ABSTRACT.
Various scholars have
defined news in their own term. But the aggregate consensus is that news is the
accurate detail or information about an interesting or odd event. However, what
makes the news is subject to a number of factors, and one of it includes the
ownership structure of the news media. The two agencies in view which were
selected purposively were selected due to the inability to view contents on
some news agency websites until subscription fees were paid – News Agency of
Nigeria and United Press International were pedestal to the execution of the
topic: Comparative analysis of News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) and United Press
International (UPI) on the coverage of the Nigeria Labour Congress strike
action. The research sought to discover if the ownership structure of NAN
played a role in playing down the news that attracted worldwide attention, in
comparison to UPI which was owned by an individual. The agenda-setting theory
and gate-keeping theory were extensively used to know if news report concerning
the industrial action was filtered by the government. With the aid of content
analysis, news reports and headlines were analyzed. In the final analysis, it
was discovered that there was ample coverage of the industrial action by the
individual owned UPI. It should be agreed that both news agencies report on the
industrial action was unequal and reflected the owners influence. The research thus
recommended that more individuals should own news agencies in Africa in order
to enable national progress and a mature press.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Abstract VI
Table
of Contents VII
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background
of Study
Statement
of the Problem
Objectives
of the study
Research
Questions
Significance
of Study
Scope
and Limitations of Study
Definition
of Terms
References
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
References
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHOD
Research
Design
Scope
Population
Sampling
Frame
Sample
Size
Sampling
Procedure/Criteria for Selection
Research
Instrument
Method
of Administration
Units
of Analysis
Method
of Data Analysis
References
CHAPTER FOUR: DATA ANALYSIS
Data
Analysis, Interpretations and Discussions
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS
AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
Summary
Conclusion
Recommendations
Bibliography
INTRODUCTION
United
we stand; divided we fall’ was an axiom that undoubtedly remained in the hearts
of several Nigerians while they protested government’s decision to increase the
Petrol Medium Spirit (PMS). The strike seemed like the only opportunity for
Nigerians to vent their grievances against the government and decision and as
an extension, moving for a paradigm shift from unscrupulous and impoverished
era to an assuaging epoch that brings less stinging pangs of economic
incarceration. The news media played a vital role in the proper dissemination
of information about both the government’s stand on the removal of subsidy on
fuel products and the people’s view of the burning issue. One of the tenets the
news media thrives is objectivity. Once objectivity is truncated in the news
media, the medium of dissemination is said to be contaminated and adulterated.
In line with this research, two news agencies- a foreign (United Press
International) and an indigenous (News agency of Nigeria) reports would be
compared so as to know if any of the agencies operated under the invisible
hands of its owners, and in the process, filtering the eventual news that got
to the public.
Background of study
News
agencies provide copy for newsrooms with diminishing journalistic staff which
appears to have enhanced the importance of wire services in the daily news
cycle. This stance has been corroborated by Frijters and Velamuri noting that
due to economic cut backs, most major newspapers rely on “recycled news” from
wire services of from a decreasing number of mobile journalists.
Going
by Wikipedia’s definition, a news
agency is an organization of journalists established to supply news
reports to news organizations: newspapers, magazines, and radio and television broadcasters. Such
an agency may also be referred to as a wire service, newswire or news
service.
News
agencies are established to service the media organisation both print and
broadcast media and this function have not gone unexecuted as international
news agencies have, over the years, ensured the proper dissemination of
newsworthy events to numerous media outfits. International news agencies have
been responsible for the provision of ‘imported’ news to news media and this
has been so as a result of the financial constraint this media outfits have
found itself. As a result, the importance and prominence of these news agencies
have grown considerably, hence, reverberating the foretold concept of a ‘global village’ by Marshall McLuhan.
News agencies, having emerged in most countries
simultaneously with mass circulation newspapers, present for the historian an
opportunity for international comparison, and the relationship between news
agencies and newspapers is a microcosm of the competitive forces in news
industries.
The oldest news agency is Agence France-Presse
(AFP). It was founded in 1835 by a Parisian translator and advertising agent,
Charles-Louis Havas
as Agence Havas. Two of his employees, Paul Julius Reuter and Bernhard Wolff, later set up rival news agencies
in London and Berlin respectively. In 1853, in Turin,
Guglielmo
Stefani founded the Agenzia Stefani, that became the most important
agency in the Kingdom of Italy,
and took international relevance with Manlio
Morgagni.
In order to reduce overhead and
develop the lucrative advertising side of the business, Havas's sons, who had
succeeded him in 1852, signed agreements with Reuter and Wolff,
giving each news agency an exclusive reporting zone in different parts of
Europe
News agencies can be
corporations that sell news (e.g. Press Association, Thomson Reuters, and AHN). Other agencies work cooperatively with
large media companies, generating their news centrally and sharing local news
stories the major news agencies may chose to pick up and redistribute (i.e. AP, Agence France-Presse
(AFP) or American Press Agency (APA)). Commercial newswire services charge
businesses to distribute their news (e.g. Business Wire, the Hugin Group, GlobeNewswire, Marketwire, PR Newswire, CisionWire,
and ABN Newswire). Governments may also control news
agencies: China (Xinhua), Canada, Russia (ITAR-TASS) and other countries also have
government-funded news agencies which also use information from other agencies
as well.
