Framing of the COVID-19 Pandemic during the Government's Imposed lockdown by the Daily Trust and the Punch newspapers (original) (raw)
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Newspaper framing of the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria
International Journal of Health Sciences (IJHS), 2022
Since the corona virus disease broke out in Wuhan, Hubei Province in China in 2019, the world has known no peace in terms of global health. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought a new lifestyle of wearing facemask called the 'new normal'. The media particularly newspapers have been fighting this global pandemic through different reports such as straight news, features, opinions and cartoons among others. However, newspapers seem not to be doing enough in this war in their editorials. The above dictated this study which examined how Nigerian newspapers framed the second wave of COVID-19 in their editorials. Using qualitative research method, the study analysed contents of the published editorials of selected newspapers on the second wave of COVID-19 in Nigeria. Data analysed were presented in simple statistics while hypotheses raised were tested using Chi-square Statistical Technique. The study found that Vanguard and Punch newspapers (the selected newspapers) published very few editorials (poor frequency) on the second phase of the pandemic in Nigeria despite the deadly effects of the disease. The study also revealed 13 types of frames (content categories of frame) in the editorials published on the second upsurge of the pandemic in Nigeria by the selected newspapers. The study thereafter recommended among others that Nigerian newspapers should publish more editorials on COVID-19 because doing so would mean that they (Nigerian newspapers) consider corona virus real threat. Also, doing so will provide adequate information about managing and defeating the pandemic.
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Since January 2020, almost all the countries of the world have witnessed the outbreak of a global health pandemic like never before. This health pandemic, popularly known as COVID-19, has impacted negatively on the health, economic, social, and overall well-being of humanity globally. As a result, this study used content analysis to explore media framing of the COVID-19 pandemic in six Nigerian newspapers, namely, Daily Post, The Daily Sun, The Nation, Premium Times, This Day, and Vanguard. The research findings revealed that the six selected newspapers amplified the pandemic's coverage using the frames of economic issues, public healthcare crisis, health workers' strike, and corruption with different ferocity and salience. It was also found that the dominant news frames of economic issues, corruption, and public healthcare crisis received negative tone coverage across all the sampled papers at varying degrees. In contrast, the tones mostly used in framing the pandemic in the selected newspapers were positive, negative, and neutral tones. Thus, the study concluded that the media in Nigeria and elsewhere play a significant role in framing public health issues such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The author suggests that further studies should be focused on how media health-related messages in a pandemic influence the public's health behavior and impact the practices of small and medium business owners.
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Online newspapers have become one of the leading hubs for information disemination especially with the advent of web 2.0. Internet penetration in Nigeria has also contributed immensily in making diferent news contents avaliable on the web. Many people now depend on their smart phones, laptops and tablets to access news from the internet. Articles in online newspapers on COVID-19 are shared social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Instagram, Telegram amongst others, making t possible for stories to easily go viral. The manner in which online newspapers frame issues of public importance determines the level of knowledge of online news consumers and their perception of the issues. This study investigates how three online newspapers framed the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria. Anchored on Frame Analysis Theory, the study also employs Relational Content Analysis as its design. Finding shows that fear and death, government and/political influence, and palliative frames emerged as the dominant frames across the three online newspapers – Sahara Reporters, Premium Times and Daily Post studied for three months.The implication of this finding is that online newspapers reported COVID-19 outbreak in ways that made the audience jittery before the eventual outbreak of the pandemic. The study recommends that online newspapers should harp more on palliative as against fear and death frames in reporting any health emergancy in the future.
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International Journal of Media, Security, and Development [IJMSD].Volume 6 Number 1 (November 2020) , 2020
This study is to find out how the Nigerian newspapers covered the Coronavirus 19 pandemic, especially frequency of reports, prominence and framing. The study was anchored on the agenda-setting theory, which describes the role the mass media plays in imbuing importance to a particular issue. Deploying content analysis of news reports, features, opinions and editorials, interviews and illustration in 3 national dailies-The Sun, The Punch and The Guardian newspapers from April to June 2020, the study found out that the Coronavirus issue dominated press coverage with thousands of reports and that it was accorded a lot of prominence on the pages of the newspapers. It also found out that most of the reporting was categorised under the frame of Covid-19 management. However, the study also revealed that many reports also focused on governments' efforts to enforce lockdown and provide relief in the form of palliatives and economic interventions. The researcher recommends that newspapers should continue to cover and give prominence to Covid-19 reports until a vaccine is available to prevent readers thinking that the pandemic is over. He also recommends that journalists should dig deep and provide well researched features, opeds and interviews on the science behind the COVID-19 to mitigate fake news about the virus.
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The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has brought about a significant impact on all aspects of life, including the media industry. This work focused on South-East Nigeria newspapers’ readers’ perception of the Covid-19 pandemic, based on the coverage by The Guardian, Vanguard, and The Sun newspapers. The period under study in the research was from January 2020 to September 2020, The main objective was to find out how readers of newspapers in South-East, Nigeria perceived the news and the effects of the virus. A wide range of conceptual and empirical literature was reviewed with the social cognitive theory and media framing theory used as anchorage to the study. The survey research design was used. The population of the study was 667, 500 while ths sample size was 384. The study revealed the high rate of respondents’ frequency of exposure to Covid-19 reports in the selected newspapers. The result also showed that the newspapers’ readers had a generally high level of understanding of the Covid-19 pandemic. Additionally, it was discovered that the extent newspapers reported the pandemic helped inform the readers about the disease and how to prevent its spread. Amongst others, it was recommended that the Nigerian government and media organisations should intensify their efforts towards educating the public on the pandemic, its prevention, and management.
