PRESS COVERAGE OF ETHNIC INTEREST GROUPS IN NIGERIA: A STUDY OF SELECTED NATIONAL DAILIES

Abstract

Ethnic interest groups constitute influential actors in Nigeria’s sphere of political engagement and public discourse generally. These groups, like other social actors, largely rely on mass media to be seen and heard, and the way media report them tends to shape public perception and engagement with the groups. Therefore, this paper examined press coverage of ethnic interest groups in Nigeria. Situated within the framework of agenda setting and framing theories, the study was designed as a content analysis. Four national dailies –Daily Sun, Vanguard, The Nation and Daily Trust – were purposively selected between May 29, 2015 and May 29, 2017, while 432 editions (108 issues for each paper) were selected. Findings showed that newspapers gave frequent and prominent coverage to ethnic interest groups in Nigeria. Reports on the groups revolved mainly around advocacy and antagonistic communication from the groups. The reports were slanted to favour ethnic groups of the respective owners. The study concluded that the continued visibility enjoyed by ethnicity-related issues in the sphere of public discourse in Nigeria may be partly explained by the frequent and prominent coverage given to them by newspapers, and that newspapers’ slanting of their reports in favour of ethnicity of their owners underscores their role in reinforcing ethnic consciousness and divisiveness in Nigeria as found by several previous studies. The study recommended, among others, more efforts by the press towards objectivity and non-sensationalism in their reportage of ethnicity.