ABSTRACT
COVID-19 is a ravaging pandemic shaking the world to its foundation and so all hands are on deck to put a stop to the plague. This paper essentially examines the role of the Nigerian press in providing needed coverage of the pandemic by supplying needed information on the novel coronavirus. This is important because the right information is a vital ingredient of efforts channeled towards the containment of the disease. Content analysis research method is chosen for this study and three national daily newspapers are examined. The selected daily newspapers are: This Day, The Nation, and Independent. A total of 729 newspaper contents are considered relevant to the study. Analysis of the data reveals that the majority of the articles published in the selected newspapers, that is 22.9%, COVID-19 related articles are on economic matters, this is followed by articles on precautionary measure/prevention with 11.8%. The share of COVID-19 lockdown is 15.4%, donation of funds and medical equipment is 8.4%. Articles on testing, infections and treatment/discharge are 3.7%, 4.4% and 3.3% respectively. Newspaper materials on the development of drug/vaccine is a meager 1.1%. The Nigerian press is more interested in the effect of COVID-19 on the economy and less concerned about the development of vaccine/drug, testing, isolation/treatment as well as the state of the health facility.
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