Assessment of Newspaper Coverage of the

2013 Six-Month Strike by Academic Staff

Union of Nigerian Universities

RAPHAEL OLUGBENGA ABIMBOLA, Ph.D*,

OLUWADARE OLADIPO OGUNTOMISIN**, AND
OYINDAMOLA DOLAPO SCOTT***
Abstract
This study sought to determine the frequency with which The Punch, The
Nation and Nigerian Tribune newspapers reported the July to December,
2013 Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU)’s strike in
Nigeria.The study was anchored on Agenda setting, Framing, and Spiral of
Silence theories. It adopted Content Analysis research design and through
the use of Systematic Sampling technique, the researchers picked 60
editions each of The Punch, Nigerian Tribune and The Nation newspaper
as the sample size for the study. Data revealed that The Punch, Nigerian
Tribune and the Nation newspapers frequently covered and reported the
July to December, 2013 ASUU strike. It also showed that The Punch, The
Nigerian Tribune and the Nation newspapers did not attach enough
importance to the coverage of the strike. Data also revealed that The Punch
newspaper was biased in its reports, while Nigerian Tribune and The
Nation were neutral in their report of the strike. The study concluded that
the Punch, The Nation and Nigerian Tribune did not do an adequate job in
informing the public about the strike by frequently writing reports about
the strike.

Key Words: The Media, Strike, Agenda Setting, Framing, Journalism

Introduction
Conflict between the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Academic Staff
Union of Universities (ASUU) on management of tertiary institutions became
pronounced over twelve years. Since 1999, almost all government-owned
universities in Nigeria have experienced indefinite strike that has crippled
academic activities. These strikes are sometimes justified by the fact that
government officials, both at state and federal levels, have acquired a notorious
reputation for responding to issues only when they have assumed crisis
_______________
*Dr. Raphael Olugbenga Abimbola, Ph.D. is a Lecturer in the Department of Mass Communication, Adekunle
Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, Ondo State, Nigeria.

**Oluwadare Oladipo Oguntomisin is a Lecturer in the Department of Mass Communication, Wesley

University, Ondo, Ondo State, Nigeria.

***Oyindamola Dolapo Scott is a Lecturer in the Department of Mass Communication, Wesley University,
Ondo, Ondo State, Nigeria.
JCMR
Journal of Communication and Media Research, Vol. 7, No. 2, October 2015, 127 – 143
©Delmas Communications Ltd.
128 Journal of Communication and Media Research Vol. 7 No. 2, October, 2015

proportions. Yet while there may be no statistical measure of the cumulative

damage done to the system in the course of the ASUU strike, it is evident that
education, the bedrock of any society, has become a huge joke in our country.
Incessant industrial actions have combined with inadequate attention to damage,
almost beyond repairs, our institutions of higher learning. (Retrieved on
February, 7 2014, from http://www.thisdaylive.com/news)
In 2007, ASUU went on strike for three months. In May 2008, it held two
“one-week warning strikes" to press a range of demands, including an improved
salary scheme and reinstatement of 49 lecturers who were dismissed many years
earlier from University of Ilorin. In June 2009, ASUU ordered its members in
federal and state universities nationwide to proceed on an indefinite strike over
disagreements with the Federal Government on an agreement it reached with the
union about two and a half years earlier. After three months of strikes, in October
2009, the union and other staff unions signed a memorandum of understanding
with the government and called off the industrial action.
According to Wikipedia, claims made by ASUU in regards to the strike are
centered largely on funding and revitalization of Nigerian public universities as
well as a certain earned allowance, which it claims to be in arrears of 92 billion
naira["History and Struggles of ASUU" Academic Staff Union of Universities
Retrieved on February, 7 2014-from
htttp://www.asuunigeria.org/index.php/aboutus/43-history/44-history-and-
struggles-of-asuu] Early December, 2013, government, perhaps in reaction to
this, announced the payment of N200 billion into a Central Bank account, called
Revitalization of Universities Infrastructure Account (RUIA).Eventually, on
Wednesday, December 11, 2013, government and ASUU reached a compromise
during a negotiation brokered by the President of the Nigerian Labor Congress,
NLC, Abdulwaheed Omar, which led to the signing of the memorandum of
understanding (MoU). The MoU mainly contained the outcome of ASUU
meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan. With the suspension of the strike,
public universities across the country resumed academic activities promptly,
while some delayed resumption till after the Yuletide season. (Retrieved on
February 14, 2014 from http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news ). However,
while the crisis was on, the press reported news about it to the public. This study
therefore looks at the question of objectivity in the reportage of the crisis by
some prominent national dallies.

