Communicating Development: Media Representation of Poverty in Nigeria During Covid-19 Pandemic
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Date
2023-08
Authors
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Volume Title
Publisher
Daystar University, School of Communication
Abstract
Poverty is a universal problem, particularly in emerging nations such as Nigeria. The government has spent billions on poverty reduction initiatives, yet this did not prevent Nigeria from becoming the world's poorest country in 2018. With this unfavorable state, this study used content analysis to investigate how poverty was reported in two Nigerian newspapers, Daily Trust, and the Guardian Newspaper, during the Covid-19 pandemic from March 2020 to December 2021. The study also adopted descriptive research design and framing Theory which served as the basis for the study. Using a constructed week sampling strategy, the study population was made up of 1342 news articles and the target population was 308 editions of the newspaper, consisting of 154 for Daily Trust and 154 for Guardian Newspaper respectively. The study's goal was to determine the prevalence of poverty during the Covid-19 epidemic, the frames utilized by the two newspapers, and the sources used throughout the coverage. After gathering the data quantitatively, SPSS software was employed to analyze the data. With this, the study established that poverty was underreported by the two newspapers. In contrast to prior studies by media experts that found a paucity of lay people's voices in poverty coverage, the current study also found that the two newspapers used lay people as sources while covering poverty stories in Nigeria during the pandemic. Based on these findings, the researcher recommends periodic training for journalists in the selected newspapers on the framing of poverty-related news stories. Consequently, emphasis should be made on trainings that factor the importance of knowledge on SDGs and other developmental issues, since poverty is a development problem as well as being at the center of the UN’s sustainable development agenda.
Description
MASTER OF ARTS
in Communication
Keywords
Communicating Development, Media Representation, Poverty, Nigeria, Covid-19 Pandemic
Citation
Abubakar, R.,(2023). Communicating Development: Media Representation of Poverty in Nigeria During Covid-19 Pandemic: Daystar University, School of Communication