AGENDA SETTING ROLE OF TELEVISION IN THE COVERAGE OF 2015 GENERAL ELECTIONS IN PLATEAU STATE: A STUDY OF NTA JOS

This research work seeks to find out the agenda setting role of television in the coverage of 2015 General elections in Plateau State with NTA Jos in perspective. In the review of related literature, scholars in the area under review gave different views to agenda setting and General Elections. It was observed that agenda setting is a mass media theory which holds that; the media does not tell its audience what to think but what to think about and General Elections on other hand is simply a formal way of decision making, by which a population chooses an individual to hold a public office to represent them and this is typical of a democratic setting. To strengthen this research work, the study was anchored on agenda setting theory and the social responsibility theory. Survey research method was used in conducting this research work and copies of questionnaire were administered. One hundred and fifty (150) random selected respondents were drawn from Jos metropolis to represent the total number of eligible voters which makes the population of this study. The sample size of the study therefore is one hundred and fifty (150) drawn from Kufang, Rock Haven and Lamigo accordingly. In data presentations and analysis, the findings reveled that NTA Jos in its coverage of the 2015 General Elections did well enough by stimulating necessary debate on topical issues on public discourse in Plateau State by setting the pace for public debate on issue of elections in Nigeria and encouraging the public to participate in the election process. The study also revealed that NTA Jos’ programme eliminated political apathy among electorates. The study recommends that since the responsibilities of the mass media is a sacred one saddled on them by the constitution, they should endeavor not to be partisan but be responsible and pursue a free, fair and credible elections in Plateau State and Nigeria at large the media should consider political programmes and ensure social responsibility comes to play and most importantly, the media must ensure that the feedback from the electorates receive full attention via creating a platform for public discourse.