MAINSTREAM MEDIA, TRUST IN MEDIA AND POLITICAL TRUST IN NIGERIA: THE MEDIATING ROLE OF PARTISANSHIP

Abstract

The level of political distrust is very high in Nigeria as a result of constant embezzlement of public fund
for personal gains, maladministration and political instability. However, since Nigeria is a multi-ethnic
nation, the politicians capitalized on the issue of party affiliation, religion and ethnicity to canvass for
peoples’ support when vying for public posts. Apart from these, the media is another platform being
exploited to promote personal agenda among Nigerian politicians. Having found out through reviewing
of past studies that there was little or no empirical study on the mediating role of partisanship between
media use and political trust, examining the effect of media use on political trust in Nigeria with the
mediating role of partisanship is therefore, a step in the right direction. The study employed survey
research design. The population of the study which was 688 comprises representatives from all the six
geo-political zones. The study used multi-stage sampling technique while the minimum sample size
calculated using G-power was 89 with a medium size effect of 0.15. Questionnaire was used to elicit
information from the 688 respondents randomly selected from the three major ethnic groups in Nigeria
which are Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo. The data collected was analyzed through the PLS Structural
Equation Model. The findings of the study show that Partisanship mediate the relationship between
mainstream media and political trust as well as between trust in media and political trust in Nigeria.
Apart from this, there were positive relationships between media use and political trust and between
media use and partisanship.