Coverage of Pedophile Cases in Select Nigerian Newspapers

Bigman Amaonyeze Nwala, PhD; Soibelemari Oruwari

Authors

Bigman Amaonyeze Nwala, PhD Department of English and Communication Art Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Rumuolumenei, Port Harcourt, Nigeria Author
Soibelemari Oruwari Department of Linguistics and Communication Studies University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria Author

Abstract

The researchers investigated the coverage of pedophile cases in select newspapers in Nigeria. The study was based on agenda setting and framing theories. It adopted content analysis research design with a population of 2,308 drawn from all The Guardian, The Nation, Punch and Daily Sun newspapers January, 2020 to June, 2021. It employed Krejcie and Morgan sample size table to arrive at 332 and used code sheet as the instrument of data collection to arrive at 721 items. The findings showed that The Nation newspaper published the highest stories on pedophile within the period of the study and the reports on rape has the highest frequency among other reported cases of pedophile in the select newspapers within the period of the study. It was recommended among others that The Punch, The Guardian and Daily Sun newspapers need to improve on the amount of attention they give pay to stories of rape, particularly pedophile.