Abstract

This is a comparative study on the coverage of health and rural health issues by two Nigerian newspapers: Nigerian Tribune and The Punch.  The study was carried out within the framework of the agenda-setting theory, which says the media has the ability to make the public consider certain issues as important.  The content analysis method was used to gather data while the T-test analysis was used to test the hypotheses.  Findings revealed that both newspapers gave considerable coverage to health issues. It also revealed the urban leaning and orientation of the Nigerian mass media, as there were more urban health articles than rural health articles in both newspapers. The t-test analysis revealed that there was a significant difference in the coverage of health issues between the Nigerian Tribune and The Punch newspapers.  The analysis also revealed that there was no significant difference in the coverage of rural health issues between the newspapers.  This study therefore suggests that journalism training curricula should place more emphasis on rural reporting as it is pivotal to national development.

Key Words: Health, Newspapers, Rural Areas, Rural Reporting, Health Education

^JCMRJournal of Communication and Media Research, Vol. 2, No. 1, April 2010, 131 – 142.

About the author

Margaret Solo-Anaeto is a lecturer in the Department of Mass Communication and Media Technology, Lead City University, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria.

Full Article

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Article Citation

Solo-Anaeto, M. (2010): Content analysis of health-related issues in two Nigerian newspapers. Journal of Communication and Media Research 2(1): 131 – 142.