Agenda Setting for Political Communication: A Study of One Man One Vote Political Campaign in Nigeria

Abstract

General elections in Nigeria have always been characterized by violence and wide spread irregularities, such that the peoples vote does not count. Governor Adams Oshiomhole on assumption of office flagged off a campaign for the sanctity of the ballot box, through the ‘one man, one vote’ campaign. It is against this backdrop that this study examined media agenda in the context of one man, one vote. Using The Guardian and The Nigerian Observer newspapers from October 9 to December 31, 2010, as this period was the climax of political campaigns for the 2011 general elections. The study sampled 40% of the publications of the period and discovered from the findings that only The Nigerian observer played up the agenda on front pages while The Guardian did not.  In doing this, The Nigeria Observer used advertorial, editorial and feature stories to bring the campaign to front burner of public opinion.  The study recommends the use of other media to promote the culture of free and fair elections.

Keywords: Agenda Setting, Political Communication, Political Campaign, Elections, Political Violence