BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
This research touches on the various aspects of the mass media as instruments of political mobilization. In other words, it explores into the mass media as a mobilization agency during the political transition period.
It is thus, an important assumption of the work that a systematic study of political mobilization by mass media should include an examination and the nature of operation of the mass media communication in the Edo Broadcasting Service (EBS) Benin City. The mass media generally referred to both the print(s) and electronic media as supported in section 22 of the 1989 constitution of Nigeria. The press, radio, television and other agencies of the mass media should at all times be free to uphold the fundamental objectives and highlights the responsibility and accountability of the government to the people. The role of the mass media according to General Abacha in his maiden independence broadcast on the 1st October 1995 was to uniform, educate and entertain the citizen. Onyishi (1996) while highlighting on the role of the mass media in democracy notes that the press not only sustains the democracy principles but also end with transaction period. The media should help an ushering in democracy they should play a crucial role in nurturing and sustaining the success or failure of our practice of democratic government. To large extent, their success depends on how well the mass media carries out their function as the mid wife of democracy.