Audience Perception of Mass Media Performance in a Depressed Economy: The Nigerian Situation

Abstract

The on-going economic depression in the globe is an ill wind that has blown no country good economically. Due to its contagious nature, Nigeria and some other African countries have been affected. As a result, some scholars have carried out research aimed at evaluating the impact of this economic crisis on both oil and none oil-based sectors of the economy. However, there has been paucity of studies done to ascertain the performance of the mass media in Nigeria under this crisis situation. This study therefore, set out to investigate audience perception of a depressed economy, the effects of economic recession on the revenue generating formula of Nigerian mass media and the level of mass media performance in a recessed economy. The study adopts the survey design technique and measures the opinion of a sample of 399 respondents in selected local governments in Enugu State through multi-stage sampling procedure. The social responsibility theory served as the theoretical fulcrum upon which the data from the study was tested. Findings from the study are discussed within the context of the much larger body of knowledge on mass media and the link with economic downturn.

Keywords: Mass media, Audience, Performance, Economic depression, Perception.