Public Perception of Media Coverage of The Activities of The Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) in Nigeria

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate the awareness level, attention and perception of the public towards media coverage of the activities of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC). The survey research design was used for the study which involved personal interviews and questionnaire administration to 400 randomly selected respondents from the total study population of 13,000 people. Data generated from the questionnaires were analyzed using simple percentages, Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient and the Chi-square for testing hypotheses. We found that the ICPC has adequately communicated information about itself in the media both to elicit adequate attention and create awareness of its activities. The public selected stimuli about the ICPC mainly from the print and electronic media as opposed to the established medium of the official memo, organized whatever stimuli about the commission based on the rate of exposure to its activities and interpreted stimuli along the degree of media coverage of the commission’s activities as well as its performance in recent times. Although the public perceived media coverage of the activities of the commission as adequate, informative and necessary in the fight against corruption, they contended that media presentation of the commission is markedly different from what the commission actually is. We suggest that the ICPC should not only publicize its activities, but should ensure adequate media coverage directed at specific target groups to optimize communication.

Keywords: Corruption, media coverage, perception, public.