The major news agencies
generally prepare hard news stories and feature articles that can be used by
other news organizations with little or no modification, and then sell them to
other news organizations. They provide these articles in bulk electronically
through wire services (originally they used telegraphy; today they frequently use the Internet). Corporations, individuals, analysts and
intelligence agencies
may also subscribe.
For the purpose of this study
which is a comparative analysis of United Press International (UPI) and News
Agency of Nigeria (NAN) coverage on the Nigeria Labour Congress industrial
action/ fuel subsidy removal, we would highlight a brief history of both news
agencies and their ownership structure.
As glittering and unprecedented
their achievement and significance has surfaced, these news agencies have been
able to come under a storm of criticisms and odium. They have contributed
conveniently to the much talked about information imbalance in the southern and
northern hemisphere. Also mentioning the fact that the distortion of
information by these agencies.
Murdock’s
analysis suggests that the ways in which news organisations are financed and organised
have an impact on contents or discourses and representations in the public
domain and accessibility to audiences. Even more relevantly, McChesney argued
in 1999 that the “core structural factors’ influencing the nature of media
content include a variety of influences.
“The
core structural factors that influence the nature of media content include the
overall pursuit of profit, the size of the firm, the amount of direct and
indirect competition facing the firm and the nature of that competition, the
influence of advertising, specific interest of media owners, to a lesser
extent, media employees. These factors can go a long way to providing a context
(and a trajectory) for understanding the nature of media content (1999,
p.31)’’.
This validates the stance that the
partial involvement by a body in a news media affects the news media
transparency.
In 2000, UPI was purchased by
News World Communications, an International news media company which was
founded in 1976 by Unification Church leader Sun Myung Moon. It is noteworthy
that UPI is owned by a private organization. This would however give account
for their seemingly unbiased leaning to their dissemination of information.
STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
It is difficult to think of a more important institution
in our democratic society than the news media. James Madison put it best when
he remarked that ‘a popular government without popular information is but a prologue to a
farce or a tragedy, or perhaps both.’ Madison added that a people who mean to
be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge
gives. (Strentz,1989: 32)
The news agencies have in no small measure helped in
equipping media outfits to judiciously accomplish their
primary objective which is to inform, educate and entertain the teeming
audience through the comprehensive reports disseminated within and beyond the
confines of the media outfit existing geographical boundary. As a result of the prohibitive expenses in
stationing journalists around the world to source for news, local news media
rely on news agencies for such news. This has led us to make extensive inquiry
using two news agencies to test these agencies stance concerning burning issues
in the world, using the industrial action that took place in Nigeria as a
study.
However, this research has been
instituted to determine the level of influence of ownership structure on news
agencies in the adulteration of newsworthy events and the level of coverage
given to those events such as the industrial action that took place in Nigeria.
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
An
absolute and unbiased press is gradually becoming a lost virtue amongst news
media that have affiliations with certain existing individuals or body. NAN is
owned by the Nigerian government, while UPI is owned by a private corporation.
Therefore, the research tends to spotlight if the gate keeping process had a
sound manifestation in the reportage of the industrial action by Nigeria Labour
Congress as a result of the fuel subsidy in contrast to the transparent and
balance reporting everyone craves for. And this is in line to see how much of the tune is called by the piper’s
employer, bearing in
mind the truism “he who pays the piper dictates the tune” is in existence, if
any, amongst both news agency.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1.
What was the level of coverage by each of the two wire
services?
2.
Does coverage indicate/ reflect ownership bias?
SIGNIFICANCE
OF THE STUDY
First of all, every academic research is attempted to add
to existing knowledge about a subject thus promoting research and learning.
This work will do that.
The research intends to reveal the dynamics behind
filtered dissemination of news as a result of ownership pattern. The research
would also expose the degree of reportage of both news agencies and also degree
of prominence and attention given to the industrial action.
Such understanding is important for people to know
that there is nothing like absolute free press.
Media scholars, professionals and students can also
get an insight to the nature of the News agencies, whether unique or
commonplace.
SCOPE
OF STUDY
The 2012 industrial action that erupted as a result of
the fuel subsidy is one of the few the country has witnessed. This study did
not exhaustively analyze previous news agency report. Hence, the scope of this
study was restricted to the 7- day industrial action by NLC.
LIMITATION
OF STUDY
First, there was a huge time constraint in order to
analyze the reports of the news agencies. Secondly, the subscription fee
required by NAN on its website restricted the study to just analyzing the
headline of the reports and the lead paragraph and the change of agency from AP
to UPI. Thirdly, as a result of analysing the contents from a website, the
proper content analysis method was modified to suit the research and time
constraint. The major limitation was in determining the slant editorials. To
solve this problem, key words were considered as markers for articles in
support of, against or neutral about the subject matter. These words, phrases
and sentences when and where used are unpretentious
OPERATIONAL
DEFINITION
Industrial
action refers to a phenomenon experienced in countries which occurs as a result
of a general disagreement of a government unpopular policy, whereby labour
abstain from work and in so doing ground the activities in the country.
News
agencies are also wire services. They sell news to other news media.
