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Impact Of Urhobo Voice Newspaper On Development Of Ovwain Community
[A CASE STUDY OF UDU LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF DELTA STATE]
CHAPTER ONE -- [Total Page(s) 4]
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background Of The Study
A
community newspaper is that paper established in the rural area with
the basic aim of bringing development closer to the grassroots. A
community newspaper should b e community in outlook reporting the
activities of the community to the outside world. It is also a veritable
medium through which the people are informed about government policies
and programmes. To this end, it could be rightly said that a community
newspaper has significant impact on national development since effective
development of any nation commences from the grassroots.
Igwe
(1991:175) agrees with the above postulation when he declares that “a
rural or community newspaper serves the information need of a particular
locality. Such papers should not be mistaken for provincial papers such
as the Calabar-based pioneer. These have a wider coverage and
circulation range beyond state boundaries.
The origin of community
newspapers in Nigeria could be traced to 1859 when Reverend Henry
Townsend established the first newspaper known as “Iwe Irohin in
Abeokuta. According to Akinfeleye (1985:28), which launching the maiden
issue of Iwe Irohin, Reverend Townsend said: “my object is to get the
people to read… that is to beget the habit of seeking information by
reading newspapersâ€. 3
This statement could be interpreted to mean
that the aim and objective behind the establishment of the Irohin was
for the Egba people to seek information from their environment by
reading newspaper.
Initially, Iwe Irohin was published fortnight in
Yoruba Language and later in both Yoruba and English Languages. It has
eight pages with four pages in Yoruba languages and another four
supplementary pages in English Language translating the Yoruba version
of it.
Akinfeleye (1985:29) throws more light on Iwe Irohin when he says:
“In
January 1866,Iwe Irohim for the first time started publishing two
separate editions-one in Yoruba language and the other entirely in
English language. It continued with two separate editions until these
1867 when it temporally ceased publication as a result of civil
disruption (IFOLE) between the Ibadan and Egba traders…. After a short
while, Iwe Irohim resumed publication through under a new management but
some title and flagâ€
Akinfeleye also points out that in the
beginning the news coverage of Iwe Irohim was limited in scope. For
instance, it carried only religious news items such as news transfer of
preachers from one parish or location to another, coronations of pastors
or preachers, weddings, baptisms, confirmations and the like. It later
expanded its news coverage and began to run non-religions news in
addition to religious items. It began to carry stories and news about
trade and commerce, exhibitions, sports, health, hygienic, educational
and other news items of national significance. 4
fIwe Irohin was
particularly informative in its presentation of up-to-date information
about schedules of arrivals and departures of slip, cargoes from and to
European countries. Crimes reports, nudity, immoral news abstract,
alcoholic promotion and the like were unacceptable to the paper.
Akinfeleye
concludes by saying that one of the uniqueness of Iwe Irohin is that,
it is still the only native language newspaper in the continent of
Africa that has lived for over 120 years without any major prolonged
stoppage. Today in Nigeria, copies of Iwe Irohin (though how under
another management, but same title) can still be found on sale in
several Nigerian newsstands particularly in the southern state of
Nigeria. Most of its contemporaries have been closed or ceased
publication.
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]The title of this project is “Impact of Urhobo Voice Newspaper on Development of Ovwain Community in Udu Local Government Area of Delta Stateâ€. To achieve this objective, the study made use of the survey method which involved personal interview and administration of questionnaires on respondents in Ovwain Community and the aim of this exercise was to obtain the data needed for the successful execution of the study. The study made use of table to analyse the data collected from a rand ... Continue reading---