Statement of the Problem

A strike is a means of applying economic pressure on the opposite party, either
the government or the employer, to get it moving in a fashion more advantageous
to the other (that is, the union or staff) and to assist in reaching a settlement
acceptable to a union and management. A strike is a last resort, but one for
which a union and its members must be prepared.
According to Union Organizer’s Pocket Guide to Strike Action (January 1,
2009), a strike is the refusal of employees to perform some of or all of their work.
Strike action may take many forms, depending on the characteristics and nature
of the work performed by the striking group. Regardless of the course of action
 Abimbola, Oguntomisin and Scott: Assessment of Newspaper Coverage 129

taken, the objective remains the same: to persuade the employer or government
to adopt a position acceptable to the union and its members on the issues under
dispute.
Strike is workers’ refusal to work as protest for inadequate service or poor
condition. In the education sector, teachers’ strike can be compared to students’
examination malpractice, corruption and other social vices in the society. Strike
is a social ill, not different from corruption because it eats into students’ time
which makes it difficult for students to be fully and properly ‘baked’ within the
designated educational time-frame. As a result, ‘products’ that are ill- equipped
in both character and learning are turned out to the society.
Mass media often plays a key role in conflict, especially, strike, today.
Basically, her role can take two different and opposed forms: either the media
takes an active part in the conflict, and accept responsibility for increased
violence, or stays independent and out of the conflict, thereby contributing to the
resolution of conflict and alleviation of violence. (Puddephatt, 2006).
Whichever role the media takes in a given conflict depends on the
relationship the media has with the actors in the conflict and whether the media is
independent of the power holders and government in a society. The recognition
of the crucial role the media can play in provoking conflict has led many to
examine how the media can play a constructive role in resolving conflict. This
has created a considerable controversy: should journalists stay detached, even
from horrific events unfolding around them? Or should they take up the stance
and become attached to a cause?
It is important for a country to have a print media industry that promotes
reports that are honest, accurate, and comprehensive, and analysis that is
informed, fair and based on facts (Kennedy, 2010). This study intends to know
the importance that was given to the coverage of the July to December, 2013,
ASUU strike by The Punch, The Nation and Nigerian Tribune newspapers. The
researchers also want to know whether The Punch, The Nation and Nigerian
Tribune newspapers were un-biased and objective in the analysis of the conflict
between ASUU and the Federal Government. This study also intends to find out
if The Punch, The Nation and Nigerian Tribune newspapers contributed
positively or negatively to the resolution of the crisis in their coverage of the July
to December, 2013 ASUU strike.

Research Questions
1. What was the frequency with which The Punch,The Nation and
Nigerian Tribune newspapers reported the July to December, 2013
ASUU strike?

2. What was the importance attached to the reports of the July to

December, 2013 ASUU strike by The Punch, The Nation and Nigerian
Tribune newspapers?

3. From what angle did The Punch, Nigerian Tribune and The Nation
newspapers report the July to December, 2013 ASUU strike?

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Literature Review
Nwuneli and Idowu (2005) conducted a research on reporting of education issues
in the Nigerian media. The study was a part of a regional effort to establish how
well the African media had covered education as a development subject after a
series of Communication for Education and Development in Africa (COMED)
training workshops. The significance of the study among other issues was to help
education stakeholders to obtain, first-hand, what the media publish as education
news, evaluate media content, highlighting areas of strength and weakness, give
the media an independent feedback on the quality of their education news,
thereby enriching their coverage of education, helping education stakeholders
design better media fare and giving greater visibility to education as an important
development. For the study, data was collected through personal in-depth
interviews with the managing editors of the selected national newspapers, the
directors and producers of news in the electronic media; Questionnaire was
served to education editors and correspondents/columnists and Content analysis
of national circulating newspapers with education section or supplements was
done.
The media managers of both the print and electronic media were identified
and personal in-depth interviews were conducted with each of them. The media
institutions covered included ; The Comet, Daily Champion, Daily Times, Daily
Trust, The Guardian, New Nigerian, Thisday, The Punch and Vanguard
Newspapers and FRCN Network; FRCN, Abuja; NTA Network, NTA Abuja, Ray
Power, AIT and NAN.
Some of the issues covered in the interview with the media managers
included the editorial policy of media institutions on such issues as professional
training regarding education, editorial policies regarding other national issues,
impact of ownership (Government vis-à-vis private) on media institutions,
perception of coverage vis-à-vis audience information needs and development,
media responsibility in terms of commercialization and development, training
needs for education reporting and how to build partnerships and confidence
among various stakeholders.
The researchers identified various constraints to effective coverage: funding,
negative attitude of public officials, inadequate space and market sensitivity have
been identified as constraints to the media’s ability to cover education
effectively. Inadequate funding translates to inability to hire enough hands to
cover education, buy equipment, train reporters and send them on detailed
investigations that can turn out thoughtful, well researched articles.
Increased training of education correspondents and deployment of more
hands to the education desk were some of the plans of media managers to
improve their coverage of education. Four of five media organizations planned to
either step up more training or deploy more hands to cover the education beat.
Surprisingly, only two organizations called directly for more funding. NTA
Network cited its Educational Television (ETV) as a positive contribution to
education reporting that is already enjoying the support of donor agencies such as
the World Bank and the Commonwealth.
 Abimbola, Oguntomisin and Scott: Assessment of Newspaper Coverage 131

