The University of Lagos (UNILAG) stirred controversy on social media after a recent Mass Communication exam question included two of Nigeria’s most talked-about political battles as case studies.
The exam, which was penned by the first-semester MSc students, incorporated existing rivalries between Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, as well as Minister Nyesom Wike and Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s struggle for control.
One of the questions on the exam involved asking the students to examine the role the media play in gagging the voices of women in Nigerian politics and draw on the conflict between Senate President Akpabio and Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan as an example.
They were asked to choose two relevant media theories—e.g., Agenda Setting, Muted Group Theory, or Framing—and apply them to explain what went down in the following example.
Another section focused on the Wike-Fubara political conflict in Rivers State.
Students had to use Jürgen Habermas’s public sphere theory to analyze how social media has influenced public discourse on the struggle for power.
They also had to analyze how fake news and disinformation affect public opinion.
The whole exam question was as follows:
- Supposing that you work for a media analysis agency tasked with analyzing Media and the silencing of women’s voices in Nigerian politics: The Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan vs. Senate President Godswill Akpabio saga;
(a) Choose two most suitable theories from the following list: Symbolic Annihilation, Agenda Setting, Gatekeeping, Muted Group, Cultivation, Uses and Gratifications, Framing, Two-step flow, Elaboration likelihood, Cultural Hegemony, Transtheoretical model, Social Learning, Structural Imperialism.
(b) Justify your choice of the theory and discuss why the theory is applicable to the study.
- Using the Minister Nyesom Wike and Governor Siminalayi Fubara struggle for control of Rivers State, explain how social media has revolutionized the public sphere (defined by Jürgen Habermas). Also, detail the role played by fake news in shaping public opinion.
