Unholy Alliance’: Media, Democratic Accountability and Monetisation of Elections in Nigeria
Abstract
Globally, election is a cardinal component of the political process and the media has the core responsibility of promoting free and fair elections to ensure democratic accountability. Therefore, this research surveys journalists’ experiences on the dimensions of election monetisation in the Nigerian media; the impacts of monetisation of elections on free and fair elections; and the consequences of monetisation of elections on the country’s democratic accountability. Data was collected from online, print and broadcast journalists in Nigeria using telephone semi-structured interview. The findings reveal a multi-dimensional involvement of Nigerian politicians and the media in facilitating and perpetuating the monetisation of elections in the country through ‘incentives’ and provision of ‘logistics’ to journalists; over payment on approved airtime rates; giving journalists money to slant reports; mounting propaganda against opponents; funding flagship media outlets/prominent media personalities to influence discussions/change public opinion; and commissioning write-ups in the media and sponsoring journalists on campaign tours. The politicians also sponsor media programmes, pay for adverts/jingles and live election coverage, among others. Consequently, the study concludes that although some of these may appear as regular revenue streams for the media, a lot of these are subtle dimensions of election monetisation that can influence election narratives, swerve public opinion, confuse or misinform the electorates. These could undermine the credibility of the media/journalists to perform their constitutional roles. Therefore, this study recommends that media/journalists should be guided by journalism ethical principles in advocating against and highlighting the multidimensional consequences of the monetisation of elections rather than promoting it to entrench free, fair and transparent elections and promote accountable leadership in Nigeria.