Media managers overwhelmingly said education news needs to be

humanized more and better interpreted for it to hold a strong appeal to the public.
According to The Guardian, stories should be “humanized by personalizing
education achievements and according their prominence.” This Day adds,
“Stories should be humanized; policies and issues should be reported from the
human angle, that is, how the policy or system affects our children or their
parents.” To The Punch, the challenge is to make reports “simple and lucid and
especially stressing the human angle.” The NTA Network says it is “by
presenting in everyday language the impact of education on the family.” AIT also
submits, “We should look at news from the human angle and show how
education is linked to development.” Other suggestions include: Telling the truth
(NTANetwork); more Advocacy reporting on the issues of funding (New
Nigerian); improved Training (NTA Abuja); staging education events
(Vanguard); and according more prominence to education (The Guardian).
Media managers did not regard education reporting as a major revenue earner
that improved the bottom line. All the 26 managers from 16 organizations said
that education contributes less than six percent to their revenue.
Again, a self-administered questionnaire was distributed to education editors
and beat journalists to collect personal, operational and attitudinal data from the
education editors and beat reporters. The questionnaire was administered only on
the editors and reporters from the selected newspapers used for the study. Also
included were the producers and reporters/presenters of already identified radio
and television stations in the country. Some of the information collected from
that group of media professionals included the following: basic education of the
education editors and reporters, gender related questions, professional training,
knowledge based sources of information for news stories, information gathering
and processing skills, written and unwritten editorial policies on issues of
education and related issues, attitudes towards education related stories,
perception of the future training needs of editors and journalists who cover
education, perception of audience/listeners/viewers education information needs
and information on what should be the ethical principles and professional values
of a journalist to avoid or discourage sensationalism.
In the research, when the respondents were asked if the media disseminate to
their audiences what they really want, only one in two answered in the
affirmative. The rest were either not sure of their position on the issues or had no
response. When the respondents were asked to comment on whether the media
cover education issues adequately, the opinion of the respondents were divided
on the issue with one half answering in the affirmative and the others taking the
opposite view.
Content analyses of the selected newspapers, which publish a regular weekly
section on education, were selected for inclusion in the study. The electronic
media in Nigeria do not generally store past broadcast tapes for any significant
amount of time due to economic constraints, among other reasons. It was
therefore almost impossible for the researchers to access and study the content of
their news casts and educational materials for the twenty four months selected for
the study. But as indicated, both the electronic media managers and the education

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editors and reporters of these institutions were interviewed for the other aspects
of the study.
The study time frame was from July 2002 to June 2004, a total of 24 months.
One edition of the identified newspapers was selected in each month of the year
such that the total number of editions for each paper was 24 copies. The
composite week within each month of the year was used for the selection of the
editions for the content analysis. Some of the data collected from the newspapers
studied included the names of the newspaper, ownership, year of publication,
type of news story, the headline, the education subject matter, story placement,
presentation and main personalities covered. Also included were the sources of
the story and the orientations of the story.
The newspapers studied (Comet, New Nigeria, Daily Times, Punch,
Vanguard, Guardian and ThisDay) published a total of 1138 stories in the
targeted 24 months. The Guardian newspaper published 302 stories representing
the highest number of stories published by any of the newspapers studied over
the 24-month period. The second newspaper with the largest number of stories
was the Comet with a total of 219 stories. The majority of the newspapers
studied, with the exception of Daily Times and New Nigerian, were privately
owned.
A good number of the stories published were about the standards and quality
of education in Nigeria and about government’s funding of education and
provision of educational facilities. The researchers had expected issues such as
teachers’ welfare and strikes, and student unrest to show significant presence but
were all below ten percent in each of the published stories in all the newspapers.
These two issues had put tremendous pressure on the Nigerian education system
to breaking-point that the Nigerian academic calendar has been totally off course
for over ten years compared to the rest of the world.
Even though there was no baseline with which to compare, the findings from
this study suggest that major national Nigerian newspapers do give considerable
coverage to educational issues in the country. What we do not know, however, is
whether with respect to July to December 2103 ASSU strike, some selected
national dailies maintain considerable coverage to educational issues, and
whether there was any bias in the reportage.

