Narratives in reporting poverty in Nigerian newspapers

Bibliographic Data

ID7559554
AuthorsBen-Collins Emeka Ndinojuo (0000-0003-4163-7756, University of Port Harcourt, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume22
Issue4
Pages1011-1031
Publication date2024-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAfrican Identities (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1472-5843 • E-ISSN: 1472-5851
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14725843.2023.2170324
OpenAlexW4318476288
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited22

Poverty is a global scourge especially in developing countries like Nigeria. The country has spent billions in poverty alleviation schemes over different administrations, all of which did not stop Nigeria from becoming the poverty capital of the world in 2018. With this undesirable status, this study set out to understand how poverty has been reported in three Nigerian newspapers: Leadership, the Punch, and Nigerian Tribune using content analysis, over 2 years from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2020. The research was grounded on the Framing Theory. Findings revealed that poverty was underreported, stories included solutions to poverty in 92% of the reports, and most of the poverty stories and initiatives were referenced in the future (58%) compared to past (3%) or ongoing (39%) activities. The tone of the stories was mainly positive (64%). The frame analysis produced 22 frames, 14 were prevalent while seven were not. The dominant frame pattern from the analysis was the ‘empowerment’ frame, highlighting the various empowerment programs across federal and state agencies In Nigeria. Recommendations include more coverage of poverty stories by Nigerian newspapers and the need for government to be transparent with its poverty alleviation initiatives

Basic needs · Content analysis · Culture of poverty · Development economics · Economic growth · Economics · Empowerment · Geography · Narrative · Newspaper · Political science · Poverty · Social science · Sociology · COVID-19 Pandemic Impacts · Law · Media Studies and Communication

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