Comparative Analysis of the Prominence Nigerian Newspapers Accorded Selected Political Crisis Situations

Abstract

Studies on newspapers coverage of politics and violence have largely concentrated on the extent of reportage in terms of frequency and magnitude of reports but scarcely consider the relationship between the placement of reports in terms of positioning and the space allotted such reports in and among newspapers. This paper thus compares the levels of prominence some Nigerian newspapers accorded some selected political crisis situations Content analysis via coding sheet was used to collect data from five national dailies on their reportage of three political crisis situations between 2005 and 2011. The more a political issue is deemed a crisis situation, the more newspapers are likely to show equal and prominent attention to it but newspapers are hardly similar in the front page placement of such a newsworthy issue in the period of coverage irrespective of the prominence they accord such an issue.

Keywords: Nigerian dailies, political crisis, prominence, placement of reports