Abstract

It has been observed that the press, as the watchdog of the society, has given more attention to politics and the politicians than issues of socio-economic rights of citizens. This study, therefore, investigated the extent to which issues of socio-economic rights (poverty, unemployment, healthcare, education, social amenities, etc.) were reported vis-a- vis politics in The Pioneer, a public funded newspaper owned by the Akwa Ibom State Government of Nigeria. The study did content analysis of The Pioneer newspaper for six months from January 2015 to June 2015. A total of 30 issues of the newspaper were selected and analysed through application of constructed week.  Findings showed that socio-economic rights news constituted 21% of The Pioneer reportage, politics on the other hand took 41% while crime news and others accounted for 38% within the period. The study therefore concluded empirically that citizens’ socio-economic rights were not given prominence as compared to political issues in The Pioneer. It recommended that issues of socio-economic rights of citizens should be played up in the media as justification for the existence of the media as contributor to economic growth and citizens’ wellbeing in the society and also as a check on recklessness and unaccountability in governance.

Key Words: Citizens, Socio-economic rights, News, Politics, Surveillance, The Pioneer Newspaper

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*Bassey Esuk Bassey, Ph.D., is a Senior Editor and State Bureau Chief with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Akwa Ibom State Operations, Information Drive, Off IBB Way, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria.

^JCMRJournal of Communication and Media Research, Vol. 8, No. 2, October 2016, 219 – 229