By Ahmed Balarabe Sa’id
The most critical power dynamic of our time is unfolding in the digital arena. It is the battle for our perception of reality. Once considered a distant threat, it is however a growing siege on our attention and beliefs, one that constantly shifts and adapts to manipulate what we accept as real.
Communication scholar, George Gerbner, who believed that “television can blend, bend, and blur social reality” emerged from a specific historical context: the mid-20th century age of broadcast monopoly. Gerbner’s Cultivation Theory was formulated when a handful of major networks served as the central storytellers for entire nations, creating a relatively homogenized cultural mainstream. This was a one-to-many model of communication, where the power to shape perception was concentrated in the hands of a few gatekeepers. The concern was that a steady diet of televised narratives, particularly those emphasizing violence and social threats, would gradually cultivate a distorted, “mean-world syndrome” in the public consciousness. Today, as we examine the vibrant and rapidly evolving digital economies of nations like Nigeria, Gerbner’s framework reveals itself not as obsolete in the current dynamics, but terrifyingly prescient, having mutated to fit a new, decentralized, and algorithmically-driven media ecosystem. The transition from a broadcast to a digital participatory culture has exponentially amplified the mechanisms of blending, bending, and blurring, presenting a monumental challenge to media literacy in an era defined by misinformation, disinformation, and mischaracterisation.
Nigeria presents a compelling case study of this digital transformation. With a population exceeding 200 million, the country has witnessed an explosive adoption of digital media. Data from the Nigerian Communications Commission and various research firms indicate there are over 160 million internet users, with social media penetration climbing steadily, particularly among the youth. Platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter (now X), and Instagram have become integral to commerce, politics, social organizing, and daily communication, fueling a burgeoning digital economy from influencer marketing to fintech. This rapid adoption, however, has outpaced the development of corresponding media literacy infrastructures. The historical underpinnings of Gerbner’s work remind us that all media are environments, and the Nigerian populace has been thrust into a dense, unregulated digital jungle with a map that is often outdated as soon as it is drawn.
In this new context, the “blending” Gerbner identified is no longer just about mixing news and entertainment. It is a total fusion of contexts, authorities, and intents. The Nigerian social media user’s feed is a kaleidoscope where a clergy’s prophetic message sits alongside a breaking news alert, a viral meme critiques government policy, a relative shares unverified health remedy, or an influencer promoting a financial “sure bet.” This digital blending creates a context collapse where the authoritative weight of a reputable institution is flattened to compete on equal footing with the emotional appeal of a personal anecdote or a deliberately fabricated story. The “bending” of social reality is now performed by sophisticated algorithms that optimize for engagement rather than truth. These algorithms, in their relentless pursuit of clicks, systematically amplify content that is sensational, emotionally charged, or confirms deep-seated ethnic, religious, and political biases. This creates a deeply bent perception of reality where extreme viewpoints appear mainstream, social consensus is illusory, and moderate voices are drowned out, polarizing the national discourse.
Most critically, the “blurring” between fact and fiction has become the defining feature of the information landscape. The line that Gerbner saw becoming hazy on television has all but vanished in the digital realm, especially in two major contexts. Misinformation: false information shared without harmful intent now spreads like wildfire through family WhatsApp groups, often related to public health or safety. Disinformation: deliberately fabricated and disseminated to deceive, now often weaponized by political actors and malicious agents to mischaracterize opponents, incite violence, or undermine social trust. This mischaracterisation is particularly potent, reducing complex individuals or entire communities to simplistic, often negative, stereotypes for political or social gain. The recent rise of AI-generated content, from deepfake videos to synthetic audio, promises to further erode any remaining certainty, making it nearly impossible for the average citizen to distinguish authentic evidence from a masterful forgery.
The challenge for media literacy, therefore, is no longer simply about teaching people to identify credible sources in a library of published works. It is about equipping them to navigate a dynamic, participatory environment where everyone is both a consumer and a potential broadcaster. The task is Herculean: citizens must now learn to discern the subtle markers of algorithmic manipulation, understand the economics of clickbait, recognize the emotional triggers used to provoke sharing, and verify multimedia content in an age of easy fabrication. This requires a fundamental shift in educational paradigms, moving beyond traditional curricula to embed critical digital literacy as a core life skill. For a country like Nigeria, with its vast youth population and digital potential, succeeding in this endeavor is not merely an educational goal but an economic and national security imperative. A populace unable to discern digital truth from fiction is vulnerable to manipulation, social unrest, and poor decision-making, which ultimately stifles the promise of its digital economy. The historical lessons of Gerbner’s research serve as a stark warning. The centralized storyteller of the broadcast era has been replaced by a million algorithmically-empowered voices. Consequently and unfortunately, our fight is no longer just against a single narrative that bends reality, but against a cacophony of realities, each perfectly tailored to blend, bend, and blur, until shared truth itself becomes the final casualty.
Ahmed Balarabe Sa’id is a Communication Strategist. He writes from Abuja.