ABSTRACT
This
study entitled "A Critical Appraisal of Media Use for 2012 Election in
Ibiono Ibom Local Government of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria" examines the
nexus between communication and effective rural people‟s participation
in election with particular reference to Ibiono Ibom Local government
Area of Akwa Ibom State. Accordingly, an attempt is made to unravel the
potency of the participatory communication by tracing it to the concept
of participatory development theory of the 1950s-70s and its attendant
effects on the conventional communication approaches which were
top-down, bureaucratic and elites - centered in nature. The
participatory development approaches consequently paved the way for the
democratization of communication in the field of the communication
sciences among others. Also basing the study on the participatory
communication theory, an offshoot of the development media theory and a
recent additive to the normative theories of the media which is still
struggling for legitimization but very useful in recent times, the study
contends that due to the inherent limitations associated with the
conventional communication media of radio, television, newspapers and
other print materials as a means of bringing about full-scale people‟s
participation in a rural election such as the one this research is
targeted at, there is need for the fusion of these media with the
indigenous and participatory media forms such as community radio and
television, drama and theatre-for-development, poetry, songs, proverbs,
riddles and other performative interactive fora which are culturally
sensitive to needs of the people. The study therefore concludes that
these participatory communication strategies can be very effective in
conscientizing and mobilizing the people not only in Ibiono Ibom Local
Government but in other local government areas in Nigeria.