National Newspapers and the Development of the Informal Sector in South-South Nigeria

Abstract

The paper examines the coverage of the informal sector of the economy in South-South Nigeria by the country’s elite daily press. It begins by re-iterating the value of the informal sector in Nigeria and notes that like other aspects of human and social development, the media would be invaluable in helping the sector to blossom and contribute its quota to improving the lives of Nigerians. Using a combination of content analysis and survey, it investigates the nature of coverage and concludes that coverage is scanty, heavily skewed in favour of crime related stories and items of commercial value to the media while neglecting advocacy that would have enhanced the growth of the sector. Consequently, participants in the informal sector are generally dissatisfied with media coverage and are thus not likely to be enthusiastic about media content. The paper then recommends measures that would better position the media to contribute more meaningfully to the development of the informal sector in Nigeria.

Keywords: media, press, coverage, informal sector, development.