Ownership
is an individual’s right of possession or fact or state of owning
something. To own something is to have that thing and have control over it. If
a company is owned by someone then it is registered in the person’s name and
that person bears responsibility for the company under the law especially if it
is a limited liability company.
Comparative:
- A comparison between NAN and UPI reportage of the NLC strikes and protests.
Analysis:
-
The detailed study of information on the coverage.
REFERENCES
Jonathan Silberstein (2007),
International news agencies and their cartel in the context of business
history, Boston, Havard Business School Press.
Collingwood (1999), The increasing importance of news agencies provided a basis for the
research, Birmingham, Princeton ville.
Frijters,P,
&Velamuri, M (2009), is the internet
bad news? The online news era and the market for high-quality news.MPRA
paper, no. 15723. University Library of Munich
Mcchesney, R. (2008),
The political economy of media : enduring
issues, emerging dilemmas, Newyork, Monthly review press.
Murdock
.G. (1989), Cultural studies at the cross
roads, Australian journal of communication, 16, 37- 49
Strentz, H (1989). News
reporters and news sources: accomplices in shaping
and misshaping the news (2nd ed.) (pp. 79-80). Iowa, US: Iowa State
UniversityPress
ON-LINE
SOURCE
Wikipedia :(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_agency)
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW
OF CONCEPTS [communication, ownership,
ethics] AND EXISTING LITERATURE
It would be trite to say that news is about people: what
people are doing; what is being done to people; what the effect of a situation,
action or inaction will do to people, the whole shebang. Infractions, offences,
celebrations and whatever human activity that is necessary for puiblic
consumption should willy-nilly be reported.
Communication is an indispensable feature of existence.
Really, communication is not unique to living things as Raufu (1999:83) states
that there is man to man communication as there is human-machine communication.
It is inevitable to communicate and communication is life.
The
Mass Media is an empire where information passes through various channels. It
plays a crucial role in almost all aspects of our daily life. In this 21st
century, power has not changed hands. Information flow is almost the same
process; it is still a top-down process. Many factors determine what news
becomes; ownership, influence, power relations, prominence, oddity, proximity
and so on.
However,
the relevance of mass media messages are underscored by the functions of mass
communication in any society.
FUNCTIONS
Uyo
(1987: 2-4), Citing the classical works of Harold Lasswell, Charles Wright,
identifies four major functions of mass communication in society. These are;
Surveillance; the collection and distribution of information about the
environment (the news function), Correlation; the interpretation of information
about the environment and prescription for conduct in relation to these events (editorial or
opinion function), Transmission of social heritage; which focuses on the
communication of knowledge, values , and social norms from generation to
another from members of a group to newcomers (education function), and
entertainment; which includes communicative acts primarily intended for
amusement.
Another
research carried out by Ekaterina
Shmykova (University of Georgia). Information is now called “power” like
money and authority. Mass media companies that exercise control over
information transmitted to the masses are now seen as strong force in building
public opinion. As the “fourth power” in society, mass media organizations
attract attention of many scientists. Both models refer to the public interest
to address an issue of content in mass media messages. Mass media content is a
product of the interaction between different interests within mass media,
different roles of mass media, different sources of information, and different
interests of groups outside mass media organization (McCullagh, 2002;
Shoemaker, 1991; Press Freedom, 1997; Koltsova, 2001). Shoemaker (1991) builds
the hierarchical model of sources that influence content of mass media. Within
organization content is being affected on three levels: individual level, media
routines level, and organizational level. On individual level content of media
messages is affected by communicators’ personal backgrounds, experiences,
attitudes, values, and beliefs and by communicators professional backgrounds,
roles, ethics, and power within the organization. “Organizations must routinize
work in order to control it” (Shoemaker, 1991, p. 97). These routines affect
individual communicators and their way of working. On the organizational level
content is affected by the economic goals of a media Organization, its
structure, internal policies, internal control, and organizational roles.
“Individual workers and their routines must be subordinated to the larger
organization and its goals”
(Shoemaker,
1991, p.116).the Goals of an organization are determined by the owners of the
organization. One of the areas of research that examined media ownership
effects on content deals with consolidation of media, which occurred in order
to pursue economic and organizational advantages.
RELEVANCE
It
is clear from the above stated functions of communication that the society
depends on the media for information. It views mass media and society as
interdependent entities. The people need the mass media to provide them with
news, information, education and entertainment. Similarly, the media uses the
people for running their daily operations, public figures, celebrities and
dignitaries. The media influences public opinion through the messages it sends.
As major channels of information, mass media provide people with messages from
the outside world. People use such messages to form mental pictures of the
world of public affairs.
FUNCTIONS
The
Media is a watcher (Wilbur Schramm; 1960). The functions of watchers is to
monitor the environment and report the good news and opportunities as well as
the bad and ugly news, in addition to the dangers, disasters, tragedies and
threats. The importance of the mass media in any society derives from the
general assumption that information is a necessary ingredient of good
governance and effective public administration. To buttress this function, the
1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria states in Section 22 that,
“The press, radio and television and other
agencies of the mass media shall at all times be free to uphold the
responsibility and accountability of the government to the people.”