Agenda Setting Theory

This study hinges on Agenda Setting theory. According to Sanchez (2002),
agenda setting is the process whereby the mass media determine what we think
and worry about. Walter Lippmann, a journalist, first observed this function, in
the 1920’s. Lippmann then pointed out that the media dominates over the
creation of pictures in our head; he believed that the public reacts not to actual
events but to the pictures in our heads. Therefore, the agenda setting process is
used to remodel all the events occurring in our environment, into a simpler model
before we deal with it.
The assumption that the media influences the visibility of events in the public
mind has been a part of our culture for almost half a century. Therefore the
 Abimbola, Oguntomisin and Scott: Assessment of Newspaper Coverage 133

concept of agenda setting in our society is for the press to selectively choose
what we see or hear in the media.
When mass media emphasize a topic, the audience/public receiving the
message will consider this topic to be important. Agenda setting theory therefore
justifies the need for unbiased reporting of news stories. Agenda setting theory is
related to this study because it explains why people tend to support a particular
side or idea during the July to December, 2013 ASUU strike based on the
importance or the extent to which The Punch, Nigerian Tribune and The Nation
covered and reported the July to December, 2013 ASUU strike.

Spiral of Silence Theory

Spiral of Silence theory refers to the tendency for those who think they hold a
minority or deviant view to refrain from expressing it in public, thus accelerating
the dominance of the supposed consensus (Miller 2002). Noelle-Neumann
believed that the process of opinion forming and sharing was based on one’s
perceptions of popular opinion, and that perception of decreasing support for
one’s position led to a reduced likelihood in speaking out about the topic (Noelle-
Neumann, 1977).
The closer a person believes the opinion held is similar to the prevailing
public opinion, the more they are willing to openly disclose that opinion in
public. Then, if public sentiment changes, the person will recognize that the
opinion is less in favour and will be less willing to express that opinion publicly.
As the perceived distance between public opinion and a person's personal opinion
grows, it is unlikely that the person will express his or her opinion. The main
thrust of the theory is to attribute to the media a powerful effect, since it is the
main source of what people think is the dominant opinion of the moment.
The hypothesis is based on a presumed ‘fear of isolation’. The theory
proposes that, in order to avoid isolation on important public issues, many people
are guided by what they think to be the dominant or declining opinions in their
environment. To avoid isolation, people holding minority views either alter their
ideas to conform to the majority's stance or remain silent, thus increasing the
impression of the majority view's dominance.
This theory is related to the study because it shows the relationship between
public opinion expressed through Letters to the Editor and Opinion Pages, and
the way the strike was covered by the Punch, Nigerian Tribune and the Nation
newspapers. The theory gives further interpretation of the contents of the media
analyzed in the study.

Research Design
The research design adopted in this study is Content Analysis. Content analysis is
a technique for systematically describing written, spoken or visual
communication (Baran,2010). The population for the study is July to December,
2013 editions of The Punch, The Nation and Nigerian Tribune newspapers that
covered the ASUU strike. The Punch, The Nation and Nigerian Tribune
newspapers each publish 7 days in a week; this makes it a total of 184 days for

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the July to December, 2013 edition respectively. For the three newspapers used
in this study, the total number of editions is 552.
The systematic random sampling technique was used to sample 180 editions
from 552 editions. Sixty editions each of The Punch, Nigerian Tribune and The
Nation newspapers were selected and analyzed. The units of analysis were news
stories, articles, editorials, cartoons, pictures and letters to the editor while the
content categories were: Frequency of the reports, Prominence, and Slant.

Data Analysis
Out of the 60 editions, each of the Punch, Nigerian Tribune and the Nation
newspapers that formed the sample for this research, the researchers were able to
acquire 58 editions of Punch, 58 editions of Nigerian Tribune and 50 editions of
the Nation newspapers respectively. Thus, 166 editions were content analyzed
instead of 180 editions.

Table 1: Summary of Types of Reports and their Frequency of occurrence in the Selected Newspapers
Forms of Punch Percentage Nigerian Percentage The Nation Percentage
Reports Newspapers % Tribune % newspaper %
Newspapers
News 64 54 86 67 69 62
stories
Features 21 18 15 12 15 14
Editorials 1 1 1 0 - -
Letter to 17 14 6 5 7 6
the Editor
Pictures 12 10 21 16 9 8
Cartoons 4 3 - - 11 10
Total 119 100 129 100 111 100

Table 1 clearly shows that there are 119 reports in the 58 editions of The
Punch newspaper that covered the July to December, 2013 ASUU strike. 64
reports which is 54% represents News Stories,21 report which is 18% represents
Features, 1 report which is 0% represents Editorials, 17 reports which is 14%
represents Letters to the Editor, 12 reports which is 10% represents Pictures
while 4 reports which is 3% represent Cartoons.
In the same table, there are a total of 129 reports in 58 editions of Nigerian
Tribune newspaper about ASUU strike within the July to December, 2013.
There are 86 News Stories which equal to 67%, 15 Features which is equal to
12%, and 1 Editorial which is equal to 0%, 6 Letters to the Editor which is equal
to 5%, and 21 Pictures which is equal to 16%.
Also, in the Nation newspaper as shown on the table, there are a total of 111
reports about ASUU strike in 50 editions analyzed by the researchers. There are
69 news stories which is equal to 62%, 15 Features which is equal to 14%, 11
Cartoons which is equal to 10%, 7 Letters to the Editor which is equal to 6% and
9 Pictures which is equal to 8%.
The Punch and Nigerian Tribune newspapers have the same number of
editions (58), yet there are more reports in Nigerian Tribune newspaper (129)
than there are in The Punch newspaper (119). There are 111 reports on ASUU in
 Abimbola, Oguntomisin and Scott: Assessment of Newspaper Coverage 135

