The Impact of Private Broadcast Media on National Development (a Case Study of Ray Power and AIT Programme)
CHAPTER ONE
Objectives of the Study
The main objective of the study is to examine the impact of private broadcast media on national development.
This study has the following guiding objectives:
- To determine the impact of Ray Power/AlT on the Development of the audience.
- To analyze the audience’s views on how the two Stations have advanced their knowledge and other skills in relation to their development.
- To outline the areas of strengths and weakness of these stations with a view to suggesting areas to be improved upon.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Introduction
According to Kupe, (1996:114) colonialism brought the print and electronic media which became other forms of communication hitherto unused in African Society. This may be what Kivikuru, (2002:5) meant then, when he writes thai …the role of the mass media is not deeply rooted into societal 1fe in Africa as in, say Europe. In today’s Africa, which Nigeria constitutes an integral part of, the role of the media is something that has not yet been clearly understood and assimilated by both the practitioners and their publics.
Kupe, (1996:114) continues by observing that: there are several reasons why the media is not as rooted into societal life in Africa as in Europe. These include the fact that African media systems are very small urban phenomena. Radio, which is the nearest to being a mass medium in Africa, suffers the same handicaps: transmission equipment that does not cover the national territory, weak signals, radio sets that are too expensive to a large section of the population, batteries which are both expensive and in some countries difficult to find. Television does not even exist in some countries; where it does the cost of sets is prohibitive and it is only available where there is electricity, which are normally the urban centres. In terms of content, most programming is cheap and old programmes from Europe, North America and Australia.
Fourth, contrary to the desires of the media and development advocates, perhaps the media in Africa is used more for its entertainment value than its ability to inform or teach people how to improve their living standards. Certainly most mainstream media which is dominant in Africa hardly contain the so-called development programmes; rather, they carry promises of development by politicians and threats against “elements bent on destabilizing the nation.” The material that is “free” from the shallow promises and dire threats is entertainment.
As has been observed in the background of this study, the liberalization of the broadcast sector in Nigeria has done a lot towards the reduction of the wide gap occasioned by most of the afore-mentioned problems between urban and rural accessibility to mass media facilities and services.
Following from the foregoing, this chapter will attempt to align this study with various literatures that have been written on the various aspects of the study topic. In order to enhance readability and better comprehension, this chapter will be treated under the following headings or sections:
- Broadcasting in Nigeria: a historical perspective
- The concept of development: definitions, aspects and components.
- Broadcasting in Development: an overview.
- Daar Communications Limited: an overview.
- Summary
BROADCASTING IN NIGERIA: a historical perspective.
Broadcasting in Nigeria can be traced to the early part of the 1930s. According to Nwanze, (2003: 1) broadcasting in Nigeria can be traced to the establishment of a radio broadcasting station in Lagos in 1933. Though not a fully fledged station, it marked the first electronic broadcasting institution in Nigeria that was responsible for retransmitting London based BBC programmes to Nigerians through telephone wires.
According to him, “the British colonial government initiated radio broadcasting to link the colonial territories with Britain to serve as propaganda machinery . . . to propagate and disseminate their alien cultural norms, values and philosophies.
Giving a slight slant to the above view, Udeajah, (2004:34) observes that “Mackay’s 1964 Broadcasting in Nigeria traces broadcasting in the country to December 19 1932 when the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) launched the world’s first regularly scheduled short wave programme service”. The reasons for this development were as already stated by Nwanze.
Dwelling on the works of Ume-Nwagbo (1979) he notes that “federal and regional broadcasting evolved side by side in Nigeria as a result of ethnic and political pressures. He believes that the federal government had absolute control of national broadcast services and the inadequate stations owned and operated by the states exist alongside those of the federal government in many states.”
This state of things continued until 1951 when the Nigerian Broadcasting Service (NBS) was created as an arm of the Federal Ministry of Information. This creation notwithstanding, Nwanze continues that the character, structure and function of the NBS was nothing different from the past. It continued to serve as a relay station, working closely with the BBC and relaying national news and other programmes from London.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research Design:
Many scientific researches in the role of the media in various aspects of human and community living have adopted diverse methodologies and instruments. In this line, Okoye, (2004:97) writes that many studies such as Nwuneli (1984), Akinfeleye at all (1989) and Sobowale (1988) afready embarked upon by scholars in Nigeria adopted the survey method.
This study will adopt the survey method, which according to the BBC English Dictionary means … a detailed investigation of something, for example people’s behaviours or opinions...
As a survey therefore, this research will use a questionnaire constructed specifically for this purpose to elicit information from the respondents on the various research questions stated in chapter one.
The questionnaire will be given to the project supervisor for content validity to ascertain that it is capable of getting the information it set out to get from the respondents.