From
this provision of the constitution, it is obvious that the mass media is
intended to serve as a means of producing a very effective and accountable
system of governance.
Furthermore,
the media is a powerful means of maintaining and sustaining established order
in any society because it comprises of major channels through which the younger
generation is socialized.
CRISIS
Definition and Background
In
every society, crises abound. Every organization does experience crisis at one
time or the other and most times such societal crises find their way into
newspapers, magazines, and the internet. Such news is negative and therefore
injurious to the image and reputation of the organization concerned. Nwokocha
(1999:186) defines crisis as a period of heightened uncertainty that increases
the need to plan, and a point in time in which external and internal pressures
change objective and operational practices of an organization and its resources
and also present a restricted amount of time within which they can be tackled.
Crises are usually unanticipated by organizations and therefore constitute
great threats to the stability and survival of many organizations. News
reporting patterns were found to be connected to the type of ownership.
Independently owned daily newspaper had more stories that require more
reportorial efforts and used more enterprises news sources than chain-owned
(Fradgley&Niebauer, 1995). A study by Olien, Tichenor, and Donohue (1988)
found a strong correlation between the type of ownership and coverage
(frequency and proportion) of non-local business. Another study found that the
more characteristics of the corporate form of organization newspaper had, the
more emphasis was placed on quality of news coverage (Demers, 1996).
Social Impact
According
to Ajala (2001:174), crises incite emotional behavior from all concerned.
Rumours get started and spread with considerable speed. People tend to
interpret the seriousness of a crisis in terms of personal risk to people
important to them. According to Salu (1994:384), a crisis can be any threat or
event that creates chaos and usually suffering. Some people see crises as an isolated
incident- a brief or lengthy interruption to the flow of moral business
practices.
Causative Agents
Strikes/Industrial
actions pave the way for crises/conflict in an organization. Strikes are
unintended consequences of conflict between two parties; employers and workers.
Workers strike when political opportunities arise from changes within the
state. This suggests that strikes are inherently political; they are aimed at
the state and not at employers. Hence, strikes (conflicts, crises) must be analysed
as an interaction between two sides, rather than a unilateral action by
workers.
Elements
Salu
(1994:385) identifies four elements of crisis:
1)
A Trigger: This is an unexpected event,
which has the potential to drastically alter how people perceive an organization.
2)
A Threat: threats to look for include:
a)
Danger to human life
b)
Risk to the environment or property
c)
Financial loss
d)
Damage to corporate image.
3)
An uncontrolled situation: Experts
believe that a crisis will always involve turbulent circumstances that make the
situation beyond management’s control for some time.
4)
Urgent Attention Needed: In order to avert or minimize damage, an
organization must respond very fast to protect itself as well as its target
publics or those who will certainly be affected by the crisis.
Most crises constitute hot news in
the mass media and such news could sometimes be negative and injurious to the
image of an organization, its management and its products or services.
The way the media handles a
particular crisis in an organization determines to a large extent the damage
such crisis can cause.
Summary
This review started out by
examining the background of mass media and went on to give an exposition on its
functions and relevance.
In a separate discourse, crisis was
discussed in the context of its definition and background. Its causative
agents, culminating social impact and its constraints were meticulously
examined.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
There
are many communication theories but for the purpose of this study, two theories
are being used to explain and predict this phenomenon. They are the Gate
Keeping theory and the Agenda Setting theory—these theories form the
theoretical framework of this study.
Mass
Communication plays an important role in our society its purpose is to inform
the public about current and past events. Mass communication is defined in “Mass Media, Mass Culture” as the process
whereby professional communicators use technological devices to share messages
over great distances to influence large audiences. Within this process the
media, which can be a newspaper, a book and television, takes control of the
information we see or hear. The media then uses gatekeeping and agenda
setting to “control our access to news, information, and entertainment”
(Wilson 14). Gatekeeping is a series
of checkpoints that the news has to go through before it gets to the
public. Through this process, many people have to decide whether or
not the news is to be seen or heard. The gatekeepers include reporters,
writers, and editors. On the other hand, Agenda Setting as defined in “Mass Media, Mass Culture”
is the process whereby the mass media determine what we think and worry about.
Gate
Keeping and Agenda Setting were chosen because they explicitly explain how news
information is filters at different levels/stages by keepers who are the actual
controllers of the flow of information and how this news becomes our thoughts
and our “talk”
Kurt
Lewin propounded the gate keeping theory. Lewin was born in Germany in 1890; He
was a great Psychologist and pioneer in Social Psychology. Gate keeping in the
simplest definition is to block and prevent certain unwanted and useless things
from gaining entrance using a gate.
Lewin first coined the term "gatekeeping," which he used to
describe a wife or mother s the person who decides which foods end up on the
family's dinner table while observing the food habits of families (Lewin,
1947).
Gatekeeping
is “the process of culling and crafting countless bits of information into the
limited number of messages that reach people each day. . .” the centre of the
mass media’s role in society (Shoemaker & Vos, 2009)
“WHO” is Gatekeeper? “A person is
one who controls access to something, decide whether a given message will be
distributed by a mass medium”. We use the term mass media to describe that
transmit information to many people, such as those that create web pages, news
portal or blogs on the internet,newpaper,television and radio companies, as
well as magazines. Individuals can also act as gatekeepers, deciding what
information to include in an email or in a blog.
