PROSPECT AND CHALLENGES OF MEDIA MANAGEMENT IN NIGERIA

1.1 Introduction

The media industry today collects information from a wide diversity of sources and places in the globe, processes and reports back to people located in an equally wide diversity of places in the Diaspora in an effort to bind parts of society together in their interactions and interdependency moves. Media has evolved to the point that it is as important as food and clothes. It has played an important part in the development of civilization. Media management is seen as a business administration discipline that identifies and describes strategic and operational phenomena and problems in the leadership of media enterprises. Media entails the channels of information, radio, TV Newspaper, magazine and journals, which can make the same message available to a cross section of people spite their distance from the source of the message.

As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitation of the study and Definition of terms.

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1.2 Background of Study

The mass media industry in Nigeria has come a long way. The Nigerian media has, at various times and has been described as one of the most vibrant in the world and undoubtedly the most vibrant in Africa. The reason for this allusion is not far-fetched. Even from colonial times, the Nigerian media has taken up the task of disseminating information positively influencing the trend of governance and shaping public opinion toward nation building and good governance. As the fourth estate of the realm, the Nigerian media was at the vanguard of nationalism and the struggle for independence from the colonial government of the British imperialists. The press also assumed the role of the opposition party during various military incursions into governance in Nigeria. At the risk of losing their lives, Nigerian media practitioners fought successive military rulers and their overbearing and corrupt practices and wanton plundering of the nation’s resources and reserves.

The media is a complex non-state actor whose activities have been made even more complex by massive advancement in technology. From the primitive gong of the village town crier, the leaf-lettering of anti-colonial movements, the bold headlines of the national dailies, the crystal clear news footages of the cable television networks, to the internet blogs, no one can seriously ignore the impacts of today’s mass media. What exactly constitute the media, what roles does the media perform, what is the character of the media, what is the average composition of a media organization in Nigeria, how is it managed, which management style inapplicable to which? These are the fundamental questions that will form the basis of our discourse today. However, the way the media functions in every society is contingent upon a host of variables which combine to define and shape its character. Perhaps, a historical and definitional understanding of the media in Nigeria can help.

The public service media in Nigeria aims to produce high quality content, make it available across widely used devices and platforms, and reach all audiences. The means of attaining this however, has meet with some challenges over the years. The place of modern day new media technology makes it impossible to imagine our contemporary society without them. This is so because; the new media brings us together in variety of ways that would have been thought as impossible (Sehl,Cornia, & Neilson 2016).

McLuhan’s postulations attracted widespread reactions, though. One such reaction says the theory is at the very least technological over-determinism. Thus critics believe the concentration on the differences between media could undermine class examination of various types of messages in the same medium or similar messages, across media.

Nevertheless, the extent to which media have gone in making the work smaller and more interactive is obviously lucid. The effects of these media are becoming so pervasive that people in the communication field are today talking of global neighborhood family. Therefore, regardless of whatever the radio and television say, their very form (broadcast simultaneity in reaching a heterogeneous audience) facilitates relationship in the world to an unspeakable degree. During world soccer and Olympic event, at least half the world is focused on one topic – a sports encounter between nations. The media thus set agenda, interests and pursuits.

Accordingly, it entails a system comprising nations in the Diasporal where people live and work in unison regarding given social, economic and political objectives regardless of religious learnings, ethnic nationalities, languages, race, geography, etc. and where also communication is used to give expression to the interactions.

Meanwhile, many factors as been discovered to have be the challenges of the media but quite unfortunate that the management may take the core part of media problems and prospects. The ownership influences the direction of the media activities. No media is ready to produce anything that will go against the management intention as well as the ownership structure.

Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Prospect and Challenges of Media Management.

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1.3 Statement of Problems

Investigation revealed that the media in a way have become one of the strongest linkage institutions bridging, as it were, the gap between the state and the citizens. It has always been claimed by government and private that interferences with the activities of the media, is non-conformity to the policies of owners have always resulted in the immediate dismissed of journalist from their duties. This research intends to look at the prospect and challenges of media management in Nigeria.

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1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study

The aim of the study is to investigate the Prospect and Challenges of Media Management in Nigeria using Vanguard Newspaper and Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria as a case study. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:

1. To ascertain the significant relationship between media management and quality production of programmes;
2. To examine the problems confronting Vanguard Newspaper and Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria;
3. To determine how the organizational structure affect the effective performance of the organization;
4. To know if ownership affects the effective management of media; and
5. To ascertain the main sources of revenue generation for Vanguard Newspaper and Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria.

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1.5 Research Questions

The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:

• Is there any significant relationship between media management and quality production of programmes?
• Does ownership affects the effective management of media?
• What are the problems confronting Vanguard Newspaper and Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria?
• How does the organizational structure affect the effective performance of the organization?
• What are the main sources of revenue generation for Vanguard Newspaper and Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria?

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1.6 Research Hypothesis

In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.

Hypothesis One

• H0: There are no significant factors that affect media management in the area under review
• H1: There are significant factors that affect media management in the area under review

Hypothesis Two

• H0: There is no significant relationship between media management and quality production of programmes
• H1: There is a significant relationship between media management and quality production of programmes

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1.7 Significance of Study

It is believed that at the completion of the study, the findings will be of benefit to ministry of communication and media for proper management. Also, this research will be relevant to individuals that are at the helms of affairs know the power of media and the challenges they face in the course of news dissemination.

The study will also be of great benefit to the researchers who intends to embark on research on similar topics as it will serve as a guide. Finally, the study will be of great importance to academia’s, lecturers, teachers, students and the general public.

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1.8 Scope of Study

The scope of the research is focused on the Prospect and Challenges of Media Management in Nigeria using Vanguard Newspaper and Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria as a case study.

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1.9 Limitations of the Study

During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:

1. Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
2. Establishment Policies: Establishment policies posed a serious limitation as most staffs are not ready to release information needed for this research work. There were lots of information needed from the staffs of this establishment to enhance the study which took them time to release or they did not release at all for security purposes, hence the scope was reduced.
3. Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
4. Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
5. Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

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1.10 Definition of Terms

Problems: A matter or situation regarded as unwelcome or harmful and needing to be dealt with and overcome.

Prospect: The possibility or likelihood of some future event occurring.

Media: Media is the collective communication outlets or tools that are used to store and deliver information or data. It is either associated with communication media

Media Management: Media management is seen as a business administration discipline that identifies and describes strategic and operational phenomena and problems in the leadership of media enterprises.

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1.11 Organization of the Study

This research work is organized in five chapters, for easy understanding, as follows:

• Chapter one is concern with the introduction, which consist of the (overview, of the study), historical background, statement of problem, objectives of the study, research hypotheses, significance of the study, scope and limitation of the study, definition of terms and historical background of the study.
• Chapter two highlights the theoretical framework on which the study is based, thus the review of related literature.
• Chapter three deals on the research design and methodology adopted in the study.
• Chapter four concentrate on the data collection and analysis and presentation of finding.
• Chapter five gives summary, conclusion, and recommendations made of the study.