POLITICAL APPOINTMENTS AND THE QUEST FOR RATIONAL DEMOCRATIC DISCOURSE: THE NIGERIAN EXEMPLAR

This article examines how the acceptance of a political appointment by media workers either amplifies or stifles their critical voice. In this paper, a distinguished media intellectual in Nigeria is studied as a critical case. Twelve textual exemplars were theoretically sampled from three leading national newspapers in Nigeria. The textual exemplars were selected from editions published between 2008 and 2012. The textual exemplars were categorized and presented in three titled tables. Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) was used to interpret the sampled texts. Insight was also received from comments elicited from journalism union officials in Nigeria. Analysis found that giving a political appointment to Nigerian media intellectuals smothers their critical voice. It is also found that contradictory views are brilliant professional conduct if it helps media intellectuals in a government appointment to polish the image of their pay masters. The article ends by urging media intellectuals in government appointments to ensure that they blend the pressure to parrot what their pay masters want to hear with critical rationality.