A
gatekeeper has to decide what kind of news items will publish and what should
not. Every day the news channel receives various news items from all over
the world. The channel have its own ethics and policies through this the editor
decide the news items for publish or aired. In some cases the editor due the
organizations policy rejects few news items
Lewin
opined that a gatekeeper is the person who decides what shall pass through each
gate section, of which, in any process, there are several. Although he applied
it originally to the food chain, he then added that the gating process can
include a news item winding through communication channels in a group. This is
the point from which most gatekeeper studies in communication are launched.
White (1961) was the person who seized upon Lewin's comments and turned it
solidly toward journalism in 1950. In the 1970s McCombs and Shaw took a
different direction when they looked at the effects of gatekeepers' decisions.
They found the audience learns how much importance to attach to a news item
from the emphasis the media place on it. McCombs and Shaw pointed out that the
gatekeeping concept is related to the newer concept, agenda-setting. (McCombs
et al, 1976). The gatekeeper concept is now 65 years old and has slipped into
the language of many disciplines, including gatekeeping in organizations.
The gatekeeper decides which information will go forward, and which
will not. In other words a gatekeeper in a social system decides which of a
certain commodity – materials, goods, and information – may enter the system.
Important to realize is that gatekeepers are able to control the public’s
knowledge of the actual events by letting some stories pass through the system
but keeping others out. Gatekeepers can also be seen as institutions or
organizations. In a political system there are gatekeepers, individuals or
institutions which control access to positions of power and regulate the flow
of information and political influence. Gatekeepers exist in many jobs, and
their choices hold the potential to color mental pictures that are subsequently
created in people’s understanding of what is happening in the world around
them. Media gatekeeping showed that decision-making is based on principles of
news values, organizational routines, input structure and common sense.
Gatekeeping is vital in communication planning and almost all communication
planning roles include some aspect of gatekeeping.
The gatekeeper’s choices are a complex web of influences,
preferences, motives and common values. Gatekeeping is inevitable and in some
circumstances, it can be useful. Gatekeeping can also be dangerous, since it
can lead to an abuse of power by deciding what information to discard and what
to let pass. Nevertheless, gatekeeping is often a routine, guided by some set
of standard questions.
Source: White (1964)
As earlier noted this theory is related to the mass media and
organizations—with the focus being on the relation to mass media. In the mass
media the focus is on the organizational structure of newsrooms and events.
Take for instance, a wire service editor decides alone what news audiences will
receive from another continent—the idea is that if the gatekeeper’s selections
are biased, the readers’ understanding will therefore be a little biased.
In application to this study, the concept of gate keeping theory
places certain individual(s) at a rather advantaged position of being decision
makes as regards what the audience need to know thus having a control over them
and ensuring that the unwanted information stays out. In this regard, these
individuals are the news editor of these agencies who decide what news and
perspective of news is to be received by the audience.
An overview of Gatekeeping theory according to David Mann White
(1950) as regard the selection process in newspapers argue that news items are
rejected for three reasons:
·
1.personal feelings of the
gatekeeper
·
2. insufficient space on the
medium
·
3. The story had appeared
previously
AGENDA SETTING THEORY
Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw propounded the Agenda Setting theory
in 1972/1973. This theory is good at explaining why people with similar media
exposure place importance on the same issues. Although different people
may feel differently about the issue at hand, most people feel the same issues
are important. The theory says
the media sets the agenda for the general discussion as what the people know is
as result of the information gotten from the media, similarly, how much
importance he audience gives an issue is largely dependent on how much of same
was given the issue by the media. Media influence affects the order
of presentation in news
The following is responsible for agenda setting
·
The number of times an issue is
reported
·
Using headline and picture
display strategies to play up a report
in the media
·
Reports that give room for
points and counter points
As regards this study, the
people actually set the agenda; the media only intensified the effects.
Agenda Setting has two levels. As mentioned in Theories of
Communication, the first level enacts the common subjects that are
most important, and the second level decides what parts of the subject are
important. These two levels of agenda setting lead path into what is the
function of this concept. This concept is process that is divided into three
parts according to Rogers and Dearing in their book Agenda Setting Research.
The first part of the process is the importance of the issues that are
going to be discussed in the media. Second, the issues discussed in the media
have an impact over the way the public thinks, this is referred as public
agenda. Ultimately the public agenda influences the policy agenda. Furthermore “the
media agenda affects the public agenda, and the public agenda affects the
policy agenda.” (Littlejohn, 320)
In this research work the concept of gatekeeping and agenda setting
are almost interwoven as one invariably affects the other.
REFERENCE
White, David Manning. (1964). "The 'Gatekeeper': A Case Study
In the Selection of News, In: Lewis A. Dexter / David M. White (Hrsg.): People,
Society and Mass Communications. London S. 160 - 172. "
Shoemaker & Vos, 2009
McCombs, M., & Shaw, D.L. (1972), the agenda-setting function of
the mass media. Public Opinion Quarterly, 36, 176-185.
Solomon Anaeto, olufemi onabanjo and James osifeso (2008), models and theories of communication, United
States of America, African Renaissance Books Incorporated.
