1.1 Introduction
BBN is a reality television show that begins with an audition of interested contestants who are young persons. A final shortlist of about 20 to 25 housemates or more are admitted into a house where they are expected to stay for a period of 3 months. Housemates are evicted on weekly bases until the last person emerges the winner of the competition. Housemates are voted for a stay or eviction by the television audience who are fans of the programme. Television audiences in Nigeria have expressed conflicting positions about the survival of the Big Brother Naija (BBN) reality show. The survival of the BBN is tied to the audiences’ dilemma. Nigerian television audiences are ever growing and complex in nature; experiencing television programmes differently (Iyorza & Abu 2020).
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.
1.2 Background of Study
Television reality show is a new trend in show business and many television stations are following this trend. One of the characteristics of some reality show is that they can be addictive as they sometimes have the newness it takes to sustain the audience (Rodrigues, 2021). It has become a common attitude for people especially the young ones to watch one reality programme or another on television stations. The attraction to reality shows comes from the portrayal of live unscripted and unedited motion pictures which have made it gain large popularity.
BBN as a reality show, has been on for the past fifteen years, the show which commonly attracts the youths is one that showcase and create opportunities for its participants in the world of entertainment as many who go in to participate for the show quickly become stars. Participants of this reality show are mainly young Nigerians who go through audition and after selection they are housed for three months with different tasks assigned to them. They exit the house through eviction on weekly basis after which a winner emerged.
The General belief is that mass media are significant but the particular belief is that they have effects on individuals, groups or organization (Mc Quail, 2010). Among the mass media of communication television is the most powerful and influential. It has the power to bend the minds of audiences. It has the power to launch/popularize an idea or destroy an idea. It is evidently seen as a powerful agent of socialization in the study of the society. Aside its powerful influence, television is the most watched medium all over the world (Akbar, 2009).
Studies on the television influence on viewers have been extensively discussed in the last decade. Many of the studies have focused on how television programmes that appear to be “real” such as news, documentaries, soap operas and day time dramas alter viewers’ perception of reality. Recently, a new trend in television has reality television shows, a genre of television programming that documents unscripted situations and actual occurrences, and often features a previously unknown cast. It often highlights personal drama and conflict to a much greater extent than other unscripted television shows (Laitto, 2015).
Television reality shows have become so popular and accepted globally that their impact is taken for granted in the western society such as United States of America, Britain and Holland. The Argument has been that TV reality shows are not simulated. They are produced and broadcast in real time with real people. Reality television show has in recent times significantly proved to be a favourite programme among the youth - particularly those who fall within the range of ages 18 – 25 (Chikafe and Mateveke, 2012). Among these programmes is the Big Brother Nigeria (BBN) which is the focus of this study. Chikafa and mateveke (2012) articulated that the concept was borrowed from George Orwell’s novel of 1984 titled “Fictional dystopia of Oceania” in the 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 show debuted in 2006 when 14 contestants were housed in south Africa to compete for $100,00 between March 5 and June 4, 2016; and Katung Aduwak was the winner. The 2017 edition of the show held for 2 weekd; from January 22 to April 9, Featuring 14 housemates including Cocolce, Efe, Marvis, Bisola, Marvis, Uriel, Tboss, Soma, Miyonse, gifty, Bally, Tintalltony, Bassey and Debie – Rise. And for the first time in Nigeria, a reality show gave away a total whooping money prize of 25 million Naira.
Efe got 57.61 percent of the votes and was declared winner while Bisola became the first runner up with 18.54 percent of the votes . She also won the one campaign prize and would feature in the United Nations Assembly to speak on girl- child education over the year. Tboss, who scored runner – up won the payporte Arena prize of N500,000. This feat not withstanding critics of the shows insist that although BB Naija was a game, the intrigues in the house portrayed the reality of life in our modern society characterized by alcoholism, nudity, sex entertainment and vulgarism even as multi-choice, the organizers of the show announced that the show was for adult viewers only.
