NEWSPAPER COVERAGE PATTERN OF FOREIGN NEWS: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THIS DAY, PUNCH AND THE GUARDIAN

ABSTRACT
This research work is a comparative study of patterns of international news coverage among three Nigerian national dailies: This DayPunch and The Guardian newspapers between January 2013 and January 2014. The study adopted content analysis method, using Stemple’s 1952 continuous and constructed week pattern to draw a sample of 42 additions of the selected newspapers from a population of 1,095 issues. Code sheet was used as instrument of data collection, whereas, a reliability coefficient of categories were based on prior literature contents categories. The validity of the instrument was ascertained by the supervisor and two other professionals in Department of Curriculum & Measurement, Faculty of Education, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. The findings showed that: (i) Each of the chosen newspapers gave coverage to foreign news, meanwhile, Punch gave greatest attention, it was followed by The Guardian and This Day newspaper which gave the least coverage. (ii) Majority of the newspapers’ reportage on foreign news was in the straight news genre. (iii) When compared to local news reportage, there was inadequate coverage of foreign news among the selected papers. The study concludes that, significantly, the newspapers did not give adequate coverage to foreign news either selectively or collectively. This, drawn the inference that Nigeria newspaper within the study period, failed in performing their role of informing, & educating the people on matters pertaining to foreign news. The researcher recommends that newspapers in Nigeria should show readers the importance of foreign news since the world is increasing compressing into a global system of connectedness by better foreign news coverage.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title Page
Table of Contents
List of Tables
Abstract

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1       Background of the Study
1.2       Statement of the Problem
1.3       Objectives of the Study
1.4       Research Questions
1.5       Significance of the Study
1.6.      Scope of the Study
1.7       Definition of Terms
            References

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1       Conceptual Review
2.1.1 History of Newspaper in Nigeria
2.1.2 Mass Media
2.1.3 Newspaper
2.1.4 International Communication
2.1.5 Imbalance in Communication
2.2       Empirical Review
2.3       Theoretical Framework
2.4       Summary of Literature Review
            References

CHAPTER THREEE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1       Research Design
3.2       Population of the Study
3.3       Units of Analysis
3.4       Sample Size
3.5       Content Categories
3.6       Measuring Instrument
3.7       Validity of Instrument
3.8       Reliability
3.9       Coding of Content
3.10     Inter-Coder Reliability
3.11     Data Presentation and Analysis
            References

CHAPTER FOUR: RESULT AND DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
Data Presentation and Analysis

CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY/CONCLUSION/ RECOMMENDATION
Summary
Conclusion
Limitations of the study
Recommendation
REFERENCES
Appendixes

CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION

1.1         Background of the Study
In public debates as well as in communication research, the media in every country, educate, entertain and inform the citizens about local and foreign affairs. Citizens rely on the newspaper- as their major source of news, particularly news of events outside their immediate community. Based on the information obtained from their local media, they acquire knowledge, create images, get wisdom and form opinions about nations and their institutions Boulding, (1969), as cited in Pate (1992). This has made international communication a big deal than it ever has been (Gudykunist & Mody,, 2002, p.15, as cited in Udeze, 2014. p.3).Countries all over the world can no longer hide away, without the satellite of international media beaming on them. Literatures have shown that, international communication is more essential than it has ever been in the past, Hachten, (1999), p.2, as cited in Udeze (2014). Countries the world over cannot exist in isolation If they want to grow socially, politically, economically and otherwise. In fact, foreign news does not end at informing and educating the citizens but also legitimizes the interest and involvement of the country’s government in international affairs.

This is why a newspaper of a particular country would tend to report news of certain countries more than others. According to Mowlana (1989) as cited in Pate (1992, p.61) countries reportage differ because of economic, political, social–cultural, infrastructural developments. He suggested that, if a nation and its media are economically buoyant, the buoyancy will be reflected in the quantity and distribution of foreign news in their newspaper publications.


He also outlined that political interests of a country will undoubtedly betray the behaviour of the national media. For example, the foreign policy of a country is likely to influence the direction of the media coverage to reflect national interests. Even socio-cultural factors like language, culture, religion and traditional belief, their differences or similarities between nations will explain the interest of the press in their foreign news coverage.

Before now, the need for interdependency has been one of the cardinal principles of human societies. The quest for the satisfaction of human’s numerous wants increasingly intensifies the need for interdependency. Indeed, the early colonial explorations of Africa paved way for interaction across countries. With the scramble and partition of 1884 and 1885, the African continent was divided among western nations. Chuba (2000) states that international communication was still made possible through various means of transportation that existed at the time. He opined that newspapers and magazines were distributed across territorial frontiers on horseback and sailing ship. The steam ship and the train were later invented and used to facilitate relations among nations. He explained further that international communication was hastened by Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press in 1740. The invention of the printing press enable travellers to carry news sheets relating to events happening from one country to another. Available literature reveals that the emergence of newspapers in Nigeria was facilitated by an Anglican Missionary, Rev. Henry Townsend who established the first newspaper, Iwe Iroyin in 1859 at Abeokuta. His motives were to combine of religion, education, economic, social and cultural matters with a view to penetrating and influencing the Yoruba speaking community. Other factors that later contributed to the evolution and growth of the press in Nigeria includes the increased literacy level and the later consciousness of some African intellectuals whose awakened interests in social, political, economic matters fuelled a renewed zeal to contribute to national and international discourse through the mass media, Sobowale, (1985).This is why, Okunna, (2000) as cited in Owolabi, 2013) maintains that without constant flow of vital information for economic progress, national development is bound to be stagnated (246).
Nigerian mass media have been described as a product of nationalist struggle (Osoet al 2011. Omu, (1978) who disagreed with Oso, maintains that the missionary activists in West African Coast, beginning from Freetown was actually the bedrock of media evolution in Nigeria. Tador (1996) as cited in Owolabi (2013) classifies the development of the Nigerian media into three categories. The early press (1860-1920); National press (1929-1960); and Contemporary press (1960-till date) while Ogunsiji (1989) as cited in Owolabi (2013) argued that, the history of the Nigerian media can be classified into: The era of missionary journalism (1846-1863), the era of alien dominated press (1863-1960) and the new era (1960-till date).

Similarly, the media industry has witnessed tremendous progress in terms of expansion, coverage, technology, personnel and managerial capability. According to Ukonu (2006) as cited in Owolabi (2013), the electronic press era is witnessing breath taking improvements in the mode of message gathering, storage, retrieval, packaging and dissemination. The print media are also circulating at electronic speed through the satellite and computer-aided technologies thus making the entire world a global village. The usual pattern of small scale sole proprietorship where the editor alone determines the outlook and editorial focus of the paper has given way for partnership in the running and management of the media (Azegbeni 2006). It is also worthy to note that the spread of media houses due to improved literacy level, political awareness are perceived economic advantages of the media business, which has given birth to more outfits across the six geo-political zones of Nigeria. Nigeria presently has a total number of over 152 radio stations, 116 TV stations, 40 cable stations, 143 newspaper and 25 magazines (Wogu 2006; Odeh 2007 as cited in Owolabi 2013) 247..


Furthermore, newspaper coverage pattern of foreign news, can be examined from the point of view of the functions of mass media in every society. These functions were....

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