Wilson, James R, and Roy S.Wilson.
Mass Media, Mass Culture, Fifth Edition.Boston.Mc Graw Hill, 2001.
Littlejohn, Stephen W. Theories of Human Communication.
Seventh Edition.Albuquerque, New Mexico. Wadsworth, 2002.
CHAPTER
THREE
RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY
This section of the research is concerned about the
processes of data collection, data analyses and the standard method(s) used in
the study.
In other words, this chapter explicitly explains how all the data in this study were
collected and the principle(s)
that dictated such methods. The chapter also states the
population that was studied, the sample size and procedure, sample collection
method, the instruments used to collect data from the sample, and the approach
used to interpret and analyse the data.
Content
analysis was adopted in this
work. It is said to be one of mass communications’ major
contributions
to social scientific inquiry. This claim rests on the technique deriving from
the communication field. It focuses on the manifest content of communication.
(Sobowale, 2008:18)
The system helps the researcher look at existing records, detect a pattern
or patterns and arrive at some conclusions regarding the
attitude of the writer(s) of the records or the originators of the message
contained in those records.
(Sobowale,
2008:18)
However, content analysis is not just analysis of written
records only.
Berelson quoted by Stempel III (1989:125)
defines it as a research technique for the objective, systematic
and qualitative description of the manifest content of communication.
Stempel says the key to understanding the method and
performing it competently lies in understanding the meaning of objective, systematic, quantitative
and manifest content.
Objective is the exact opposite of subjective and it is one of the
core principles of journalism and the scientific method. This work is a foray
into an aspect of journalism and adheres strictly to the scientific method,
hence objectivity cannot be sacrificed. By being objective, categories are made
to be precise such that other researchers can apply the same precision to reach
similar results.
Systematic means that all categories are set up so that all the
relevant contents are analysed in the same way. In this work, various contents of a newspaper are analysed the
same way across sampled publications. These include (1) LEAD STORY (2)EDITORIAL
(3)LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (4) OPINION ARTICLES
Quantitative simply means the recording of numerical values or the
frequencies with which the various defined types of content occur. Here the five
categories listed above are
assigned numbers. This is done in line with three considerations for
category constructions:
·
Categories
must be pertinent to the objectives of your sudy
·
Categories
should be functional
·
The
system of categories must be manageable
(Stempel III, 1989)
This work in itself is both a
quantitative and qualitative study, hence the methods of data analysis adopt both approaches.
RESEARCH
DESIGN
The
Research design adopted in this work is analytical. The relationships among the
sampled wired services are designed with the aid of the tables and accompanying
notes. The comparison also analyses the relevance and effects of the guiding
theories in the nexus of the studied situation.
POPULATION
The population of this study consists of all functional
news agencies that covered the industrial action by NLC in Nigeria.
SAMPLE SIZE
Two news agencies, a foreign and a local agency were
chosen. Reasons for this include the
following:
·
To
serve as a basis for comparison between a Nigerian news agency and a foreign
agency, serving as a platform to compare their level of coverage
·
NAN
is owned by the Nigerian government while UPI is owned by an individual. With this,
the extent of tainted reports would be discovered.
·
Restricting
the study to two news
agencies is quite fortuitous for the researchers
based on the reasons highlighted above and the factor of short deadline for the
work which precludes
a larger sample size.
·
Cost
is also a huge factor in the choice of United Press International as the foreign agency due
to the exemption of subscription fee levied before contents are viewed.
The two Wire
services selected are:
I.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
II.
United
Press International (UPI)
These news
agencies were purposively selected. Purposiveness is employed because of the probability
of selecting a news agency that does not display contents free on line. Per
adventure such agency was selected, it would not suit the purpose and
objectives of the study.
SAMPLING
TECHNIQUE
A period of 7days during which the strike lasted was studied. On
line contents of the selected news agencies concerning the industrial action
was been studied. Researchers settled on
this duration because news is report of current events. As such, the reportage
and commentary of the fuel
subsidy removal/ industrial action was
a major event that caused ripples and is still causing ripples. Therefore January 9-16 of
the news agencies
content were
sampled. The fact that should be noted here is that the fallout between the NLC and the Federal government of that actual event is still creating ripples as
the government have constituted necessary bodies to undertake the deregulation
of the downstream oil sector.These never ending saga would still make front page promos and even lead stories of newspapers and agencies such that the subject is protracted and therefore
too unwieldy for a study of this level and scope. 7 days
help for focus and perspective as the news was still ‘hot and fresh’ and had
not split into the many spectres that now exist.
DATA
COLLECTION INSTRUMENT
The data collection instrument is
the coding sheet.. These were then content analysed according to established
categories.
CODING
GUIDE
CATEGORIES
·
News
·
Editorial
·
Opinions
UNITS
OF ANALYSIS
The editorial matters (articles) of a newspaper are the
units of analysis in this work. News stories, Editorials, Letters to the
Editor, Opinion Articles are the individual units of newspapers that were
content analysed to determine how much of the subject under study was reflected
by the sampled agencies.
METHOD
OF DATA ANALYSIS
The news
agencies contents listed
above represent the data sources
for this work. These variables were then analysed. It
should be noted here that manual coding sheets (tables)
were used in the recording.
