Press Coverage of the Passage of National Minimum Wage Act 2017 May to 2019 in Nigeria
Chapter One
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The objectives of the study are;
- To investigate what took precedence in the coverage of the passage of National Minimum Wage Act, that is whether ethical standards or self-interest as well as political and religious sentiments of the media owners.
- To study whether professional training of the journalists or lack of its affects the media is objective of the coverage.
- To find out the number of space and frequency devoted for the report of the act
- To find out whether other issues were placed ahead of this act in terms of frequency or not
- To examine whether the press coverage was adequate to create the necessary awareness for public participation.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Theoretical Framework
The background approach of this project will be incomplete without a deep knowledge and the application of the mass communication theories.
Agenda Setting Theory;
The proponents of agenda setting theory of media communication-Defleur, Jack Mcleod and associates believed that, “an audience member will adjust his or her perception of the importance of issues in the direction corresponding to the amount of attraction devoted to those issues, in the medium used.
The position this idea support is that; the media has the power to determine what people think about by pre-determining what issues are important in the society. The media can ascribe importance to an issue through:
- the quality/frequency of reporting
- the prominence given to the report.
- The degree of conflict generated in the report.
- And cumulative media, specific effect overtime.
(Mc Combs and Show 1972:26)
Benard Cohen is generally credited with refining Lipman’s ideas into the theory of agenda-setting. Cohen (1963:13) wrote “the press is significantly more than purveyor of information and opinion. It may not be successful much of the time in telling people what to think, but it’s stunningly successful much of the time telling people what to think about. Thus the press played this over bearing goal of placing importance and set agenda for public understanding on issues of the passage of the national minimum wage act.
Use and Gratification THEORY:
This view of this theory is that the recipient of the mass media message influences the effect process. The study of perception has revealed that people selectively choose, perceive and retain media message on the bases of their needs and beliefs. Contemporary research indicates that, people seek various forms of media content for many reasons, to fulfill certain obligation and expectations for the society.
The physiological reward which people receive from reading, hearing or viewing specific content determine the use to which they put the media.
This is the case; the media according to “uses and gratification” do not do things to people rather people of things with the media.
This theory also attempt to answer the questions why do people use the mass media and what functions mass communication performs for the people? According to infatuate et al (1990) identified six reasons why children and adolescent use television. Television is generally used for learning, passing time, companionship, to forget or escape unpleasant circumstances, for excitement or arousal and for relaxation.
In view of the forgoing, it is important that the media practitioner understands its audience very well including his need in packaging messages for the audience. The theory according to Folarin (1998:30) sees public broadcasting organizations in particular as too elitist too susceptible to the whims and caprices of those in government, too rigid in structure and too slavish to professional ideas, even those ideas that tend to hinder social responsibility. He noted that, the theory also reflects disappointment with democratic political structure which and politicians who have become increasingly alienated from their origins. This theory emphasizes the need for grassroots communication or the horizontal approach to communication rather than the top down approach emphasized by the earlier theories.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought to a Press coverage of the passage of national minimum wage act 2017 may to 2019 in Nigeria
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
(i)Primary source and
(ii)Secondary source
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
Population of the study
Population of a study is a group of persons or aggregate items, things the researcher is interested in getting information Press coverage of the passage of national minimum wage act 2017 may to 2019 in Nigeria. 200 staff of selected news papers in Lagos state was selected randomly by the researcher as the population of the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to ascertain Press coverage of the passage of national minimum wage act 2017 may to 2019 in Nigeria
In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of Press coverage of the passage of national minimum wage act 2017 may to 2019 in Nigeria
Summary
This study was on Press coverage of the passage of national minimum wage act 2017 may to 2019 in Nigeria. Four objectives were raised which included: To investigate what took precedence in the coverage of the passage of National Minimum Wage Act, that is whether ethical standards or self-interest as well as political and religious sentiments of the media owners, to study whether professional training of the journalists or lack of its affects the media is objective of the coverage, to find out the number of space and frequency devoted for the report of the act, to find out whether other issues were placed ahead of this act in terms of frequency or not, to examine whether the press coverage was adequate to create the necessary awareness for public participation. In line with these objectives, two research hypotheses were formulated and two null hypotheses were posited. The total population for the study is 200 staff of selected newspapers in Lagos state The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made up editors, correspondents, senior staff and junior staff was used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies
Conclusion
Issues on the passage of the National Minimum Wage law are still fresh in the minds of Nigerians. The passage has just been done; however, the implementation still remains a mile stone in the government sector.
It is, therefore very important that the press don’t relent on the nature of making sure that the implementation is quickly done. This study leaves no stone unturned on all various issues surrounding the smooth implementation of this act.
Recommendation
It should significant relationship between government, media and the public for easy communication
REFERENCES
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- Akinfeleye, R. (2007). Essentials of Journalism: Introductory text for the beginner (fourth edition) Lagos: Unimedia.
- Akinfeleye, R. A. (1982). Essentials of modern African journalism. Lagos: A Premier Miral Publishers Ltd.
- Akinfeleye, R. A. (1990). Nigerian Media – Dialectic Issues in Nigerian Journalism. Lagos: Nelson Publishers Ltd
- Astor, J. J. (1991). Art of Modern Journalism. Delhi: Akashdeep Publishing
- Balcytiene, A. (2005). Types of state intervention in the media systems in the Baltic States and Norway. In: Richard Baerug (ed.). The Baltic Media World. Riga: Flera Printing House, pp. 40-58. Duyile, D. (2007). Makers of Nigerian Press. Lagos: Gong Communication Nigeria Ltd.
- Gboyega, B. (1989). Journalism in Nigeria – an all comers’ profession. Akure: Ajomoro Publications
- Harro, H. ;Lauk, E. (2003). Self-regulation: Watchdog’s Collar or Shelter for the Guild?In: Nando Malmelin (ed.). McQuail, D. (2005). Mass Communication Theory (5th ed). London: Sage Publications Ltd.