AN ASSESSMENT OF STUDENTS RESPONSE TO TELEVISION REALITY PROGRAMMES

Background of the Study
The mass media, most especially television has become a part of our daily lives, and sources of information, education and entertainment have been described as the primary functions of the media. Lasswell (1948) as cited in Folarin (2005,p.74), assigns three functions to the media:
 Surveillance of the Environment (the news function).
 Correlation of the different parts of the Environment (the editorial function).
 Transmission of the cultural heritage from one generation to the other (the cultural transmission function). (pg 74).

There is no doub t that the impact of television broadcasting on young people’s lives is broadly considered within what is referred to as “media effects” debate which to a great extent focuses on the potentially negative impact of television on young people’s lives: video violence, gambling, educational performance, television consumerism, etc (Miles 2000,p.87). Steele, J. R. & Brown, J. D. (2005,p.87), identifies three main reasons why television influence should be given a closer look:
 Young people spend more time with the mass media than they do in school or with their parents.
 The media are full of portrayals that glamorize risky adult behavior such as excessive drinking and sexual promiscuity.
 Parents and other socialization agents have arguably shirked their responsibilities when it comes to directing youth away from risky forms of behavior; thereby allowing the media a more fundamental influence.

In the context of this discourse, many commentators opine that by the age of 18, an individual will have spent more time watching television than any other activity besides sleep (Anderson, 2009,p.76). However, Miles (2000, p.73) is of the view that:
It is widely assumed that young people are affected more directly and negatively by the media than any other age group, research actually indicates that young people between the ages of 14 and 24 actually form one of the groups who currently spend the least time watching television. This is a paradox that has often been neglected in the literature. Ironically, the mass media itself has a vested interest in exaggerating the impact it has on young people’s lives because media-hype simply makes good ‘copy.’

Regardless of the actual time young people spend in watching television and using other media, there is no doubt that television broadcasting have played an important role in structuring young people’s lives in some shape and form in a period of rapid social change (Osgerby, 2008,p.12).
The amount of television programes consumed by young people has drastically expanded in recent years, allowing them to compose their own ‘media menu’ with their own preferences and likings. The youth itself is undergoing a period of rapid change, likewise the ways in which young people use the media. The advent of cable and satellite television has boosted television viewing in recent years (Johnson, 2004). Osgerby (2008,p.20), further points out that “the post-modern age brought with it the proliferation of media and information technologies which challenged traditional conceptions of time and space, symbolized most apparently by the global cultural flows and images evident in the programming of Music Television (MTV). MTV is well known as an entertainment television that airs not only music videos, but reality TV shows and other entertainment programmes”.
Reimer (2005,p.67), posits that young people’s use of the mass media binds them together more than any social activity (and hence their relationship with social change). Young people could be said to be united through their pursuit of pleasure through the mass media. The media (or the people behind it) are skilled at knowing what will appeal to the mass teenagers and use skillful manipulation to get messages across, buy into an idea or product that communicates an idea – like the status of having the latest ipod, i-touch or cell phone. However, Allahar (2006,p.54), argue that the manner in which television portray aspects of the outside world might be said to actively prevent young people from developing a critical consciousness that will allow them prioritize larger issues of personal and social responsibility.
Since they are bombarded with tantalizing images of the ‘good life,’ it is not surprising that the young are dispirited by the reality of their poor economic prospects. What lies at the heart of all this activity, however, is the fact that televison can sell young people some element of an identity they have been taught to crave… leisure industries such as music, fashion, and cosmetics have a largely uncritical army of consumers awaiting the next craze or fad. (Allahar, 2006, p.148).

Reality television show has in recent time significantly proved to be a favourite among the youth – particularly those who fall within the range of ages 18-25 (Chikafe 2012,p.76). Among these programmes is the Big Brother Nigeria which is the focus of this study and hereafter referred to as “Big Brother Naija”. Other common ones here in Nigeria include: MTN Project Fame, Gul etc. “Big Brother Naija”, is a reality TV show based on the Big Brother TV series in which 12 contestants live in an isolated house and compete for a large cash prize worth $100000 at the end of the show by avoiding being evicted by viewers. The first season of the show first aired on DStv Channel 37 from March 5 to June 4, 2006. The voting results are verified by the auditing company of Alexander-Forbes. Chikafa, (2012,p.54), writes that the concept was borrowed from George Orwell’s novel of 1984 titled ‘fictional dystopia of Oceania’ in which he described a world of never-ending surveillance. In the novel, the dictator who watched over the citizens of Oceania was called Big Brother, and his terrifying slogan was ‘Big Brother is watching you’. In the Big Brother television show, contestants confined in the house compete to escape eviction in order to win the prize money. The reality TV show debuted on DSTV channel 37 in 2016 and has since then, with the aid of the growth of satellite television in