BRIEF
PROFILE OF SAMPLED NEWSPAPERS
For
the purpose of this study the two news agencies in question would be given a
brief account of. News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) was established in 1976 with offices
in all states of the country and serving both print and broadcast media. The
agency comes under the ministry of information and is supervised by a board
appointed by the minister. The act establishing NAN guarantees the agency
monopoly for gathering and disseminating news in and outside the country. It
should be of note that NAN is a government- owned news agency.
Also,
the United Press International (UPI)
is a once-major international news agency, whose news wire, photo, and audio
services provided news material to thousands of newspaper, magazines and radio
and television stations for most of the twentieth century. It was created by
the 1907 uniting of three smaller news syndicate y mid-west newspaper
publisher, E. W. Scripps. It became “United Press International” fifty- one
years later with its absorption of the International News Services (INS).
REFERENCES
Amobi, I. (2009). Methods in communication research. An
unpublished
Work Presented in Foundation of Communication
Research class at the Department of Mass Communication, University of Lagos
Berger, A.A.
(2000). Media and communication research
methods: An
Introduction to qualitative and
quantitative approaches. USA: Sage
Publications.
Paul, L. (1985). Foundations of behavioural research (3rd Ed.). New York:
Rinehart
and Winston.
Sobowale, I. (1983). Scientific journalism:
what tools for the precision journalist?
Omojola, O. (2010). Mass Media
Interest and Corruption in Nigeria.
Communication
review. Vol. 4 (2), 21-40
Sobowale I., (2008). Scientific journalism (2nd Ed.) Nigeria: School of
Communication
& Information Science, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-
Iwoye. Ogun State.
Tejumaiye, A. (2003). Mass communication research: An Introduction. Ibadan: Sceptre
Prints Limited.
Guido, H Stempel III (1989). Content Analysis
(pp124-136). In Stempel III, G.
H. &
Westley, B. H. (eds)(1989). Research
methods in mass communication.
New Jersey:
Prentice-Hall Inc.
CHAPTER FOUR
This chapter
analyses all data gathered as related to the coverage of the Industrial action
concerning the fuel subsidy removal by the News agency of Nigeria (NAN) and
United Press International (UPI).
As stated in
Chapter one and three, due to time constraint, we could only access data on the
media’s websites such as pictures, news reports, news analysis and
viewpoints/opinions published on the websites between January 9 and January 16,
2012 which are the subjects of study. In all, a total of 24 news stories, news
analysis and opinions were studied. And this was basically executed through the
archives of the news agencies website.
RQ 1: WHAT WAS
THE LEVEL OF COVERAGE BY THE TWO WIRE SERVICES?
Total fuel-subsidy protest related time published by
the two wire services
|
Media
|
News
Reports
|
News
Analysis
|
Pictures
|
Opinion
|
Total
|
|
NAN
|
11
|
-
|
11
|
-
|
22
|
|
UPI
|
*13
|
1
|
1
|
-
|
15
|
|
Total
|
24
|
1
|
12
|
-
|
37
|
*1 of it had a video clip accompanying it
From the above
table we can deduce that the news agency jointly churned out 24 news reports,
with UPI having the highest number of reports in the tune of 13 news reports,
54% of the total news published. NAN fell short of UPI’s number reports
published by 2 stories, Hence, making NAN reports amount to 11 news reports,
46% of the reports published.
UPI had a news
analysis and a picture to accompany their stories. It is however noteworthy
that all of NAN reports had pictures to accompany it. Measuring the level of
coverage by the number of news report, UPI had a better coverage of the 7-day
industrial strike action but had no picture to back their story.
RQ 2: DOES
COVERAGE REFLECT/INDICATE BIAS?
Frequency of news reports published
|
|
Jan 9
|
Jan 10
|
Jan 11
|
Jan 12
|
Jan 13
|
Jan 14
|
Jan 15
|
Jan 16
|
|
|
NAN
|
2
|
-
|
1
|
-
|
1
|
2
|
1
|
4
|
11
|
|
UPI
|
2
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
-
|
1
|
2
|
13
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total=24
|
From
this table, UPI did not publish a story concerning the NLC strike action on Jan
14, which happens to be a day. Conversely, NAN didn’t publish any report for 2
days on the industrial action.
These
signs are pointers indicating undertones of government influence in the
exercising the powers of a gatekeeper.
Furthermore,
NAN failed to publish stories involving the death of citizens during the
protest. A report UPI did not fail to uncover carrying the headline 3 killed in
Nigeria fuel protest.
Also,
NAN published reports praising the government’s decision in the reduction of
the pump price carrying headlines such as NGO, Citizens laud FG on reduction of
petrol price, and Nigerians living in US applaud reduction in fuel price. While
UPI still published unfavourable story against the Nigerian government despite
the reduction in the pump price with a headline Nigeria Unions upset despite
fuel moves.
From
all indications, NAN were found wanting in given the strike action extensive
coverage. The ownership structure played a part in the downplaying of some
stories such as the death of people during the strike. And in turn, reflected
the invisible influence of the gatekeepers (government) in the stories
published. NAN also published some image making stories to ease the tension of
the strike and portray the government in good light. This however reflected
NAN’s bias in favour of the Federal government.
