Media and Political Participation: Fostering Inclusive Governance

"Accountability is enhanced when citizens play an active role in making demands and when officials are expected to respond to those demands with satisfactory answers and actions."

This research on BBC Media Action's governance programmes for fostering political participation through the use of media and communication "examines the relationship between BBC Media Action’s debate and discussion programmes and political participation, as well as with the variables that contribute to this participation: political knowledge, discussion, and efficacy." The data set used for analysis comes from audiences in seven countries,  Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Kenya, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Tanzania, who interact with "TV, radio, online, and mobile platforms" in "a range of factual and entertainment formats including drama, debate programmes, magazine formats and public service announcements."

Part 1 defines accountability and discusses political participation and media, especially mass media, as a driver of participation and political efficacy. The study examines the following three levels of influence of media on accountability:

• "Empowering people: providing trusted, accurate and balanced information, stimulating discussion and challenging restrictive norms so that people from every section of society can participate effectively in the decisions that are important to them.
• Creating space: supporting more inclusive public discussion on the issues that matter to all sections of society.
• Influencing power: exposing those in power to views from across society, requiring them to explain and answer for their actions, increasing transparency and improving their responsiveness." 

Case studies such as "Sajha Sawa", a Nepali debate and discussion radio and TV programme are included in the text. Research design and audience demographics are included.  Cross-sectional data sets from a sample of 23,621 were used from studies ranging from July 2013 to January 2016. Questions sought to identify participation such as efforts to solve community problems or contact local, national, or traditional officials or vote in local or national elections. Discussion questions asked about: frequency of conversation about local and national issues and range of people with whom discussions might be had. Efficacy questions were formulated to determine an individual’s belief in: their entitlement to question officials; likelihood of  a satisfying account from officals; and ability to unite to demand and receive resulting action.

Through bivariate, multivariate, and interaction effect analysis, researchers found: 

Political participation

1. "[E]xposure to BBC Media Action governance programmes is positively associated with political participation."  Exposure to programmes is positively related to higher political participation in younger audiences and less educated audiences.
2. "[F]emale audience members participate in politics more than women who are not exposed to its programmes. But the increase in political participation demonstrated by BBC Media Action’s male audience is greater, reinforcing the difference in initial participation levels between genders. "

Political knowledge

1. "Exposure to BBC Media Action governance programmes is positively associated with political knowledge.
2. Political knowledge is also positively associated with age, group activity, level of education and – most strongly – interest in politics.
3. Exposure is more strongly associated with higher self-reported political knowledge for younger, less educated, less politically interested and poorer people. Exposure to BBC Media Action governance programming appears to have a compensation effect on political knowledge for these groups."

Political discussion

1. "Exposure to BBC Media Action governance programmes is positively associated with increased political discussion.
2. Political discussion is also positively associated with interest in politics, age, education level and being active in one or more political, religious or other voluntary groups. The average frequency of political discussion is higher among men than women.
3. Exposure is more strongly associated with more frequent political discussion for less educated people and those who are less interested in politics. Exposure appears to have a compensation effect on the frequency of political discussion for these two groups.. Page 24 has a summary of findings with the pages that following charting the evidence in detail."

The conclusions suggest a strong indication of increased particpation resulting from BBC Media Action programming. Areas of further study include:

• Continuing to probe how governments might be responding to citizen participation and other aspects of accountability.
• "[I]nvestigating [political participation] through the lens of social and behaviour change", examining shifting norms as enablers and barriers to change.
• Examining country data for how people receive and respond to diverse media formats in different geographical parts of a country.
• Probing the gender differences with a focus on contextual constraints and facilitating factors.

"When combined, the consistent results amassed in this multi-country sample, together with insights from detailed local research carried out previously by BBC Media Action, offer a much more comprehensive view of the role that media can play in encouraging political participation."