BY WEALTH DICKSON OMINABO
Communications strategists have, for a few years, argued that politics is a battle of wit and sophistry. Some posit that a person’s skill to persuade their viewers determines his political fortunes as a result of, as Mao Zedong opines, politics is with out bloodshed. This is maybe why political communication and influencer advertising has turn out to be an enterprise and a giant enterprise in latest occasions.
Across the world, politicians make investments large sums of cash in political communications to win residents’ hearts and minds as a result of of the function communications play in political contests. In a democracy, the place freedom of selection is enshrined as a democratic proper, nice emphasis is positioned on persuasion as an alternative of coercion in on a regular basis governance. Contrary to what’s obtainable in an authoritarian regime the place authorities insurance policies are reached via levels and edicts, legitimacy is obtained via would possibly and the barrel of the gun.
Due to the necessary function that communications maintain in a democracy, particularly throughout elections, political actors deploy mischief techniques, corresponding to propaganda and disinformation, to realize legitimacy. These techniques have a extreme impact on the destiny of democracy and negatively influence the election’s outcomes. The post-truth period has heralded the rationalization and normalization of disinformation and propaganda as new strands of communication and options in modern-day politicking. Overtly or covertly, many leaders throughout the world procure the providers of specialists to have interaction in acts of disinformation. The fascination with disinformation as a brand new political device has created a brand new strand of disaster for democracy. This is a serious menace to peace and the sustenance of democracy in many countries.
Former president of Nigeria, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, throughout a latest peace dialogue organised by the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation, tagged ‘Nation constructing, the function of election in a multi-ethnic context’, underscored the hazard that pretend information and different disinformation techniques pose to our democracy.
He stated: “We should discourage this problem of hate speech and propaganda that is happening. Before now, we had been afraid of weapons as a menace to democracy. Today, the best menace to our democracy is hate speech, pretend information, and propaganda. Anybody who’s an advocate in it is a menace to democracy like the gun”.
Jonathan’s remark aptly captures the up to date challenges of democracy throughout the world. In Nigeria, forward of the 2023 election, many political supporters are deploying pretend information and hate speech as political weapons. Social media has turn out to be a struggle theatre the place supporters of totally different candidates interact in a bitter and unhealthy assault. This poses a serious menace to the nation’s peace, unity, and democratic course of. The weaponization of lies and the destructive profiling and stereotyping of candidates and their supporters are a menace that might have an effect on the outcomes of subsequent yr’s election.
“A 2017 report on web freedom by Freedom House concluded that “on-line manipulation and disinformation techniques performed an necessary function in elections in at the very least 18 nations over the previous yr… [contributing] to a seventh consecutive yr of an general decline in web freedom.”
Disinformation creates a disaster of hope and religion in residents; it may simply lead to post-election violence, and supporters of political events may depend on pretend information to discredit the end result of a legit and clear election, even when there isn’t any foundation for protest.
Peter Pomerantsev, in his e book ‘Nothing is True and Everything is Possible’, posits that. “disinformation seeks to make the fact unknowable and undermine public belief in the chance of a longtime set of details. With nothing sure, voters can not believe in elections, the functioning of authorities, or the significance of their function in the democratic course of”.
As we method the 2023 election, political actors and democratic stakeholders, particularly media professionals, should rise to the duty of safeguarding Nigeria’s peace and the democratic course of via efficient gatekeeping, censorship, fact-checking, and different editorial means. Democracy is about freedom of thought, selection, and entry to info and fact. Political debates and election rhetoric needs to be premised on fact and details. Citizens ought to be capable to interrogate their leaders with out blackmail and harassment. Politicians needs to be circumspect with their utterances and prioritize the unity and peace of Nigeria. This marketing campaign needs to be a debate of concepts and points and not a season of anomie.
Media homeowners needs to be cautious of yielding their platforms to retailers of lies and hate and should reject paid contents that fall brief of moral requirements. This, they have to do in the curiosity of nation-building. It is common for media entrepreneurs to compromise their editorial requirements for pecuniary beneficial properties and political components throughout the election season. However, they have to be reminded that the main goal of journalism is public service. In moments like this, editors should clearly distinguish information content material from public relations and advertorial supplies for objectivity and equity.
Disinformation threatens our democracy; it erodes democratic norms and values and impedes residents’ rights to know and freedom of speech. This is why all residents should see themselves as stakeholders in the vanguard of selling fact and peaceable debates throughout this marketing campaign interval and past.
Ominabo is the communications officer at the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation
Views expressed by contributors are strictly private and not of TheCable.
https://www.thecable.ng/2023-political-campaigns-dangers-disinformation