UPI
on the other hand further underlined the raging agitation for equilibrium of
information flow by still carrying disparaging report of the Nigerian
government despite the resolution of the conflict.
In
summary, UPI presented more reports than NAN and portrayed little or
infinitesimal ownership bias while NAN stories had ‘’we are for the federal
government’” written all over it. Hence, the ownership structure affected the
degree of reportage the industrial action was given.
CHAPTER FIVE
“There
is no institution where deterioration does not set in at some point...”Emile
Durkheim
The
research was aimed comparing both wire service level of prominence that was
given to the industrial action that took place in Nigeria, in the month of
January. The study sought to determine
the both agencies’ coverage on the basis of degree of attention and frequency.
This was however done to determine the level of influence by the ownership
hierarchy, having in mind that NAN is owned by the government and UPI is owned
by an individual.
Thus,
the research was able to deduce that ownership influence is still predominant
in the news media terrain. Because from chapter four, it was apparent that UPI
dished out more reports than NAN and had just a day of hiatus from the
brouhaha. Unlike NAN that failed to publish on two different occasions.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The researcher has herein been able to establish that
ownership has some influence (bias) on coverage of news. For the purpose of
academic development, the researcher would allow for the following
recommendation:
·
More private corporations should own
news agencies in the African region to allow for free flow of information on
the continent.
·
According to Croteau and Hoynes “The
government should adopt a hands-off approach towards the media”. The government
should be less participatory in the issues affecting the news media. Government should strive continuously to hands-off the
running of their media outfit. They must understand that, though, media set up
primarily as a business concern, the media are an inevitable agent of national
development and human emancipation as elicited in the opener of the
introductory chapter. Leaving news in the hands of newsmen, like leaving
musicians to do music, is the best approach to enabling development and imbuing
reputation of newspaper and proprietors.
·
It
would be an intellectual inadequacy if the researcher believes that this
comparative analysis was a thorough. Thus, the researcher implores more study
into this issue.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Amobi,
I. (2009).
Methods in communication research. An
unpublished work in international
communication class
Work Presented in Foundation of
Communication Research class at the Department of Mass Communication, University of Lagos
Berger,
A.A. (2000). Media and communication
research methods: An introduction
to qualitative and quantitative
approaches. USA: Sage Publications.
Collingwood
(1999), the increasing importance of news
agencies provided a basis for the research, Birmingham, Princeton ville.
Frijters,
P, &Velamuri, M (2009), is the
internet bad news? The online news era and the market for high-quality news. MPRA
paper, no. 15723. University Library of Munich
Guido,
H Stempel III (1989). Content Analysis (pp124-136). In Stempel III, G.
H. & Westley, B. H. (eds)(1989). Research methods in mass communication. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall
Inc.
Jonathan Silberstein (2007), International news agencies and their cartel
in the context of business history, Boston, Havard Business School Press.
Mcchesney,
R. (2008), the political economy of media:
enduring issues, emerging dilemmas, Newyork, Monthly review press.
Murdock .G. (1989), Cultural studies at the cross roads,
Australian journal of communication, 16, 37-McCombs, M., & Shaw, D.L.
(1972), the agenda-setting function of the mass media. Public Opinion
Quarterly, 36, 176-185.
Omojola, O. (2010). Mass Media Interest and Corruption in
Nigeria. Communication review. Vol. 4
(2), 21-40
Paul, L. (1985). Foundations of behavioural research (3rd Ed.). New York: Rinehart and Winston Solomon
Anaeto, olufemi onabanjo and James osifeso (2008), models and theories of communication, United States of America,
African Renaissance Books Incorporated.
Strentz, H (1989). News
reporters and news sources: accomplices in shaping and misshaping the news (2nd ed.) (pp. 79-80). Iowa, US: Iowa State
UniversityPress Shoemaker
& Vos, 2009
Sobowale,
I. (1983).
Scientific journalism:
what tools for the precision journalist?
Sobowale I., (2008). Scientific journalism (2nd
Ed.) Nigeria: School
of Communication & Information Science, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago- iwoye, Ogun State.
Tejumaiye, A. (2003). Mass communication research: An Introduction.
Ibadan: Sceptre Prints Limited
Wadsworth (2002).Littlejohn, Stephen
W. Theories of Human Communication. Seventh Edition.Albuquerque,
New Mexico.
White, David Manning. (1964).
"The 'Gatekeeper': A Case Study In the Selection of News, In: Lewis A.
Dexter / David M. White (Hrsg.): People, Society and Mass Communications. London
S. 160 - 172. "
Wilson, James R., and Roy Wilson. Mass Media, Mass Culture, Fifth
Edition.Boston.Mc Graw Hill, 2001.
COPYRIGHT BY
AMOSU SEYI
FALADE SORE
JOHN JEAN
LADIPO SEUN
AKINOLA ROTIMI
ADIGUN TOYITAN
AGBAJOR DAMILOLA
ADELEKAN TAYO
ANIFOWOSE TOYOSI
IROHA NOMSO
SEGUNFUNMILOLA
AYEKU OLAYINKA
MERE JENNIFER
MICHAEL EDINMA
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