The media, politics and governance in Nigeria

Government is necessary, in any society, to settle inevitable conflicts over the distribution of socio-economic and political benefits. Towards this, it makes rules determining who gets the things valued by society. This process of “who gets what, when, and how” is called politics. The effectiveness of this process and how to achieve better output in terms of good governance and accountability depends on proper understanding of the intricacies of the practice. These are ultimately about effective and dynamic information communications between policymakers, politicians and their constituencies, propelled by free and fair media and by expanded networked journalism. Using agenda setting and framing theories with secondary data and historical analysis, this chapter probes government hostility and poor media performance, how realistic standards for effective media operations could be instituted, and government orientation improved and redirected from being risk-averse in pursuing long-term media development goals for good governance.