a logical manner to effectively address a research problem. In this study, the researcher employed the survey research design. This is due to the nature of the study whereby the opinion and views of people are sampled. According to Singleton & Straits, (2009), Survey research can use quantitative research strategies (e.g., using questionnaires with numerically rated items), qualitative research strategies (e.g., using open-ended questions), or both strategies (i.e., mixed methods). As it is often used to describe and explore human behaviour, surveys are therefore frequently used in social and psychological research.
POPULATION OF THE STUDY
According to Udoyen (2019), a study population is a group of elements or individuals as the case may be, who share similar characteristics. These similar features can include location, gender, age, sex or specific interest. The emphasis on study population is that it constitute of individuals or elements that are homogeneous in description.
This study was carried out to access the freedom of the press during the endsars protest in plateau state, Journalists in from different press organizations plateau state form the population of the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
This chapter presents the analysis of data derived through the questionnaire and key informant interview administered on the respondents in the study area. The analysis and interpretation were derived from the findings of the study. The data analysis depicts the simple frequency and percentage of the respondents as well as interpretation of the information gathered. A total of thirty six (36) questionnaires were administered to respondents of which 35 were returned. The analysis of this study is based on the number returned.
Source: Field Survey, 2021
From the responses obtained as expressed in the table above, 25 respondents constituting 71.4% said Low extent, indicating that the government interferes or restricts the mass media from fully exercising its rights. While a total of 5 respondents constituting 14.3% were undecided choosing to remain neutral. The remaining 5 respondents constituting 14.3% chose yes, meaning the government interferes or restricts the mass media from fully exercising its rights.
CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
CONCLUSION
In this study, the focus was to access the mass media and government restriction in the 21st century using twitter ban in Nigeria as a case study. The study specifically was aimed at ascertaining the impact of government restriction of Twitter in Nigeria . This study reviewed and anchored its framework on The Development theory.
The study adopted the survey research design and randomly enrolled participants in the study. A total of 35 responses were validated from the enrolled participants where all respondents were journalists.
The findings revealed that the Press was not free at all to execute its duties the twitter restriction in Nigeria ; also, the endsars protest affected the press and its freedom to a large extent. Additionally, the press had little or no freedom when it came to exercising their rights.
RECOMMENDATION
Based on the responses obtained, the researcher proffers the following recommendations:
- The government should take heed and allow for the freedom of the press at all times especially in times of crisis.
The press should not be easily cajoled by the government when exercising their rights as they owe a responsibility to the public.
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