Press Coverage of Agricultural News: A Content Analysis of Selected Newspapers

Abstract

Agricultural input towards national development dropped to an
abysmal level on account of the oil boom and other problems besieging
the agricultural sector. Nevertheless, the importance of agriculture to
national development cannot be over-emphasized especially now that
Nigeria is struggling to get out of the economic recession caused by
declining oil prices, massive unemployment, hunger, etc. Within this
context, this study examined press coverage of agricultural news. The
study adopted quantitative and qualitative content analysis as its
research methodology. Framing and development theories were
considered as theoretical discourse. The population of the study consists
of 310 newspapers, and the four papers under investigation constitute
the sample size of the study. The four papers were purposively selected
due to their circulation strength, and wide coverage of issues. The study
found that 70.2% of stories studied covered agriculture positively.
However, the findings also revealed that only 4.4% of agricultural news
was seen on the front pages, 0.9% on the back page and 6.8% centre
spread pages while 87.10% used in the inside pages in the four
newspapers, which indicate lack of prominence. The study concluded that newspapers' coverage of agriculture in the development of a world
needs to be given prominence bearing in mind the potentials of
agriculture in the development of a world-class economy.