Media Platforms and Protest Movements: An Analysis of the 2019 #Ikokwu4 Protests in Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Recent protest movement studies have focused almost exclusively on the impact of social media platforms in the organization of protests movements. These inquiries contend that mainstream media platforms are stale and ineffective. They claim that the diffusion of social media technologies has rendered mainstream media platforms insignificant in influencing protest movements. However, these inquiries fail to unbundle these media platforms for a more succinct evaluation. These anecdotal illustrations are lacking in evidence which tests the validity of these claims. This study is commissioned to bridge that gap. This study examines the influence of different media platforms in contentious politics and solidarity building by evaluating how protesters learned about and planned the 2019 #Ikokwu4 protests in Port Harcourt, Rivers State of Nigeria. The study utilizes explanatory mixed methods research, comprising a survey of protesters (N = 384) in Port Harcourt and semi-structured interviews with participants who participated in the protests. Analyses of survey data indicate that protesters who used radio, Facebook, and WhatsApp to learn about and plan the 2019 #Ikokwu4 protests in Nigeria and who reported to have had previous protest experience were more likely to report joining on the first day of the protest. The study demonstrates the emancipatory aspects of radio as an instrument of protests. The study highlights the need to unbundle media platforms when studying how such media platforms influence protest movements.