Influence of Newspaper Framing of COVID-19 Pandemic on Readers' Perception of the Virus
Nnamdi Azikiwe University Journal of Communication and Media Studies, 2021
This study investigated the influence of newspaper framing of Covid-19 pandemic on readers’ perception of the virus. The thrust of the study was to ascertain whether the way newspapers select, package and present news stories on the novel Coronavirus affected the way readers of Daily Sun, Vanguard and National Light newspapers in Awka Metropolis view the virus. Specific objectives of the study are among others to: access the patterns of frames used in reporting stories on Covid-19; ascertain respondents’ frequency of exposure to newspaper reports on COVID-19; know whether the way newspapers report COVID-19 pandemic creates the desired awareness against the spread of the virus; ascertain respondents’ perception of newspaper reportage of COVID-19; find out whether the way newspapers select, package and present (frame) stories on COVID-19 influenced respondents’ views about the virus. The study was anchored on agenda setting theory. The mixed research design was adopted in carrying out...
NIGERIAN JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION REVIEW (NJCR), 2022
The study examined panic and solution journalism framing and assessment of Nigerian newspapers' reportage and spread of coronavirus. A triangulation method consisting of content analysis and a survey was adopted. For content analysis, the sample size involved three Nigerian newspapers The Punch, Vanguard, and Daily Trust. Purposive and multistage cluster sampling techniques were used for the survey. The study found out that Vanguard, with the news placement, Punch newspaper reported forms of news with the use of solution tone in their reportage and patterns of frames, which helped Nigerians to understand the framing of coronavirus and how to prevent themselves from the virus and reduce the spread of the pandemic. The study concludes that the framing and assessment of the reportage and spread of coronavirus in respect of creating panic and solutions by the Punch, Vanguard, and Daily Trust newspapers created panic in the readers' minds using sensitive words in their publications. The study recommends that The Punch, Vanguard and Daily Trust newspapers' reporters should do more by critically analysing, interpreting, and investigating issues of a pandemic nature, reporting pandemic news positively, and being cautious of the language and words used in reportage.
Prominence and Format of Covid-19 Reportage by the Media
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This study examined the prominence and format of media reportage of COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria by focusing on the frequency of reportage, prominence and format used by the selected newspapers in the reportage of COVID-19 related stories. This study employed the content analysis method by analysing the content of The Guardian and The Nation newspapers between February 2021 and April 2021. This study found out The Guardian and The Nation newspapers gave adequate coverage to COVID-19 related stories, though; The Guardian newspaper reported COVID-19 related stories more than The Nation newspaper, The Nation newspaper gave more prominence to COVID-19 stories more than The Guardian newspaper and the major format of presentation of COVID-19 stories by the selected newspapers is the straight news among others. This study recommended that there should be more feature articles, interviews and editorials in the reportage of the pandemic and that journalists should refrain from panic reporting in the straight news to avoid putting the citizens in a state of panic.
Cogent Arts & Humanities, 2022
The paper, through content analysis, examined headlines and front-page news of two prominent Nigerian newspapers-The Guardian and Vanguard. The newspapers were purposively selected to measure their coverage of the coronavirus outbreak in Nigeria and government and citizens' perception against what obtained elsewhere. The level of awareness created to the spread of the pandemic was the major variable used to measure both government and citizens' attitude. The study covered 4 months from when the virus was first discovered in the country in February 2020 to the imposition of lockdown and its relaxation in June. The following research questions guided the research. Which of the two newspapers gave more headlines on Covid-19? Which one had more front-page news on the pandemic? Was the prominence given to the virus a reflection of government's/ citizens' attitude to it? How did the citizens perceive Covid-19 arising from information obtained from the newspapers? The findings show that both papers effectively covered the outbreak. It concluded that the Nigerian government paid lip service in its response to Covid-19, and this reflected in citizens’ indifference to the virus, notwithstanding the media coverage accorded it and contrary to what obtained in other countries. Subjects: History; Cultural Studies; Media & film Studies Keywords: Coronavirus/Covid-19; pandemic; Nigeria; lockdown; newspaper headlines
Journal of Science and Nature Olabisi Onabanjo University Ogun State, 2021
The mass media, which is the watchdog of society, plays significant roles in addressing critical societal issues and improving the people's general well-being. In recent times, promoting public health and preventing the spread of dangerous diseases has become an integral part of the mass media. This paper carried out an overview of how online newspapers in Nigerian played a significant role in enlightening the public about the Coronavirus (COVID19 pandemic). The content analysis research method was used for four months, from 28th February 2020 (a day after the pandemic's first case was recorded in Nigeria) to 29th June 2020. The online editions of Vanguard, Daily Trust, and The Sun newspapers were analyzed, taking into cognizant the Covid-19 news stories, opinion, and editorials in order to find out the extent to which online newspapers in Nigeria paid more attention to the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly in the area of educating and enlightening the community about the fatal nature of the disease and how to live with it. The result shows that all the three newspapers analyzed gave special consideration to the Covid-19 pandemic in their daily reporting. The paper recommends that public health issues and the outbreak of a deadly disease should be given more attention. The journalists covering such issues should be well equipped and research-oriented in their newsgathering and reporting.