Attention of Nigerian newspapers to air pollution

This study examines how Nigerian newspapers pay attention to this deadly environmental problem in order to create awareness and arouse government attention to it. The study adopted the method of content analysis. One-year daily editions of three national newspapers from July 2016 to June 2017 were analysed. The newspapers are The Guardian, Daily Sun and Vanguard. The variables examined are the volume and the frequency of coverage, the genres of story used and the prominence given to air pollution stories. The result showed that air pollution was poorly reported by the newspapers. Air pollution reports represented 4.07% of all environmental news. Prominence given to air pollution stories was low as no report of the problem appeared on front page. Only 28.12% of air pollution articles featured on pages 2 –10 as against 62.5% that appeared on pages 21–53. The frequency of reportage was sparse at an average of 3 stories per month. The newspapers presented 83.33% of the articles on air pollution as straight news. The level and style of reportage are not enough to create public awareness and provoke public discourse and government action on air pollution in the country.
Source: Air Quality, Atmosphere and Health - Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research