Nigerian political economy of the media: an overview

To fully appreciate the concept of political economy, it is necessary to first have a proper clarification of the concept of ‘economics’. According to the Department of Economics (n.d.) at the University of Buffalo, ‘economics is the study of scarcity and its implications for the use of resources, production of goods and sendees, growth of production and welfare over time, and a great variety of other complex issues of vital concern to society’ (as cited in Business News Daily 2012). The central thrust of economics, then, is to provide a rational way of looking at issues, drawing upon history; philosophy and mathematics with the purpose of solving problems that range from how individuals or businesses can make sound financial decisions to combatting poverty, shrinking unemployment, reducing inflation, preventing environmental decay and a great variety of other complex issues of vital concern to society.

If economics is the study of the optimal use of scarce resources, political economy is concerned with how political decisions affect economic choices with the intent of increasing riches and power in a society. Specifically, it is the connections between political and economic factors, or an interface of the state and the open market and how the collaboration engenders understanding of media development in any society.

Globally, political economy of the media has gained popularity among media and communication scholars. This explains why many research efforts have been channelled towards mass communication and media as commodities that are produced and distributed by profit-seeking enterprises operating in a capitalist market. It is important to note that the media in modern society have become a large business empire with certain expectations. It is against this background that Popoola (2019) notes that the study of the political economy of the media is important because the media must, first and foremost, be seen as sustained industrial and commercial organisations with a focus on production and distribution of commodities for profit. One can infer from this that the political and economic principles operating in a society impinge on mass communication and mass media structures, convention and performance. This is also in line with the basic assumptions of the normative theories that seek to locate the media arrangement and operation within the environment in which it operates (Hallin and Mancini 2004). How the media are best able to successfully operate within the political system in spite of legal and economic constraints determines their economic survival or otherwise.

Whenever the political economy of the media is discussed, certain key issues stand out. These, according to Aderibigbe (2019), include media ownership, media markets and media funding. Other salient issues include media commodification and commercialisation, media diversification, media integration and media concentration and competitiveness in the market (Popoola 2019, 6). A careful scrutiny of the above shows that they are potential determinants of media survival. They therefore present certain pertinent questions: To what extent are media organisations in general and the indigenous language media in particular affected by the politics and economy of the state? To what extent do the elements of political economy affect the indigenous media framing and shaping of editorial content in Nigeria? Are the media organisations in general and indigenous language media in particular essentially industries and profit-oriented businesses? What are the implications of Nigeria’s political economy on professionalism and ethical standards of indigenous language media? How has the political economy of the nation affected the social responsibility of indigenous language media?

As emphasised earlier, the media are, first and foremost, business organisations, producing goods and services for profit. The economic and profit considerations are believed to be responsible for the type of media organisations available in Nigeria and what they produce. The economic dislocation affecting the country since the early 1980s has taken a toll on every' business including the media. Specifically, the government (federal and state) and other private media owners have been cash-strapped and unable to meet their financial obligations to their organisations. This has led to the death of virtually all the regional newspapers except The Observer, which was owned by' the then midwestern government. Although, economic adversity appears to have spared the broadcast media, the fact remains that they are also not performing optimally, as staff welfare and programmes transmitted daily are nothing to write home about.

In contemporary Nigeria, the media - both print and electronic - have assumed full-blown corporate structures, which signalled the end of the political press as well as the commercialisation of media content. Market forces have become a major regulating influence on the management and production process. Thus, the survival of any media organisation depends essentially on its ability to generate a large and stable reading and listening audience for advertisers (Oso 2006).

It is important to also note that the advent of commercialisation of the media has also led to the death or decline of the indigenous language media. This is due to the fact that the indigenous language media have been unable to generate enough audience for the advertisers. Besides, the high cost of running media outfits, coupled with the limitations of publishing and broadcasting in indigenous languages and not a national language, have proved disastrous for the indigenous

Indigenous language media in Nigeria 21 language media. In recent years, media owners have resorted to using various strategies to win advertisers and stay afloat. For example, the English print media turned to reporting specialised strategic sub-sectors of the economy, such as banking and finance, telecommunications, and property and estate management, which are considered to be growing areas. The broadcast media, on the other hand, adopt interactivity and audience engagement, entertainment and music, and linkage with the social media platform where most youths operate. The indigenous language media are not left out. While newspapers use sensational headlines for stories of public interest, such as politics and entertainment, lifestyle, photographs and stories that focus on women, health, cooking, and fashion, to shore up their readership, their broadcast counterparts employ newspaper reviews of important stories and editorial opinions in the English tabloid, phone-in programmes, religious, sports and security broadcasts, among others, to attract more audiences to their stations.

According to Musa Alao Adedayo, the publisher of Alaroye, an indigenous language newspaper in the South-West of Nigeria, the paper prints 50,000 copies and sells 80-85% of all copies printed. The publisher added that the 20-year-old Yoruba tabloid sells more copies than either the Tribune or the Guardian (Nigeria). In spite of its sales volume, the paper is still not a boon to advertisers because its reading audience does not fall within the elite category, who are the primary focus of most advertisers. English is believed to be the language of the urban elite.