The Nation newspaper;it should be noted that just 50 editions were sampled in
comparison to the number of The Punch and Nigerian Tribune newspapers
sampled.
RQ1: What was the frequency with which The Punch, The Nigerian tribune
and The Nation newspapers report the July to December,2013 ASUU Strike?
Data on the frequency category from The Punch, Nigerian Tribune and The
Nation newspapers in Tables 2, 3 and 4 are used to answer research question 1.
Table 2: Frequency of Reports for The Punch newspaper

Forms of 1-5 Per- 6-10 Per- 11+ Per- Total Per

Reports Centage centage centage centage
% % % %
News 33 43 27 71 4 100 64 54
stories
Features 10 13 11 29 - - 21 18
Editorial 1 1 - - - - 1 1
Letters to 17 22 - - - - 17 14
the Editor
Pictures 12 16 - - - - 12 10
Cartoons 4 5 - - - - 4 3
Total 77 100 38 100 4 100 119 100

The analysis in the table shows that more news stories occur within the range
of 1-5 times in an edition than the other categories. It should be noted that 77
reports occurred within the range of 1-5 times in an edition, 38 reports occurred
within the range of 6-10 times in an edition and 4 reports occurred within the
range 11 and above. This gives a total of 119 reports in the 58 editions of the
Punch newspaper analyzed with 54% representing News Stories, 18%
representing Features, 1% representing Editorial, 14% representing Letters to the
Editor, 10% representing Pictures, and 3% representing Cartoons.

Table 3: Frequency of reports for Nigerian Tribune newspaper

Forms of 1-5 Percentage 6- Percentage 11+ Percentage Total Percentage

reports % 10 % % %
News 75 71 6 33 5 100 86 67
stories
Features 15 14 - - - - 15 12
Editorials 1 1 - - - - 1 0
Letters to 6 6 - - - - 6 5
the
Editor
Pictures 9 8 12 67 - - 21 16
Cartoons - - - - - - - -
Total 106 100 18 100 5 100 129 100

The table above reveals that out of the 129 total number of reports in the 58
editions of Nigerian Tribune newspaper analyzed, 106 reports occurred within
the range of 1-5 times in an edition, 18 reports occurred within the range of 6-10
times in an edition, and 5 reports occurred more than 11 times in an edition.
From these, we have 67% representing news stories, 12% representing features,

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0% representing editorials, 5% representing letters to the editor, and 16%

representing pictures.

Table 4: Frequency of Reports for The Nation newspaper

Forms of 1- Percentage 6- Percentage 11+ Percentage Total Percentage

reports 5 % 10 % % %
News 6 20 50 77 13 81 69 62
stories
Features 1 3 11 17 3 19 15 14
Editorials - - - - - - - -
Letters to 3 10 4 6 - - 7 6
the Editor
Pictures 9 30 - - - - 9 8
Cartoons 11 37 - - - - 11 10
Total 30 100 65 100 16 100 111 100

The table above reveals that more report occurred within the range 6-10
times in an edition than other categories. 30 reports occurred within the range of
1-5 times in an edition, 65 reports occurred within the range of 6-10 times in an
edition and 16 reports occurred within the range of 11 and above. This gives a
total of 111 reports in the 50 editions of the Nation newspaper analyzed with
62% representing News stories, 14% representing Features, 6% representing
Letters to the Editor, 8% representing Pictures and10% representing Cartoons.
RQ2: What was the importance attached to the report of the July to
December, 2013 ASUU strike by The Punch, Nigerian Tribune and The Nation
newspapers? Data on the prominence of reports from The Punch, Nigerian
Tribune and The Nation newspapers in Tables 5-13 are used to answer research
question two.

Table 5: Placement of Reports for The Punch newspaper

Forms of Front Per- Inside Percen Back Percen- Total Percen-

Reports page cen- Page tage % Page tage% tage%
tage %
News 11 100 53 53 - - 64 54
stories
Features - - 17 17 4 50 21 18
Editorials - - 1 1 - - 1 1
Letters to - - 17 17 - - 17 14
the Editor
Pictures - - 10 10 2 25 12 10
Cartoons - - 2 2 2 25 4 3
Total 11 100 100 100 8 100 119 100

Table 5 reveals that the Punch newspapers did not attach adequate
importance and attention to the coverage and reportage of the July to December,
2013 ASUU strike. The table shows that there are 11 reports about the strike on
the front page, 100 at the inside page and 8 at the back page of the 58 editions of
the newspaper analyzed. 54% of these reports represent News Stories, 18%
 Abimbola, Oguntomisin and Scott: Assessment of Newspaper Coverage 137

represent Features, 1% represents Editorial, 14% represents Letters to the Editor,

