A COMPARISON OF CRIME REPORTAGE IN TWO NIGERIAN NEWSPAPERS: DAILY TIMES AND NEW NIGERIAN

Abstract

This study compares crime reportage in the two major newspapers in Nigeria, Daily Times and New Nigerian, from August 1 to October 31, 1983, utilizing a content analysis methodology. The Daily Times (jointly owned by the Government and the private interest) exceed the New Nigerian (totally owned by the Government) in total crime reports, average daily reports, average number of lines per report and the ratio of space-utilization for crime vs. non-crime reportage. It is likely that newspapers totally owned and controlled by the government, e.g., New Nigerian, are less likely to publish crime reports in general and political crimes in particular than newspapers owned and controlled in part by the private sector, e.g., Daily Times. Both newspapers covered political crimes more frequently (36 percent of total reports) than any other type of crime and its subcategory “riots and demonstrations” comprised 44 percent of all political crimes. This finding reflects Nigeria's problems of neo-colonization and ethnic, religious, political, economic and regional heterogeneity, resulting in a series of violent coups and counter-coups since the country's independence in 1960.