Journalists’ Attitudes towards the Coverage of Agricultural and Rural Development News in Ogun State.

Abstract

The study examined the journalists’ attitudes towards the coverage of Agricultural and Rural Development News in Ogun State. Multistage technique was used to select 40 journalists from Print and Electronic media organizations in Ogun State. Primary data were collected with structured questionnaire. Chi-square and Spearman correlation were used to analyze the data collected. Result showed that most (57.5%) of the journalists were male and 72.5% married. Their mean age was 30.6years. About 70.0% were with a minimum of a Higher National Diploma (HND) qualification. Majority (55.0%) were Christians while 45.0% were Muslims. Most (85.0%) of the journalists live in urban areas while few (15.0%) live in semi-urban areas. Result showed that 85.0% of the journalists were operating on a permanent basis while 15.0% were on part time/freelance appointments. Half (50.0%) of the journalists had 6-10 years work experience. Result further showed that 40.0% of the journalists were constrained by organizational problems,75.0% by lack of transportation to rural areas for news coverage, 92.5% by bad roads to rural areas, 55.0% by inadequate equipment and 90.0% were constrained by lack of interest in agricultural news by most of the members of the audience. Chi square analysis showed a significant association between age (c2=82.15, p<0.05), work experience (c2=80.21, p<0.05) and the perception of journalists toward the coverage of agricultural and rural development news. Result further showed an inverse relationship between the constraints experienced by the journalists and their reportage of agricultural and rural development news (r =-0.24, p=0.00). It was concluded that most of the journalists were not favorably disposed to the coverage of agricultural and rural development news owing to the identified constraints and challenges.

Keywords: Journalist, Attitude, Agricultural News, Rural development