10% represents pictures and 3% represents cartoons.
The table also reveals that aside from news stories and features, the Punch
newspapers made use of Letters to the Editor since there were 17 reports
representing letters to the editor, that is, 14%.
Table 6: Placement of reports for Nigerian Tribune newspaper

Forms of Front Percen Inside Percent- Back Percent- Total Percen

Reports page tage % Page age% Page age% tage %
News stories 18 86 68 67 - - 86 67
Features - - 10 10 5 83 15 12
Editorials - - 1 0 - - 1 0
Letters to the - - 6 6 - - 6 5
Editor
Pictures 3 14 I7 17 1 17 21 16
Cartoons - - - - - - - -
Total 21 100 102 100 6 100 129 100

Table 6 reveals that Nigerian Tribune newspaper gave less importance and
less attention to the coverage and reportage of the July to December, 2013 ASUU
strike. The findings show that there are 21 reports on the front page, 102 on
the inside page, and 6 reports at the back page of the 58 editions of the
newspaper analyzed. 67% of these reports represent News Stories, 12%
represent Features, 0% represents Editorials, 5% represent Letters to the
Editor, and 16% represents pictures.
Also aside from News Stories and Features, Pictures had the third highest
number of reports, 21, which is 16%.
Table 7: Placement of Reports for the Nation newspapers

Forms of Front Percentage Inside Percentage Back Percentage% Total Percentage

Reports page % Page % Page %
News 14 87.5 55 63 - - 69 62
stories
Features - - 14 16 1 14 15 14
Editorials - - - - - - - -
Letters to - - 7 7.9 - - 7 6
the Editor
Pictures 2 12.5 7 7.9 - 9 8
Cartoons - - 5 5.6 6 86 11 10
Total 16 100 88 100 7 100 111 100

Table 7 reveals that The Nation newspapers did not attach adequate
importance to the coverage and reportage of the July to December, 2013 ASUU
strike. The findings show that there are 16 reports about the strike on the front
page, 88 at the inside page and 7 at the back page of the 50 editions of the
newspaper analyzed. 62% of these reports represent News Stories, 14% represent
Features, 6% represents Letters to the Editor, and 8% represent Pictures while
10% represent Cartoons.

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Table 8: Size of Reports (In Terms of Paragraphs) for the Punch newspaper

Forms of 1- Percentage 6- Percentage 11+ Percentage Total Percentage

Reports 5 % 10 % % %
News 4 44.4 27 57 33 70 64 62
stories
Features 2 22.2 6 13 13 28 21 20
Letters to 3 33.3 13 28 1 2 17 17
Editor
Editorials - - 1 2 - - 1 1
Totals 9 100 47 100 47 100 103 100

From the table above, it is revealed that the Punch did not give enough
attention to the coverage and reportage of the July to December, 2013 ASUU
strike in terms of paragraphs used in the 58 editions analyzed.
The number of reports analyzed (excluding cartoon and pictures) in the 58
editions summed up to 103 reports with 9 reports occurring within the range of 1-
5 paragraphs, 47 reports occurring within the range of 6-10 paragraphs and 47
reports also occurring within the range of 11 and above paragraphs. The findings
also show that out of the 103 report in the editions analyzed, 62% represents
news stories, 20% represents features, 17% represents letters to the editor, and
1% represents editorials.

Table 9: Size of Reports (In Terms of Paragraph) For Nigerian Tribune

Forms of 1- Percentage 6- Percentage 11+ Percentage Total Percentage

Reports 5 % 10 % % %
News 17 77 40 75 29 88 86 80
stories
Features 2 9 10 19 3 9 15 14
Letters to 3 14 2 4 1 3 6 6
Editor
Editorials - - 1 2 - - 1 0
Totals 22 100 53 100 33 100 108 100

From the table above, it is revealed that Nigerian Tribune did not give
adequate attention to the coverage and reportage of the July to December, 2013
ASUU strike in terms of paragraphs used in the report analyzed.
The number of reports in the 58 editions analyzed by the researchers summed
up to 108 (excluding pictures and cartoons), 22 reports occurred within the range
of 1-5 paragraphs, 53 reports occurred within the range of 6-10 and 33 reports
occurred within the range of 11 and above paragraphs. The findings also show
that out of the 108 reports in the editions analyzed, 80% represent news stories,
14% represent features, 6% represents letters to the editor.
 Abimbola, Oguntomisin and Scott: Assessment of Newspaper Coverage 139

