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Television Engagement with Followers on Facebook: a Case Study of Nation Television During the 2016 Elections in Uganda

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Television Engagement with Followers on Facebook: a Case Study of Nation Television During the 2016 Elections in Uganda TELEVISION ENGAGEMENT WITH FOLLOWERS ON FACEBOOK: A CASE STUDY OF NATION TELEVISION DURING THE 2016 ELECTIONS IN UGANDA MARION. O. ALINA - 216072476 SUPERVISOR: PROF. DONAL MCCRACKEN THESIS SUBMITTED IN FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY CENTRE FOR COMMUNICATION MEDIA AND SOCIETY (CCMS) UNIVERSITY OF KWAZULU – NATAL JUNE 2020 College of Humanities Declaration - Plagiarism I, Marion Olga Alina, hereby declare that the research reported in this thesis, except where otherwise indicated, is my original research. This thesis has not been submitted for any degree or examination at any other university and does not contain other people‘s data, pictures, graphs or other information, unless specifically acknowledged as being sourced from other persons. This thesis does not contain other people‘s writing, unless specifically acknowledged as being sourced from other researchers; where other written sources have been quoted, i) their words have been re-written, but retains the meaning and is referenced, ii) where their exact words have been used, then their writing has been placed in quotation marks and referenced. I also declare that this thesis does not contain text, graphics or tablets copied and pasted form the Internet, unless specifically acknowledged, and the source being detailed in the thesis and in the reference section. Signature: Date: 24 JUNE 2020 Supervisor.………………………………..... Date……………………………………... i DEDICATION To my mother and the memory of my father. Dad, you pointed me towards the possibility of pursuing a doctorate when I was still young. May your soul rest in peace. And Mum, you ensured that this vision comes to pass. God bless you. Love you always. ii ABSTRACT This study investigates how traditional media of television struggles to retain hegemony in the online public sphere, where other players such as ordinary citizens co-produce content- initially a preserve of traditional media. The study is anchored in the theory of the public sphere as espoused by Jurgen Habermas (1989), as well as the agenda setting theory of McCombs and Shaw (1972). The context of the study is the 2016 elections in Uganda, part of which period social media was shut down in the country, to prevent what government described as an intention to use the platform for spreading lies. This effectively integrates the state in the struggle for hegemony on social media. The study therefore presents an interpretation of how each of these three entities: ordinary citizens, herein referred to as followers, the media and the state struggle to retain control of the Facebook communicative space. This study applies a combination of netnography and in-depth interviews to bring to empirical scrutiny the use of Facebook in Uganda. It concludes with the argument that traditional media‘s agenda setting role is in conflict with the discursive nature of Facebook as a public sphere. The study further draws a connection to the clamped down radio talk shows in Uganda, commonly known as ebimeeza, to argue that Facebook is Uganda‘s new ebimeeza. A new term, FaceBimeeza, is coined to explain this relationship. iii Table of contents Declaration - Plagiarism ................................................................................................................ i DEDICATION ............................................................................................................................... ii ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................. iii Table of contents ........................................................................................................................... iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................................... x List of acronyms ......................................................................................................................... xiv List of tables ................................................................................................................................. xv List of figures .............................................................................................................................. xvi List of appendices ...................................................................................................................... xvii Chapter 1 Introduction to the study ............................................................................................ 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 1 Location of the study ................................................................................................................... 3 Background to the study .............................................................................................................. 5 Uganda‘s political history: Implications for the current political leadership ...................... 5 History of elections in Uganda ............................................................................................ 7 The case of the 2016 presidential elections .............................................................................. 11 Uganda‘s media history and public participation in political debate ........................................ 14 The press under Christianity .............................................................................................. 14 Onset of the black press: The voice of citizens comes to life............................................ 16 The press at Independence ................................................................................................. 18 Radio and Television broadcasting in Uganda .................................................................. 20 iv The modern era of Radio in Uganda ......................................................................................... 21 The press under President Museveni and the NRM .................................................................. 23 Social media in Uganda ............................................................................................................. 25 Synthesis of engagement by citizens in Uganda ....................................................................... 26 Research problem ...................................................................................................................... 27 Motivation for the study ............................................................................................................ 29 Aim of the study ........................................................................................................................ 30 Purpose of the study .................................................................................................................. 30 Research objectives ................................................................................................................... 30 Research questions .................................................................................................................... 30 Definition of terms .................................................................................................................... 31 Structure of the dissertation ....................................................................................................... 31 Chapter 2 Literature review ....................................................................................................... 32 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 32 Citizen engagement in news media ........................................................................................... 32 The onset of social media .......................................................................................................... 36 Use of social media in political processes ................................................................................. 37 Use of Facebook and Twitter in presidential elections.......................................................... 41 The Uganda example ............................................................................................................. 43 Understanding social media as a public sphere ......................................................................... 46 About Facebook and its use in Uganda ..................................................................................... 51 The 2016 Presidential elections in Uganda and media coverage .............................................. 57 v Media coverage of the 2016 elections in Uganda.................................................................. 59 Legislation of social media and online platforms in Uganda .................................................... 61 Chapter 3 Theoretical framework ............................................................................................. 66 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 66 The theory of the public sphere ................................................................................................. 66 Tracing the theory of the public sphere ....................................................................................
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