The Media, Elections and the deployment of ICT in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic

Abstract

This article examined the role of the media in different climes especially Nigeria, during elections including the diverse intervening variables that shape the performance of the media. The article looked at the emerging role of the social media and citizen journalism, as well as appraised the pros and cons viz-a-viz the deployment of ICT. The challenges of the media were discussed and solutions proffered for all the encumbrances encountered in the line of duty. It is the descriptive and narrative method that was adopted using the secondary data. The theoretical framework used centered on media social responsibility theory. Traditional media and social media as good as they are, can be put to bad use, by devious political gladiators, particularly in this part of the world and, which can have deleterious consequences on the polity as evidently pointed out in the article and the article recommended amongst other things that there is the need to regulate the social media in the overriding interest of democracy and humanity.