Table 10: Size of Reports (In Terms of Paragraphs) For the Nation newspaper

Forms of 1- Percentage 6- Percentage 11+ Percentage Total Percentage

Reports 5 % 10 % % %
News 4 44.4 10 42 55 94.5 69 76
stories`
Features 2 22.2 10 42 3 5 15 16
Letters to 3 33.3 4 16 - - 7 8
Editor
Editorials - - - - - - - -
Totals 9 100 24 100 58 100 91 100

From the table above, it is revealed that the Nation newspaper did not give
adequate attention to the coverage and reportage of the July to December, 2013
ASUU strike in terms of paragraphs used in the reports analyzed.
The number of reports in the 50 editions analyzed by the researcher summed
up to 91 reports (excluding pictures and cartoons), with 9 reports occurring
within the range 1-5 paragraphs, 24 reports occurring within the range of 6-10
paragraphs and 58 reports occurring within the range of 11 and above
paragraphs. The findings show that out of the 91 reports analyzed, 76%
represents News stories, 16% represent Features and 8% represent Letters to the
Editor.

Table 11: Size of Reports (For Pictures and Cartoons) For the Punch Newspaper

Forms 1*3 Percentag 2- Percentag 4cols*4 Percentag Tota Percentag

of inche e% 3cols* e% inches e% l e%
reports s 3 +
inches
Picture 2 100 3 75 7 70 12 75
Cartoon - - 1 25 3 30 4 25
s
Total 2 100 4 100 10 100 16 100

The findings from Table 11 revealed that 4cols*4 inches + pictures are
mostly used by The Punch newspaper in the 58 editions analyzed by the
researcher and only 4 cartoons is used in the whole edition and 3 out of the 4 is
4cols*4inches+ in size. Out of the 12 pictures, 2 are of the size 1*3, 3 are of the
size 2-3cols*3 inches and 7 are of the size 4cols*4 inch

Table 12: Size of Reports (For Pictures and Cartoons) for Nigerian Tribune newspaper

Forms 1*3 Percentag 2- Percentag 4cols*4 Percentag Tota Percentag

of inche e% 3cols* e% inches e% l e%
reports s 3 +
inches
Picture 2 100 12 100 7 100 21 100
Cartoon - - - - - - - -
s
Total 2 100 12 100 7 100 21 100

From the table above, Nigerian Tribune newspaper used a total of 21 pictures
and no cartoon in the 58 editions analyzed by the researchers. Out of the 21

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140 Journal of Communication and Media Research Vol. 7 No. 2, October, 2015

pictures, 2 pictures are 1*3 inches, 12 are of the size of 2-3cols*3inches and 7
pictures are of the 4cols*4inches+.
Table 13: Size of Reports (For Pictures and Cartoons) For the Nation newspaper

Forms 1*3 Percentag 2- Percentag 4cols*4 Percentag Tota Percentag

of inche e% 3cols* e% inches e% l e%
reports s 3 +
inches
Pictures 2 100 2 50 5 36 9 45
Cartoon - - 2 50 9 64 11 55
s
Total 2 100 4 100 14 100 20 100

Table 13 shows the Nation newspaper used mostly 4cols*4 inches+ Pictures
in the 50 editions analyzed by the researchers and more Cartoons were used in
the editions.
It was also discovered in the table, that 2 pictures are of the size of 1*3
inches, 4 pictures are of the size of 2-3cols*3 inches and 14 pictures are of the
size of 4cols*4inches and above. The total reports are 20, with 45% representing
Pictures and 55% representing Cartoons.
RQ3: From what angle did The Punch, Nigerian Tribune and The Nation
newspapers report the July to December, 2013 ASUU strike? Data on the slant of
report from the three newspapers in table 14, 15 and 16 are used to answer
research question three.
Table 14: Slant of Reports for the Punch newspaper

Forms Positive Per- Nega- Per- Neutral Per- Total Percent-

of biased centage tive centage % centage age %
reports % biased %
News 21 38 13 72 30 65 64 54
stories
Features 5 9 2 11 14 30 21 18
Letters 17 31 - - - - 17 14
to the
Editor
Editorial - - - - 1 2 1 1
s
Pictures 10 18 2 11 - - 12 10
Cartoons 2 4 1 6 1 2 4 3
Total 55 100 18 100 46 100 119 100

Table 14 shows that in the 58 editions of the Punch newspaper analyzed by

the researchers, 55 reports are positive biased, 18 reports are negative biased and
46 reports are neutral, making a total of 119 reports. Out of the 119 reports, news
reports represents 54% of the reports, features represents 18%, letters to the
editor represents 14%, 1% of the reports represent editorials, 10% of the reports
represents pictures and 3% of the reports represents cartoon.
 Abimbola, Oguntomisin and Scott: Assessment of Newspaper Coverage 141

Table 15 Slant of Reports for Nigerian Tribune newspapers

Forms Positive Per- Negative Per- Neutral Per- Total Per-

of biased centag biased centage centage % centage
reports e% % %
News 18 41 13 59 55 87 86 67
stories
Features 7 16 3 14 5 8 15 12
Letters to 3 7 3 14 - - 6 5
the
Editor
Editorial - - - - 1 2 1 0
s
Pictures 16 36 3 14 2 3 21 16
Cartoons - - - - - - - -
Total 44 100 22 100 63 100 129 100

Table 15 reveals that, out of the 129 reports analyzed in the 58 editions of
Nigerian Tribune Newspaper, there are 44 positive biased reports, 22 negative
biased and 63 neutral reports. Out of the 129 reports, 67% represents news
stories, 12% represents features, 5% represents letters to the editor, and 16%
represents Pictures. It can be deduced that Nigerian Tribune Newspaper was
neutral in the coverage of the July to December, 2013 ASUU strike.

