BY: MESSAN MAWUGBE
July 9, 2024.
Visibility! Visibility! Everywhere yet not all Nigerian Governors are media visible. Does it matter to be visible as a political actor? The answer is big Yes! The quantity and quality of media coverage allotted to political actors could influence their political success. Many politicians invest in media attention driven strategies to gain appearance, mentions, reach, quality sentiment projections whilst others pay less attention to media visibility. Political-actor media visibility is not about physical appearance but an appearance driven by communication strategies and elements for promoting and sustaining a healthy political brand.
To some extent, media visibility strategic deployment act as a means through
which political actors such as Minsters, Governors, and Senators draw the citizens, constituents and prospective voters towards their policies, political agenda and aspirations. Civic voters on the other hand, are likely to associate themselves with a political actor with an active media appearance, which also impact on likeability and political prominence.
Besides, media visibility news-headlines is not just about what the eye sees but what the mind thinks about what it sees. For instance, in a Day’s Analysis of 232 Online News Headlines in 82 News portals reporting on the 36 Nigerian Governors on the 1st of July, 2024 revealed that the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Governor Nyesom Wike rated highly visible among the 36 Governors with 41% Media Visibility.
Overall, as depicted in Fig A the 36 Nigerian state Governors were presented with 52% Positive media sentiments, 23% Negative and 25% Neutral Sentiment. This sentiments projection of the Nigerian Governors is very Commendable and should be encouraged for them to cross the 52% Positive sentiments thresholds into higher Positive sentiment Values.
However, in terms of sentiments embedded in the news headlines analysis,
Governor Wike gathered 55% Negative News Headlines Sentiment as the
Governor with the highest Negative Online News Headlines Ratings among the 36 Governors in a day. In terms of Positive Online News Headlines ratings, Governor Nyesom Wike took the 2nd spot of 20% while the Oyo State Governor Seyi Mankinde recorded the 1st position with 26% positive sentiment ratings.
See Study Charts Below:
Fig A: 36 States’ Governors’ News Headlines Coverage (Quality Measurements Projections )
Fig B: 36 State Governors’ Media Visibility Frequency (Quantity Measurements)
Fig C: 36 State Governors’ News Headlines Sentiment (Negative Quality Measurements)
Fig D: 36 State Governors’ News Headlines Sentiment (Positive Quality Measurements)
Fig E: 36 State Governors’ News Headlines Coverage (Quantity Distribution Measurements)
The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) recognizes “knowledge management and communication are vital to its efforts to contribute to inclusive development in Nigeria”
(www.nigeriagovernorsforum.org). The management of a Governor’s media visibility is a strategic process of ascertaining the concerns of the public, their needs, and policy expectations as expressed through the media. News headlines visibility is the first point-of-call in political feedback analysis. An insight into the publics ‘voices in Governors’ news headlines could serve as one of the templates for “inclusive development in Nigeria” as expressed by the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF). Governors are encouraged to view the Media’s news headlines as political mirror of reflections with which Governors can shape policies and developmental agenda within their respective states. Further, Governors and their strategic communication departments needs to adopt a scientific, consistent and strategic media monitoring metrics for their media visibility engagements across the board of all media platforms.
It must be stated that this study is not in tandem with any political color but an ongoing strategic brand communication media project intended to empower and contribute to Nigeria State Governors efforts in appreciating the media as a mechanism, a force for social change and a vehicle for human development in Nigeria States which could be emulated by African political actors.
Also, Governors should pay attention to their daily media visibility presence drivers and
consistently measure for quantity in media coverage and quality of sentiments linked to their news headlines statements. It is therefore important for Governors to set their Daily, Weekly, Monthly and Annual Media Visibility Scores Card against their expected media goals and communication vision. Such a score card provides an overall insight into peers’ media performance ratings, topical and thematic content drivers, minor and major mentions, identification of key media providers, social media reach and journalists coverage segmentations as in Fig E. This study posits this political rhetoric in conclusion: As a strategic Governor’s brand communication strategist, what is your Governor’s media visibility quantity in a day? What is your Governor’s media sentiment visibility ratings of the day? What is the media and Journalists’ coverage segmentation on your Governor in a day?
The Author: Messan Mawugbe (PhD)
Institute of Brands Narrative Analysis (IBNA)
Email: ibna@ibnareports.org
Mawugbe@ibnareports.org