ANALYSIS OF AUDIENCE PERCEPTION OF MEDIA COVERAGE OF APRIL 2011 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

ANALYSIS OF AUDIENCE PERCEPTION OF MEDIA COVERAGE OF APRIL 2011 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Development in all its ramifications is a product of peace. Society without unity, peace and understanding between and among its inhabitants cannot boast of development. Peace is integral and very central to the development of any nation. Development is simply an increase, improvement, and growth for the better. Development is a self-generating and self-sustaining phenomenon. Therefore, development is conceived in human term as the maximum satisfaction of basic human needs of adequate and decent food, water, electricity, shelter, education, modern social infrastructural facilities (Development administration, 1998, Yunusa & Okene, 2008). The word ‗media‘comes from the plural of the Latin word medium and it is used as a collective noun to refer to television, radio, newspapers, magazines, films, the international networks (internet) etc. The media, in both specific and general terms (the Newspapers, Television, Magazine, radio, social media and the internet as a whole) has always played and is still playing very prominent role in national growth and development. Media helps to develop societies by gradually changing and making them to become more advance, greater, stronger, larger, successful and impressive entities. Apparently, media exert a powerful influence on its audience, their actions and inactions; also exert same on the perceptions of the world around them. The role of the media is to report and disseminate authenticated and objective information. This information must be factual, accurate and balanced and fair representation of divergent views, to allow the audience or larger public to make well-informed choices (Coffman et. al, 2006) and judgment. The media plays a wide range of roles in our lives. Some of these roles are constructive and some are destructive. Media is often described as a double-edged sword. When employed positively, media can become an instrument of conflict resolution and a catalyst for peaceful change. However, when employed to propagate intolerance and hatred, and to incite violence, media becomes a negative force among efforts to foster peace (Coffman et. al, 2006). It has remained an indisputable fact that the mass media or media of mass communication are among, if not the most effective and powerful means of