The press and citizenship education: Media reportage of political endorsements and electorate behaviour in Nigeria’s 2019 presidential election
Background: Political endorsement remains one of the global strategies that features visibly during electioneering campaigns. Such endorsements are usually communicated to the electorate through the media. Objective: The aim of this study was to ascertain the impact of media reports on endorseme...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Department of Mass Communication, University of Nigeria
2023-02-01
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| Series: | Ianna Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies |
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| Online Access: | https://iannajournalofinterdisciplinarystudies.com/index.php/1/article/view/99 |
| Summary: | Background: Political endorsement remains one of the global strategies that features visibly during electioneering campaigns. Such endorsements are usually communicated to the electorate through the media.
Objective: The aim of this study was to ascertain the impact of media reports on endorsement of political candidates during the 2019 election on voter behaviour.
Methodology: This study adopted a combination of content analysis and correlational survey to examine media reportage of political endorsements and the correlation between exposure to such political endorsements and voting behaviour.
Results: It was found that significant relationship exists between source of political endorsement and prominence the media accord to such endorsements. As predicted, political endorsement from socio-cultural and religious groups significantly correlates voting behaviour but political endorsements from celebrities did not correlate voting behaviour.
Contribution: The study has offered fresh perspectives that could aid future debates on issues related to citizenship education during political seasons.
Conclusion: The study concludes that group identity plays an important role in determining the effectiveness of media endorsement of political candidates.
Key recommendation: Other scholars should pay attention to issues like candidates’ perceived credibility, party identification and voter berhaviour.
Keywords: campaign, political endorsements, media report, voting behaviour
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| ISSN: | 2735-9883 2735-9891 |