Media Contents and Youths’ Attitudes toward Nigeria’s Political Activities
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47672/ajc.1640Keywords:
Media Contents, Youths’ Attitudes, Political Activities, Interest, ApathyAbstract
Purpose: A politically engaged individual will pay close attention on various subjects related to public space or collective concerns, such as the environment, public policy, human rights, elections, and other relevant factors. Political apathy, on the other hand, refers to a general state of indifference towards the events and governance of one’s political locality. Therefore, this study examined the relationship between media contents and youths’ attitudes toward Nigeria’s political activities.
Methodology: This study was anchored on Cognitive Mobilisation Theory. The study adopted the correlation survey research design. The study targeted Nigerian youths aged 18-35. Stratified and convenience sampling techniques were used in selecting the respondents. The study utilized a self-designed questionnaire called the Media Political Education Contents and Youths’ Attitudes, Questionnaire (MEYPQ). Copies of the questionnaire were electronically administered using (https://docs.google.com). The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to process the data, which was presented as frequency distributions for all items in charts and tables, the mean, and standard deviation.
Findings: Findings from the study show that 435 (80.2%) of the respondents accessed political education contents on social media, 405 respondents (75%) accessed such content via digital media, 403 (74.5%) accessed through graphics/digital graphics, 74.14% (400) accessed via electronics/broadcast, and 62.64% (338) of the respondents have accessed or seen political education via print media. The attitude of Nigerian youths towards political activities is positive (Weighted Mean = 2.56; S.D = 0.87). An increase in media education contents will lead to an increase in attitudes of Nigerian youths towards political activities by 0.861.
Recommendations: The study recommends that political stakeholders should use the opportunities presented by the media to change the apathetic and hostile attitudes of youths towards political actors and activities into trust, acceptance, cooperation and support.
Downloads
References
Adekanmbi, G., Ajibefun, M. & Ojomo, G. (2020), Political Socialisation as a Correlates of Youths’ Political Attitude in Ekiti State, Nigeria. Nigerian Journal of Social Studies, 23(1).
Amechi, O., Innocent, E. & Ikechukwu, A. (2018), Political Education in Nigeria: Sthe Mobilisation Theory Thesis Perspective, Arts and Humanities Open Access Journal, 2(5), 246‒256.
Amedu, A. & Oginni, Y. (2023), ‘Modeling’ the Relationship between Media Political Education and Youths’ Knowledge, Attitude and Particitation in Politics in W. Busari & A. Amedu (2023), Mass Communication and Media Technology Postgraduates Seminar Proceedings, vol. 1, pp 31-45.
Amedu, A. (2023), Media Educational Contents and Youths’ Knowledge in Nigeria Political Activities, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science 7 (9), 2023, 1118-1124.
Chadwick, A., O’Loughlin, B. & Vaccari, C. (2017), Why People Dual Screen Political Debates and Why it Matters for Democratic Engagement, Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 61(2), 220-239.
Erubami, A. (2020), Public Perception of Social Media Contributions to Political Participation Processes in Delta State, Nigeria, Acta Universitatis Danubius. Communicatio, 14(1), 110-126.
Erubami, J., Bebenimibo, P. & Ohaja, E. (2021), Newspaper Exposure, Efficacy Feeling and Political Apathy among Youths in South-East Nigeria, Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities, 29 (3): 2021, 1611 – 1629.
Li, X. & Chan, M. (2017), Comparing Social Media Use, Discussion, Political Trust and Political Engagement among University Students in China and Hong Kong: An Application of the O–S–R–O–R model, Asian Journal of Communication, 27(1), 65-81.
Obiagu, A., Machie, C. & Ndubuisi, N. (2023), Attitude of University Students towards Selected Democratic Values in Nigeria: Implications for Democracy Education. Canadian Journal of Family and Youth/Le Journal Canadien de Famille et de la Jeunesse, 15(1), 14-32.
Oji, M. & Erubami, A. (2020), Discourse on Social Media Use and Reading Culture of Nigerian Youths, Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, 9(6), 105-113.
Olubumi, F. (2018), Use of Social Media for Knowledge Sharing among Students, Asian Journal of Information Science and Technology, 8(2), 65-75.
Tariq, R., Zolkepli, I. & Ahmad, M., (2022), Political Participation of Young Voters: Tracing Direct and Indirect Effects of Social Media and Political Orientations, Social Sciences, 11(2), 81.
Waqas, E. (2017), Analysing Malaise and Mobilization: The Effects of Media on Political Support and European Identity in Old and New Member States, Politics in Central Europe, 13 (2/3), 33-51.
Wray-Lake, L., (2019), How do Young People Become Politically Engaged? Child Development Perspectives, 13(2), 127-132.
Yamamoto, M., Kushin, M. & Dalisay, F. (2017), Social Media and Political Disengagement among Young Adults: A Moderated Mediation Model of Cynicism, Efficacy, and Social Media Use on Apathy, Mass Communication and Society, 20(2), 149-168.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Anthony Apeh Amedu, Yemi Kunle Oginni
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work’s authorship and initial publication in this journal.