Once this is ascertained, the instrument will be administered on a few people to test its strong and weak points. After this the shortcomings so identified (if any) will be corrected and the instrument will then be administered on the study sample.
Description of Population:
The population of this study will comprise of all the over 10 million residents of Port Harcourt in Rivers state. Port Harcourt is a cosmopolitan city with diverse religious, political educational and other interests.
To ensure adequate coverage of the study area the two main local Government Areas (Obio/Akpor and Port Harcourt City) were used as clusters.
Sample Size
Due to the large nature of the population, the limited time and resources available to the researcher, a sample of three hundred (300) people will be randomly selected and the instrument administered on them. The returns from this sample will be used in the data analysis of this study.
Sampling Technique:
In selecting the sample for this study, the simple random sampling technique will be used. This technique means that every resident of Port Harcourt stands a chance of being a part of the sample. In other words no clearly defined order or criteria will be used to determine the people to be administered with the questionnaire.
The area popularly called Port Harcourt is made up of two Local Government Areas — Obio/Akpor and Port Harcourt City Local Government Areas. Since the two Local Government Areas have already formed the cluster samples, they will both receive equal treatment/allocation. Hence 50% of the sample will come from each of them respectively.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA
In this chapter, the data collected in the field are presented on tables guided by the various research questions they set out to answer. In anticipation of the usual shortfall in response rate owing to various respondent-associated problems such as poor knowledge of the study topic, not being disposed to answer the questions and wrong/poor handling of the instrument, a total of 315 copies of the questionnaire were distributed. At the end of the administration and retrieval, wrongly filled-in ones were dropped and some of the excesses were also removed, leaving a total of 300 copies for the analysis. This is the study sample as stated in the previous chapter.
Table 3 above shows that only 20 respondents have lived in their area for less than 1 year; 87 representing % have lived for between 1 year and 3 years while the remaining 193 have been in Port Harcourt for more than 3 years.
CHAPTER FIVE
DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS, SUMMARY, RECOMMENDATIONS, AND CONCLUSION.
In this chapter, the various findings as deduced from the data presented in the previous chapter will be summarized in line with the overall attempt to situate them in proper perspective with both the objectives of the study, the literature reviewed and the research questions.
After this relevant recommendations will be postured, suggestions for further research will be made and conclusions drawn.
In line with this, this chapter will be treated under four sub-sections reflecting the above issues.
Discussion of Findings
As was pointed out in chapter 3, the first section of the questionnaire aimed at describing ascertaining the characteristics of the respondents. The data on this are presented on Table 1 which shows the sexes of the respondents. As is evident on the said table, a little over 60% of them are males while the remaining ones (39.3%) are women. This gives a fair representation of both sexes. In as much as sex has little or nothing to do with the study, it was believed that there was a need for a fair representation of both sexes hence the above distribution between the sexes.
As is seen on Table 2, the study area was given equal representation since the two Local Government areas are similar in all characteristics including their being the major target areas of the two stations hence 50% of the respondents were drawn from each of them randomly.
Another issue worth noting at this stage of the discussion is that over 90% of the respondents have lived in these areas for more than 1 year. The import of the respondents’ duration of stay lies in the fact that since they have lived in the study area for over 1 year, they must have viewed the television channel and listened to the radio station long enough to give adequate assessment of their relevance, impact and possible shortcomings. If they are aware of these, they are in good stead to offer useful suggestions for the improvement of their services with a view to giving their (respondents’) felt-needs adequate coverage and treatment.
Coming to the research questions proper, Research question 1 sort to find out the respondents level of awareness of the existence of the two study stations. To answer this question, 100% of the respondents stated that they are aware of their existence.
Also, it is evident from the figures on Tables 5 and 6 that almost a good number (over 80%) of the respondents patronize the two stations as regards viewing and listening. This will also go a long way in giving more credence to their views on the various questions asked thereby authenticating the data more.
Research question 2 set out to identify the various programmes of the two stations that solve the respondents’ development related problems.
In order to answer this question, the researcher first ascertained their views on whether these stations are of any development benefits to them and the data contained on Table 7 shows that more than 60% of them agreed that they have derived some development related benefits from the stations.
Getting to specifics therefore, lists of the stations’ programmes were presented and the respondents were required to tick the ones that have impacted on their development needs. The data on these are presented on Tables 8 and 9 and a cursory look at them will reveal that a good percentage of the respondents are of the opinion that most of the stations’ programmes have been of development benefits to them. These programmes range from news, 1h11 political and educational to sports and current affairs.
