Abstract
Community newspapers are designed to fill the information gap created by the urban-centric nature of conventional media houses. This aim cannot be achieved without reading the disseminated messages by the target population. This study assessed the readership of Oriwu Sun community newspaper in Ikorodu area of Lagos state. Multistage sampling was used to select 240 respondents from three Local Government/Council Development Areas. A structured questionnaire was administered to elicit information on demographic characteristics, awareness, readership status and readership scores from the sampled respondents. Data were analysed using frequency counts, chi-square and PPMC at 0.05 level of significance. Results showed that respondents had the mean age of 39 years; 59.2% male; mostly with higher education (66.0%) and had lived in the community for about 16 years. Many of them (76.0%) were aware of the community newspaper, and 65.0% reported that local content was the main attraction for its readers while nonreaders were constrained by access (50.2%). Despite the low readership base, the community newspaper had high readership scores among the readers. Education ( χ2 = 30.147, p ≤ 0.05) and perceived size of community ( χ2 =11.286, p ≤ 0.05) were significantly related to the readership of the community newspaper. It is therefore recommended that the publishers should improve on their Oriwu Sun community newspaper distribution strategies.Key words: Readership scores, Oriwu Sun, Community newspaper and Community development.
Highlights
Communication is crucial to the success of any human development effort
The rural community newspaper plays a great role in increasing the awareness, and adoption of recommended ideas, technologies, practices and strategies among the rural people through targeted information and motivational messages (Anaeto and Anaeto 2010)
Newspapers in rural settings which report local community affairs in the area of agriculture, rural problems, needs, priorities, health, education, information system, housing, assessment of local government activities and general infrastructural conditions contribute in no small measure to the overall development of the rural communities
Summary
Communication is crucial to the success of any human development effort. In rural development programmes, the rural community newspaper plays a great role in increasing the awareness, and adoption of recommended ideas, technologies, practices and strategies among the rural people through targeted information and motivational messages (Anaeto and Anaeto 2010). Agba (2002) opined that groups and communities are most interested in affairs that concern them This is corroborated by Udoakah (1998) that it would be of interest to community members to read about their own efforts at improving their lot, the problems they encounter daily, their ingenuities in tackling their problems and feats in different facets of life. Emke (2007) stated that community newspapers assist a locality in defining itself, celebrating its values, promoting development, and cultivating a sense of social cohesion. Newspapers in rural settings which report local community affairs in the area of agriculture, rural problems, needs, priorities, health, education, information system, housing, assessment of local government activities and general infrastructural conditions contribute in no small measure to the overall development of the rural communities. A rural community newspaper is defined by community ownership, access, democratisation, local content and rural audience development
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