The level of immorality being celebrated by the Big Brother reality show is adjudged short of being a programme intended for education, (Laitto, 2015). This has led to several calls demanding for its ban and censorship. For instance in 2007, the Nigeria House of Representative issued a directive to the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission to discontinue the airing of any clip or debate on Big Brother (Ralvy, 2007). Despite these outcry and the moral panics, the reality show has neither improved in moral tone nor viewership level reduced.
Therefore, in Delta State University, Abraka where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Reality TV Shows and Moral Development of Youths in Abia State.
1.3 Statement of Problems
Investigation revealed that since inception of Big Brother, the TV reality show has been popular among youths in Nigeria and other part of the world. This is because of the captivation scene. The study will find out the gratifications the students derive from viewing BBN reality TV shows; examine the level of viewership of BBN reality TV shows among youths and establish the effect of Big Brother Naija reality TV shows among youths.
The study will close up the gap in knowledge as regard to the above objectives raise which cover ways to find out the level of accessibility of among youths to Big Brother Naija Reality TV show; ascertain the level of viewership of Big Brother Naija reality TV shows among youths in Abia State, examine the Reality TV Shows and Moral Development of Youths in Abia State derived from watching BBN.
The study will adopt the survey design research method. This method is most appropriate to this study because the study seek to investigate the perception of students in Delta State University, Abraka on the uses and gratification of BBN reality television show.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study
The aim of the study is to examine the Reality TV Shows and Moral Development of Youths in Abia State. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:
- To identify the uses of the gratification among youths derived from watching Big Brother Naija;
- To find out if Abia State youths have access to Big Brother Naija Reality TV show;
- To examine the moral development that youths derive from viewing Big Brother Naija reality TV show; and
- To identify the level of viewership of Big Brother Naija reality TV shows among youths in Abia State.
1.5 Research Questions
The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:
- Does youths have access to Big Brother Naija Reality TV show?
- What is the level of viewership of Big Brother Naija reality TV shows among youths in Abia State?
- What is the moral development that youths derive from viewing Big Brother Naija reality TV show?
- What are the uses of the gratification among youths derived from watching Big Brother Naija?
1.6 Research Hypothesis
In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.
Hypothesis One
- H0: There is no significant moral development impact derived from watching Big Brother Naija among youths in Abia State
- H1: There is a significant moral development impact derived from watching Big Brother Naija among youths in Abia State
Hypothesis Two
- H0: There is no significant level of viewership of Big Brother Naija reality TV shows among youths in Abia State
- H1: There is a significant level of viewership of Big Brother Naija reality TV shows among youths in Abia State
1.7 Significance of Study
The study is significant for the following reason:
- The findings of this study will show parents how to be responsible for the leaving and training of their children instead of leaving such training to their peers, television, teaches and determine watching hour and programme exposure of their children.
- The findings of this research will serve as a good literature for both scholars and students of mass communication who might want to carry out similar or related research in the future.
- The research findings also help media houses to learn to schedule their programmes and know the nature of the programme to be televised. The findings of this study will be beneficial to educationists, university administration and policy makers on how to regulate and monitor TV contents.
This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.
1.8 Scope of Study
The scope of the research is focused on the Reality TV Shows and Moral Development of Youths. The study will cover only the reality television show, Big Brother Naija. The study will survey only youths in Abia State using Big Brother Naipaul as a case study.
1.9 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Establishment Policies: Establishment policies posed a serious limitation as most staffs are not ready to release information needed for this project work. There were lots of information needed from the staffs of this establishment to enhance the study which took them time to release or they did not release at all for security purposes, hence the scope was reduced.
- Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
- Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
- Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
1.10 Definition of Terms
Big Brother Naija: This is a typical realty television show organized for Nigerian participants and the first edition was held in January 2017.
Reality TV Show: this is the type of television programme that present real time situation of participants or housemate as they relate with each other without having connection to outside world.
Television: This is genre of mass media that broadcast programme with the combination of sound and audio to pass out massage to the audience.
Gratification: This means what the student get from watching reality TV show and what they use it for.
Viewership: This is the level at which a people watch televiosion for a purpose properly for uses and gratification. It could be high or low depending on an individual.
