Ideology and Nigerian Media Practice

Abstract

Most effective national, regional or block mass media around the world have ideological platforms. The United States mass operates a free press ideology, former USSR (now Russia) and China practice a socialist press ideology, Britain has a spectrum-centre or centrist media ideology,etc. In the backdrop of the Nigerian press performance curve seemingly crawling along the X-axis “Ideology and Nigerian Media Practice" seeks to know if there is a correlation between poor media performance and lack of ideology, if the Nigeria media has an ideological base; if a mass media ideology is desirable or/and obtainable. Using a triangulation of library study (secondary data) and in-depth interview it finds that the Nigerian media have ideology, but not in the cast of the modes in the West and East. Nigerian media ideology seems to exist in the form of media owners' obligation to the nation which they have abandoned for ethnocentric ideology attended by statism, party patronage, elitism and such narrow passions. This puts the national course in jeopardy reminiscent of the immediate post-independence First Republic press which portends bad for Nigeria. It finally recommends that Nigerians rise up to the challenge before they are swallowed by another ethnic war.