Agricultural News Coverage In The Print Media In Nigeria: A Comparative Study Of Three Categories Of Newspapers

Abstract

The focus of this paper is on the comparative analysis of agricultural news coverage in three categories of newspapers in Nigeria. The three newspapers under study were New Nigerian, Pointer and Vanguard newspapers. Data were analysed using frequency counts, and percentages and Analysis of Variance. The pointer newspaper recorded 164 agricultural news items out of the total of 2456 news items, representing 6.7% of the total news. The vanguard recorded 107 agricultural news items from the total of 4850 news items, representing 2.2% of the total news, while The New Nigerian recorded 96 agricultural news items from the total of 4824 news items, representing 1.10% of the total news. The findings indicate a general low level of agricultural news coverage among the three newspapers. The results of the analysis of variance revealed that there is no significant difference in the frequency of agricultural news covered by pointer, vanguard and new Nigeria newspapers, with The Pointer (State Government Owned) newspaper recording the highest number of agricultural news; followed by the vanguard (privately-owned) newspaper. However, the new Nigerian (federal government owned) newspaper recorded the least number of agricultural news.