Assessing the Media’s Watchdog Role in Ensuring the Accountability of the Nigerian Government
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Abstract
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This paper attempts to assess the performance of
the media in their watchdog role as it relates to ensuring
the accountability of the government to the electorate in
Nigeria. The 21st century media are saddled with the
responsibility of providing the citizenry with substantial
information to help them make informed decisions. The
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) synergized with
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) have
aided freer flow of information from the media to the
electorate. To ensure a successful democratic governance
and sustainable development, the media have the
responsibility to communicate the actions of the
government to its citizens and relaying the feedback to the
government through opinion pages and public affairs
programmes, among others. Since inhibitions on the path
of freedom of information have been removed with the
hopes to enhance media capacity to freely divulge
information, this paper, therefore, examines how well the
media are living up to the expectation of grooming an
informed populace. It explores how well informed the
citizens are about their rights to demand greater
accountability from the government, as a result of media
messages. It also investigates the citizens’ views about the
media’s fairness in reporting government activities. The
study would employ the survey research method. The
social responsibility theory and the development media
theory will be the axles around which the study will
revolve. Suggestions will be made on how the media can
further enlighten the citizens to become active participants
in national development
Keywords
H Social Sciences (General)