Africa, roused African audience interest and has remained an annual event till date (Mateveke 2012).
The first season of the show first aired on DSTV channel 37 from March 5 to June 4, 2006. In a twist to the game, two new contestants were introduced on day 23, much to the excitement of the remaining house mate.
Ebuka who is now the host of the show now was among the first season of big brother, naija but he was this seventh housemate to be evictd. The winner of that year season was 26 year old Katung Aduwak.
The second season of Big Brother Nigeria premiered 11 years after the first season, with Efe Ejeba emerging as the winners of season 2 in 2017.
Season 3 kick of the following year seeing miracle Igbokwe from Imo State taking ome the money in 2018. Chikafa, (2012,p.36), observe that Big Brother Naija Amplified was amplified because, as stated on the Big Brother Naija website, it aimed to be bolder than before. The producers proverbially thought outside the box so as to maintain interest. The season four saw the introduction of the Amplified crew, a dance group that sizzled audiences at every live eviction show.

The fifth season was christened ‘Big Brother Africa All Stars’ and featured fourteen former Big Brother Africa contestants. Since then, Big Brother Africa has continued to thrive and at the same time wax stronger mostly among the Nigeria youth; although, the show, over the years, has been criticized for its display of obscene and vulgar scene which is considered not to be part of the Nigeria culture and that of Africa in general. Reasoning along this line, Ojoko (2013,p.1), writes that Big Brother Africa has no doubt generated a lot of controversies in recent times, and worthy of note is that the fact that the sponsors or organizers are near-faceless.
Other scholars contend that Big Brother Naija, just like many other reality TV shows, has raised a lot of moral panics among parents, teachers, and guardians especially on issues relating to sex, nudity, violence, cheating and voting unfairness. The level of immorality being celebrated by the Big Brother Naija reality show is adjudged short of programmes intended for education (Laitto, 2015). Yet, many African audience especially the youth have continued to imbibe the damaging style of the programme and the actors have turned to celebrities (Oluwakayode 2013). This has led to several calls demanding for its ban and censorship. For instance in 2007, the Nigeria House of Representatives issued a directive to the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission to discontinue the airing of any clip or debate on Big Brother Naija (Ralvy, 2007). Despite these outcries and the moral panics, the reality show has neither improved in moral tone nor viewership level reduced. Number of viewers has rather increased from over forty million in 2012 to seventy million in 2014.

The viewership of Big Brother Naija since its debut in 2006 has grown tremendously to an estimate of more than twenty million persons across Africa. According to Lengnan (2013), Big Brother Naija is unarguably one of the most watched/followed indigenous television reality shows on the African continent. Here in Nigeria the viewership interest was heightened following the emergence of Nigerian, Efe Ejeba and Karen Igho as the winner and co-winner of the programme in 2017 and the 2013, till date, the show has remained one of the most watched reality shows in Nigeria especially among the youth of the elite and middle class families who use or have access to DSTV, a cable network owned by Multi-Choice Nigeria, a consortium of Multi-Choice, South Africa and owns the exclusive broadcast right of the Big Brother Africa programme (Lengnan 2013). This, according to critics, such as the Nigerian noble laureate Wole Soyinka cited in Lengnan (2013), is not part of the Nigerian culture and that of
Africa in general. Soyinka and fellow critics describe it as “perverse and debasing” (Lengnan, 2013). Lengnan (2013,p.8), in his own words portrays it this way: “The Big Brother Naija now displays uninhibited sexual frolics on open cameras, accusations STDs being passed around, shameless smooching by hormonal charged housemates and ear-tingling swear words are the predominant values being shown…which lamely try to project positive African cultures and traditions; which is ironical because such modern franchises like Big Brother Naija are neo-imperialist means of eroding the very essence of Africanism…”

This indeed, calls for real academic debates and scholarly studies. Meanwhile, whereas many of such studies have been done on media effect in general and in rare cases on influence of reality TV shows on audiences, not many of such studies have focused on the influence of Big Brother Naija on youths and specifically undergraduate students of Nigerian universities and Ebonyi state university undergraduate students in particular (Brasch, 2003). This is the knowledge gap this study sought to fill.