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A Comparative Study Of Newspaper Coverage Of Rural/urban Problems In Imo State
[A CONTENT ANALYSIS OF DAILY CHAMPION, THE SUN AND VANGUARD NEWSPAPERS] -
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CHAPTER FOUR
DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
4.1 INTRODUCTION
The manifest content of the newspapers, all private owned, were analyzed to determine their coverage and urban problems in Imo State.
The newspapers are The Sun , based in Lagos, Vanguard , also based in Lagos, and Daily Champion based in both Lagos and Owerri, Imo state.
Daily Champion , as a matter of fact is owned and financed by Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, a prominent Son of Imo State.
The three newspapers are tabloid in size, national in circulation and daily in publication.
Whereas Daily champion and Vanguard have been in circulation for decades now, The Sun graced the news stands barely a couple of years back. Under the present civilian dispensation.
It thus, becomes the least experiment in the industry, though that the fact is not a criterion when it comes to professionalism and ethics of the profession.
4.2 DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
A sample of 24 copies of the newspapers were systematically selected so that all days of the week excluding Saturdays and Sundays would be represented in almost equal proportion.
The sample copies were scanned for contents that deals with rural and urban problems in Imo State. These were coded into defined categories under content and ownership pattern.
The types of identified were†hard news features, opinions’ editorials, “Letters to the editor and “Pictures†with community development undertone in Imo State.
Under this arrangement, the Daily Champion published a total of 49 news items about urban/rural problems in Imo state, representing 46.2% for the month of Februar y 2004, under review.
Also, in the same month, Vanguard published a total of 20 news items that dwelt on urban and rural problems in Imo State. It represents 19.1%
For its part The Sun newspaper published within the same period a total of 36newsitems concerning urban and rural problems in Imo State, thus representing 34.2% for the period under study. Table 1 below, expatiates.
TABLE 1
Urban/rural problems in Imo State as published by the three newspapers grouped into content categories
From the above table, atotal105 news items on urban/rural problems in Imo State were identified in the 24 copied of the three newspapers content analyzed, namely, Daily Champion, Vanguard and the Sun.
The table above clearly indicated the near neglect of rural problems in Imo State by newspapers studied.
Besides, the data available in the above two tables has adequately answered some of the research questions raised in this study such as:
a. Is there any relationship between newspaper ownership and coverage community problems as those in Imo state?
Answer: Yes. This is born from the fact that the Daily Champion and The sun whose owners are from old Imo State carry more of urban and rural problems in Imo State than Vanguard owner is not from the area.
b. To the question of the extent to which the location of a newspaper affect its coverage of community developmental news, the answer is: To every large extent. The fact that both the Daily Champion and The Sun newspapers are neared to the people of Imo state than Vanguard accentuates this conviction. The greater coverage of Dai ly Champion and the Sun is a salutary reminder.
c. Does a newspaper’s editorial policy affect its coverage of urban/rural problems in a society such as Imo?
Answer: Yes. Since the three newspapers under review are all privately owned, as against government ownership, they have a high profit motive and hence, Cary less of rural issues, which apparently, contributed little to their sustenance. As studies have shown, government newspapers carry more rural stories, obviously, because of the subsidy they enjoy f rom the regime in power at any particular point in time.
d. To what extent does the leadership size of a newspaper influence its coverage of community development projects? Answer: To a large extent. The high leadership of Daily Champion and The Sun newsp apers in Imo state explains the greater coverage the two newspaper accord the area, in contradiction to vanguard which has low leadership there.
