An assessment of development and non-development information in selected nigerian newspapers
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17721/CIMC.2026.39.34-44Keywords:
development communication; non-development information, Nigerian newspapers, quantitative content analysis; The Guardian, VanguardAbstract
The study investigated the incidences of development information in two Nigerian national newspapers, namely, Guardian and Vanguard which were purposively selected to underscore their role in the development process in Nigeria. The aim was to determine the extent of the newspapers coverage of development Information, the thematic diversities of the development-oriented news, and the non-development items, and the differences between the development and non-development information. The Development Media Theory was employed as theoretical framework and the content analysis research method was adopted. Results indicated that the coverage of development items was low and there were variations in the number of development news for the three study periods. General development news accounted for the highest number of development information in the newspapers, while the papers presented more non-development than development-oriented information. The implications of the result is that readers are fed more with non-development information than development information. This portends a negative position as the impression is that the Government in Nigeria is not pursuing development efforts for the improved conditions of the citizens. Nigerian newspapers through the efforts of journalists and media houses should endeavour to cover and report development news in the communities to reflect news items in their publications from the rural areas.
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