Political economy, communications discourse and media policy : the case of online news commenting in Nigeria

Apejoye, A; Simpson, S

Abstract

This article provides a contribution to knowledge on the growth of online news commenting
in Nigeria. Specifically, it accounts for factors which influence the character of the often
fractious online discursive behaviour in evidence and what communication policy
understandings might be developed from this. The article innovates by deploying a combined
political economy-communication policy approach with two purposes in mind. First, drawing
inspiration from the criticality of political economy, it shows how the 'representational' role
of online news media set the context for the nature of the discourse in evidence premised on
the long-established assertion that media content is not value-free but shaped by ideological
positions. Second, underpinned by a recently re-surfaced argument espousing the value of a
combined utilisation of the critical and administrative approaches to communication research,
the article puts forward a set of policy-related findings for media change in a Nigerian polity
often characterised by significant societal disquiet.

Citation

Apejoye, A., & Simpson, S. (2022). Political economy, communications discourse and media policy : the case of online news commenting in Nigeria. International journal of digital television (Online), https://doi.org/10.1386/jdmp_00102_1

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 1, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Jun 17, 2022
• Publication Date: Jun 17, 2022
• Deposit Date: Mar 8, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 18, 2023
• Journal: Journal of Digital Media & Policy
• Print ISSN: 2040-4182
• Electronic ISSN: 2040-4190
• Publisher: Intellect
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1386/jdmp_00102_1
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1386/jdmp_00102_1
• Related Public URLs: http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Journal,id=175/
• Additional Information: Additional Information : The definitive, peer reviewed and edited version of this article is published in Journal of Digital Media & Policy https://doi.org/10.1386/jdmp_00102_1