The respondents were also asked to say the areas of their lives that have been affected by the stations programmes and a lot of areas were outlined. These include health and personal hygiene, current affairs, Political awareness and participation, educational issues, environmental issues and better relaxation and entertainment. Others are variety and choice of programmes, ability to air their views through phone-in programmes and greater intellectual enrichment. Placing these in line with the fundamental functions of the mass media to inform, educate and entertain their audiences (readers, viewers and listeners) one can say without any fear of equivocation that the two stations are fulfilling these obligations.
Research question 3 was aimed at finding out the respondents’ rating of the overall performance of the study stations as regards satisfying their development needs.
To answer this research question, the respondents were requested to do three things and these are to:
- rate the stations’ coverage of vital development indices as they concern health issues, news and current affairs, economic empowerment and skill acquisition, community development, conflict resolution etc.
- say if the stations are actually aiding development in their areas and rate the sufficiency/adequacy of the times allotted to development-related programmes by the stations.
To this end, a 5-scale rating parameter ranging from Very High, High, Average to Low and Very Low was used. Table 11 is a reflection of these ratings and it is clear from the table that in all the options, over 60% of the study sample is rated the stations average and above.
Tables 12 reveals that the two stations are actually aiding the development of their target areas as 80% (240) agreed with this view thereby satisfying the b requirement above.
On how adequate the time allotted to various programmes that impact positively on their area, a total of 178 said that the time allocation is very adequate, while 72 said that it is adequate. This leaves a mere 21.7% that feel that it is inadequate and very inadequate. What this translates to also is that over 70% of the respondents are satisfied with the various times allocated to development-related programmes.
The next research question was: what areas do the respondents want the stations to improve upon?
To answer this question, an open-ended format was adopted to give the respondents the freedom to air their views and the following responses were recorded.
Regular feedback to gauge viewers’ and listeners’ feelings.
Participatory approach to programme conception and execution.
Adequate research to identify the people’ real (felt) needs.
Engagement of more professionals in all fields of the industry.
Allocating more airtime to development oriented programmes.
More cooperation and collaboration between the media house and both government and other agencies.
Adequate monitoring of programmes. and presenters.
Better conditions of service for staff.
Evolvement of more people oriented programmes.
Following from the discussion so far, one can say that both AlT and Raypower stations, in the view of the respondents as revealed in the data are having impact on the lives of the inhabitants of their target areas.
SUMMARY
The main thrust of this study was to find out the impact of privately owned broadcast stations on the development of their target areas. In doing this, the two Daar Communications outfits – the Africa Independent Television and Raypower Radio stations were used as case studies.
Using four research questions that bordered on the respondents’ awareness of about the existence of these stations, their frequency of viewing and listening as well as their perception on how they (the stations) have impacted on their lives in terms of development related issues, it was found out that generally the stations have been of various development uses to the respondents. This can be easily seen from the ratings given to the various stations and their programmes. Additionally, the respondents offered some suggestions as to how these development-related programmes can be maintained and even improved upon.
Following from these revelations/findings, it can be said that all in all the two stations are impacting positively on their target areas. Although there are still rooms for improvement, the giant strides already recorded and are still being recorded by these stations towards the development of their target areas are commendable.
If these are juxtaposed with the fact that these stations are operating under stringent socio-political and economic conditions, it will not be immodest to give them kudos while at the same time urging them to keep the flag not only flying but higher too until we attain the strides that obtain in the developed countries of the world.
RECOMENDATIONS
Following from all that has been said so far, the following recommendations are suggested:
- There is the need for the stations to put proper and periodic feedback-gathering mechanism in place. This will go a long way in making them come up with programmes that touch the real needs of the audience. It will also create the much needed adequate participatory approach to programme conception and execution.
- Efforts should also be made by the managements of the two stations to improve the working conditions of the staff with regards to their welfare, provision of better equipment and enabling environment that will make them more productive, efficient and dedicated.
- As was also suggested by the respondents, more time should be allocated to development oriented programmes as this will make it possible for the production of more detailed programmes that will touch the various aspects of the developmental needs of the audience.
- Finally the stations should explore ways and means of collaborating with other agencies both within and outside the government as this will create a wider spectrum of operations and richer programmes.
- Along this line also, it is suggested that Independent producers and corporate bodies be wooed and encouraged to partner with the private stations so that better quality programmes can be put at the disposal of the audience.
CONCLUSION
Education, information and entertainment are the fundamental functions of the mass media. Put in another way, these functions affect the different aspects of man including his development.
This study has shown that the privately owned broadcast stations contribute a lot towards the development of their target areas. The results point to the fact that with adequate and purposeful handling, private broadcast stations can and will go a long way in living up to the assertion credited to the Economic Commission for Africa (2003:1) that there is a clear consensus that broadcasting can play a key role in shaping development outcomes in Africa.
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