Table 16: Slant of Reports for the Nation newspaper

Forms Positive Per- Negative Per- Neutral Per- Total Per-

of biased centage biased centage centage centage
reports % % % %
News - - - - 69 78 69 62
stories
Features 10 45 - - 5 6 15 14
Letters 4 18 - - 3 3 7 6
to the
Editor
Editorial - - - - - - - -
s
Pictures 7 32 - - 2 2 9 8
Cartoons 1 5 - - 10 11 11 10
Total 22 100 - - 89 100 111 100

Table 16 shows that out of the 111 reports analyzed in the 50 editions of The
Nation newspaper, there are 22 positive biased reports and 89 neutral reports.
Out of the 111 reports, 62% represents news stories, 14% represents
Features, 6% represents Letters to the Editor, 8% represents Pictures and 10%
represents Cartoons. From the findings, it can be deduced that The Nation is
neutral in the coverage of July to December, 2013 ASUU strike.

Findings
The Punch, Nigerian Tribune and the Nation newspapers frequently covered and
reported the July to December, 2013 ASUU strike. This is so because in an
edition in the three newspapers, there is more than one report of the strike.

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142 Journal of Communication and Media Research Vol. 7 No. 2, October, 2015

The Punch, Nigerian Tribune and the Nation newspapers did not attach
enough importance to the coverage of the July to December, 2013 ASUU strike.
From the data collected by the researchers, it was discovered that the strike was
not the major lead story of the newspapers, although the reports had full details in
the inside page and had pictures and cartoons to complement the stories. Based
on the findings gathered in this research work, the researchers discovered that
there is little or no editorial about the strike in the Punch, The Nation and
Nigerian Tribune newspapers.
The data collected by the researchers revealed that The Punch newspaper was
biased in their report of the July to December, 2013, ASUU strike, giving more
attention to ASUU and the students and less attention to the federal government.
Nigerian Tribune and The Nation were neutral in their report of the strike, giving
equal attention to ASUU, the students and the federal government.
The data collected by the researchers revealed that The Punch newspaper was
biased in its report of the July to December, 2013, ASUU strike; it means that
most readers were biased against the government during the conflict/crisis period
as a result of the agenda set and emphasized by the said newspaper. Nigerian
Tribune and The Nation newspapers were neutral in their report so their readers
were neutral towards the government during the crisis period.
The researchers discovered that since The Punch newspaper was biased, it
means that their readers were reacting only to issues deemed important to the
media professionalism regards to the Spiral of Silence theory. Nigerian Tribune
and The Nation newspapers were neutral in their report so their readers were
reacting only to issues deemed important to the media professionals.

Conclusion
The mass media has an important role to play in conflict resolution by reporting
the sides of all those involved in the conflict, thereby presenting balanced and
fair reports. The media must not down play the opinion of the opposition in favor
of other parties involved in the dispute. The media should endeavor to take a
neutral stand and not mix sentiments with objectivity in reporting sensitive
issues. The media should also give great visibility to education news as an
important sector of development in the country.
From the findings and data gathered in this study, the researchers therefore
conclude that the Punch, The Nation and Nigerian Tribune did not do an
adequate job in informing the public about the strike by frequently writing
reports about the strike.
It was also discovered that Nigerian Tribune newspaper gave more
importance to the coverage of education news by having more lead stories about
the strike with 21 headline reports and complementing pictures than the other two
newspapers. The Punch newspaper had more public feedback (i.e. Letters to the
editor) about the strike with I7 reports on letters to the editor than the other two
newspapers. The Nation newspaper had more cartoons (i.e. 11) than the other two
newspapers. This shows that the three newspapers did not give adequate
importance to the coverage of the July to December, 2013 ASUU strike.
 Abimbola, Oguntomisin and Scott: Assessment of Newspaper Coverage 143

Based on the various findings gathered in the course of this research, the
researchers therefore made the following recommendations:
1. Journalists should attach great importance to the coverage and reportage
of education news, most especially strike actions in the educational
sector.
2. The media should be balanced and fair in the reportage of sensitive
developmental issues such as the ASUU strike, and should avoid taking
sides in conflicts.
3. Journalists should write more editorials on educational issues and the
implication of ASUU strike on national development.

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