Access, local language and public sphere: Phone-in R/TV programme as a platform for citizen journalism in a Nigerian election

The paper is a report of a special phone-in programme of the Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo State (BCOS) during the general elections held in Nigeria in April 2007. The paper specifically considers the edition of this programme aired on April 14 in its coverage and monitoring of the conduct of the Oyo State gubernatorial (governorship) election held on that day. Realising that it cannot be everywhere and that people need be involved in the process of democracy, the Radio/Television station gave out some phone lines to which people could call to report their experiences of the conduct of the election in their localities. Participation of the people in this programme was possible because of the ubiquity, affordability and portability of radio sets and cell phones; and the proficiency of expression which the local language programme afforded them. Even at polling centres, people were able to monitor the programme with their transistor radios and were able to report their experiences with their cell phones. The harvest of election reports from this exercise was tremendous, and at the same time revealing. Reports that the professional journalists could not have been able to give because of the volatility of the political situation in the State were given live on air and uncensored by aggrieved electorate. There was also an informal inter-reports reliability (peer-review) mechanism in the sense that if a member of the public felt a particular report given by a particular caller was inaccurate and false, the unsatisfied member of the public would call into provide his own account of the happenings. The general public would then be left to decide on their own which of the accounts was more appropriate. Thus, in essence, a public sphere was created.