Content and Hermeneutical Analysis of Selected Newspapers’ Reportage of Environmental Issues in Nigeria

Abstract

There has been growing concern about the environment and the need to engage sustainable environmental behavior in Nigeria. It is irrefutable that since the mass media provide much of the relevant knowledge for public knowledge, they (the mass media) determine to a large extent the kind, and amount of, as well as frequency of environmental information that reaches the public which may in turn serve as basis for increased public action concerning environmental issues and matters. Apparently, media reportage of environmental issues is inadequate in extant literature. Thus; it is very important to ascertain how environmental issues which may have implications for climatic changes have been reported by the media, given the surveillance role that the media are expected to play in a democratic dispensation. It is on this backdrop that this study was carried out to investigate the reportage of environmental issues in Nigeria by selected newspapers. The study adopted content analysis method of mass communication research and dialectical hermeneutics method of critical-cultural research in analyzing sampled editions of selected newspapers. The newspapers that were selected for the study were nationally circulated and they were Daily Trust, Guardian, Punch and This Day. Systematic and purposive sampling methods were used to select a total of 480 editions of all the selected newspapers within a period of two years, 1999 and 2000. Consequently, 520 journalistic issues and editorial items in the selected newspapers were distilled from the newspapers and subjected to content analysis and hermeneutical interpretation so as to unfold manifest and latent reportage of environmental issues in Nigeria by the newspapers within the period of the study. Four environmental issues were devised as content categories to address the research problem and they were, flood, erosion, pollution and deforestation. Straight news stories, feature stories and opinions and columns were used as the editorial items and units of analyzing the content categories. Consequently, it was discovered in the study that the selected newspapers reported environmental issues in Nigeria considerably, and erosion and flood related matters received the highest reportage of all the environmental issues. It is not surprising that erosion/flood was considered most important by the selected newspapers within the period of study, given the amount of global attention on the environmental issue of erosion and flood. Also, the selected newspapers mostly used feature stories to report on the environmental issues Thus, the selected newspapers were able to describe the environmental issues extensively and put them (the issues) in perspectives that were germane to understanding of the issues by the readers. It was also discovered that the newspapers devoted significant space to the reportage of the environmental issues, by measure of length and paragraphs of the stories. However, the selected newspapers did not give the issues considerable and enough prominence, by measure of front page and back page placements and big headline point sizes. The study concludes that the selected newspapers were socially responsible in their reportage of the environmental issues. It is recommended that the media in Nigeria should pay more attention to environmental issues. The print media, most particularly newspaper houses should set more agenda for public discussion in respect of environmental issues in Nigeria by giving more prominence by way of placements of stories on environmental matters, on front page and other premium pages. This is because how agenda for public discussion is set in respect of salient issues of development such as the environment is determined by how reportage of the issue is rich in prominence, depth of treatment and headline point sizes.