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]ABSTRACTOver the years, successive governments in the underdeveloped countries have regrettably adopted a lackadaisical, impractical, apathetic and lip service attitude towards the transformation of their rural communities whose inhabitants constitute in some places more than 70% of their respective populations.In Nigeria for instance, the situatio n has reached an alarming stage, more so when one considers th ... Continue reading---
APPENDIX A - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]APPENDIXCODE CATEGORIES FOR VARIABLES OF INTEREST COLUMN CATEGORY1. Name of Newspaper2. Location3. Month of Publication4. Date of publication5. Number of items6. Items classification7. Form of items8. Nature of item9. PlacementCODING INSTRUCTIONSName of newspapers: Daily Champion = DCVanguard VgDaily Sun DSLocation: DC-Lagos = LAVG-Lagos = LADS -Lagos = LAMonth of publication: FEB - ... Continue reading---
LIST OF TABLES - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]LIST OF TABLESTable 1: Urban rural problems in Imo State as published by the three newspapers grouped into contents categoriesTable 2: Coverage of urban vis -Ã -vis rural problems in Imo state by the three newspapersTable 3: Content Placement of urban/rural problems in Imo state by the three newspapersTable 4: Content emphasis in terms of story length by the three news papersTable 5: Content emphasis in terms of hard news by the th ree news papersTable 6: Content emphasis in terms of fea ... Continue reading---
TABLE OF CONTENTS - [ Total Page(s): 1 ] TABLE OF CONTENTS Title page Approval page Dedication Acknowledgement Abstract Table of contents List of tables CHAPTER 1: Introduction Background of the study Statement of the problems Theoretical orientation Objective of the study Significance of the study Research Questions Limitation Delimitation Definitions of Terms CHAPTER 2: Literature Review 2.1 I ... Continue reading---
CHAPTER ONE - [ Total Page(s): 2 ]THEORETICAL ORIENTATIONThis research work is based on two major theories, the development media theory and the Democratic participant media theory. Both theories emerge out of the realization that the original four classical theories viz, the authoritarian, Libertarian, social responsibility and Soviet-communist theories, do not apply strictly to developing countries or where they can be applied, have lim ... Continue reading---
CHAPTER TWO - [ Total Page(s): 3 ]not far from the point when he noted that lack of media resources such as man power, tra nsportation and communication equipment was mainly responsible for low coverage of rural news by newspapers in developing countries such as Nigeria, his findings were a confirmation of that by francis Voelker (1972) in his “Mass Media Forces in our society †as well as that Kimio Uno (1982) in is study on ... Continue reading---
CHAPTER THREE - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]CHAPTER THREE METHODOLOGY3.1 Research MethodologyAware of the unique characteristic of the study which dwells on the coverage of rural development activities in Imo State by three newspapers viz The Daily Champion, The Sun, and The Vanguard, the researcher adopt content analysis as the most appropriate, efficient and accurate research technique for work.Being a quantitative research tool, content analysis is also a systematic procedure that is applied to determine objectively, what i ... Continue reading---
CHAPTER FIVE - [ Total Page(s): 2 ]CHAPTER FIVESUMMARY CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION5.1 SUMMARYFrom the study, two facts have been established:a. The ownership of a newspaper is a very important and crucial factor in the extent of coverage of rural and urban problems in a developing society. This is reflected in the editorial policy and the attention, though grossly inadequate, which the ownership o f the Daily Champion which gave the largest coverage to urban and rural problems in the study, is from Imo state, speaki ... Continue reading---
REFRENCES - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]BIBLIOGRAPHYBittner, J .R.(1989) Mass Communication, An Introduction . 5th Edition. New J ersey, Prentice Hall Inc.Edeani, O.D (190) “ Impact of Ownership on National newspapers Coverage of a Mass mobilization campaign†in Nigerian Journal of Mass Communication . Enugu, Magnet Enterprises .Gana, J . (1988). “The need for adequate enlightenment in socio - economic Lifeâ€. Paper presented at the workshop organized by MAMSER on Reporting Techniques for MAMSER programm ... Continue reading---
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]ABSTRACTOver the years, successive governments in the underdeveloped countries have regrettably adopted a lackadaisical, impractical, apathetic and lip service attitude towards the transformation of their rural communities whose inhabitants constitute in some places more than 70% of their respective populations.In Nigeria for instance, the situatio n has reached an alarming stage, more so when one considers th ... Continue reading---