CHAPTER ONE

1.1

1.2       STATEMENT OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEM Ownership of the media house, its control and recruitment of its principal staff have formed the influential factors consequent upon the programme quality of the media house since the owner(s) of the media house usually determine the aforementioned factor.  The media ownership have in some ways influenced the media programmes and this has posed problems to journalism as a trade. In this case, the broadcast media have to function in tune with the whims and caprices of the owner(s).  Nothing runs the broadcast media practitioner down as having the option of either following the dictates of the owners or face the bitter music of being sacked.  Ownership influence on programme content have made many broadcast media outfit to collapse in operations and have also made them to lose their audience grip.  This is mostly true of government owned broadcast media. After the liberation of media industry by General Ibrahim Babangida’s administration in 1992, many privately – owned broadcast media started springing out from all corners, one of which is BCOS radio Station. These new privately owned media stations produced standard programmes that out bids that of the government – owned media stations and as a result, many people tend to abandoned government owned broadcasting media.  The problem now is; why and to what extent has the majority of the citizenry abandoned government owned media?

1.3       OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY The main objectives of the study include:

• To establish whether the government owned media are free to operate in a democratic government like the privately owned media.
• To check the rationale for the preference, the audience have for one medium over another.
• To find out which of the media establishment is more development oriented.
• To ascertain the level of ownership influence on both media outfits in terms of staffing and programming.
• To establish the audience perception on both media outfits.
• To compare the government owned media with privately owned media using SPLASH FM and Raypower as study focus.
• To provide veritable data for further study in this area of review.

1.4       SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY The findings of this study will help other researchers in carrying out a similar study.  It will add to the mass communication literature and bulk of knowledge on media performance in Nigeria.  The study will help to analyze the pattern of media ownership and its influence on Nigerian development.  Finally, it will provide the premise for individuals and stakeholders to make decisions on which form of media ownership is better for Nigeria.

1.5       RESEARCH QUESTIONS

• Does the emergence of private broadcasting media in Nigeria improve broadcasting generally?
• To what extent is the entrance of private broadcasting a challenge to government owned broadcast media in Nigeria?
• Does source credibility affect broadcast media listenership?
• To what extent do the Enugu radio listenership prefer private radio programmes to government radio programmes?
• To what extent does the radio listenership use what they hear from radio?

1.6       DEFINITION OF TERMS