Abstract

This study examined the image of Africa as portrayed in the international news columns of Nigerian newspapers in order to determine how African media represent the continent. Content analysis was adopted and five newspapers: The Guardian, Vanguard, Nigerian Tribune, This Day and the Punch were purposively selected. A total of 3,064 editions of the newspapers, between 2001 and 2005 were content-analysed. Two hypotheses were formulated and data were analysed using chi-square and t-test. Findings revealed that the image of Africa in the selected Nigerian newspapers is that of a politically unstable, conflict-ridden and economically backward continent. There was a significant association between the newspapers’ sources of international news and the direction of African news (x² = 405.77, df 12, p<.05). Africa is under-reported in Nigerian newspapers as the newspapers significantly reported more news about other continents than African news (t=-22.413, df = 3062, p<.05).

Such image of Africa in the newspapers which depicts it as a politically unstable, conflict-ridden and economically backward continent challenges popular assumptions about its portrayal in African newspapers. This has pedagogical and curricular implications for journalism education in Africa. This study therefore reinforces the arguments for an overhaul of the curriculum of African communication schools.

Key Words: North-South, Information crisis, Journalism education, Africa

^JCMRJournal of Communication and Media Research, Vol. 5, No. 2, October  2013, 47– 64

©Delmas Communications Ltd.

About the author

*Dr. Ebenezer Adebisi Olawuyi is a lecturer in the Department of Communication and Language Arts, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria

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