New Media and Democracy in Nigeria: An Overview

Abstract

The media, their roles, channels and contents, are considered powerful enough to make democracy work in any part of the world. The Nigerian media have been in the vanguard for the promotion and sustenance of the democracy we now have in the country, even the struggle for independence arguably was pioneered and fought for by the Nigerian media. But a great number of existing media channels in the country need to take up responsibility of adequately engaging better governance in our democratic polity. As the institution mandated to hold those in governance accountable, the nexus between the mass media and the democratic process with particular emphasis on the roles the media are expected to play in public accountability has attracted and is still attracting increasing attention from the new media practitioners, advocates, researchers and other concerned scholars.