%D 2014
%B Media Access and Women's Political Visibility: The Case of Nigeria
%E Oladokun Omojola
%C Cambridge, UK
%T MEDIA CONTENT CONSUMPTION
AND INFLUENCE ON WOMEN’S
POLITICAL VISIBILITY
%P 1-27
%I Cambridge Scholars Publishing
%A Oladokun Omojola
%A Ngozi Morah
%X The general patriarchal character of the media aligns with the logic of commercialism which prioritizes profit and restricts the diversity of news content in favour of those who have the means of purchase. It explains why there is a male preponderance in media ownership, staffing and content consumption especially in Nigeria where women have access to, and appear in, the news far fewer times than men. This provokes a question: Does low content consumption by women influence the way media report them? This paper unravels these two variables within a political context. Content assessment and respondents’ rating of Nigeria’s dominant print media (1999-2003) shows a robust political reporting but with a gender differential that is heavily skewed towards men. Focus group evaluations of the situation show a connection between women’s low visibility in the news and inconsequential access to content. One evaluation attributes the scenario to unconscious reporting! That brings to the fore journalistic consciousness-raising as a critical factor, among others, in media performance.

Keywords: consciousness-raising, gender, media, political reporting, visibility, women. 

%L eprints2496