The Newspaper Coverage of Election Petition Tribunal in Nigeria; A Comparative Analysis of Observer and Guardian Newspaper
Chapter One
Purpose of the Study
The objective of the study are as follows:
- This study will determine which of the selected newspaper gave more coverage to the 2003 election petition tribunal in regards to the number of news items editorial and features it carries.
- To determine the prominence the selected newspaper gave to the stories of the 2003 election petition tribunals in Nigeria.
- This study will also examines the level of objectivity in reporting the 2003 election tribunal.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
The intent of this chapter is to review existing literature and previous research on newspaper coverage and content in relation to the problem this study seeks to investigate. Theoretical perspectives and related studies which sets the study in context are discussed.
Theoretical Framework
Most studies into mass media content are underpinned by such theoretical constructs as mass media agenda setting, framing, media gatekeeping, media structure and ownership among others. This study is anchored in the framing theory. The pioneering work of Ervin Goffmann on frame analysis in 1974 is regarded as the foundation of the framing theory. Therefore, Goffmann is widely known as the founder of the framing theory (Botan & Hazelton, 2006). Since the emergence of the framing theory, it has been one of the widely used theoretical perspectives in mass media and communication analysis in general and in the analysis of media coverage of political issues in particular (Shih, et.al 2008). Stromback and van Aelst (2010) are of the view that in contemporary communication research, the framing theory is one of the most principal concepts.
Media framing is the way in which information is presented to its audience (Cissel, 2012). The framing theory asserts that the media focus attention on events and place them within a field of meaning. The theory attempts to explain how these meanings are constructed through communication (Entman, 1993). This implies that the focus of framing goes beyond the salience of topics that make the news to the quintessential issues at stake in the media reportage.
Notwithstanding the popularity of the framing theory, it has not been universally defined (Botan & Hazelton, 2006). Different scholars have defined the theory of framing differently. For instance Entman (2004) asserts that framing is essentially about selecting and highlighting some aspects of issues and events that promote specific interpretation among audience. Similarly, Verser (2007) defined framing as selecting and emphasizing certain facets of experience or ideas and prioritizing them over others. This implies that framing is not only a conscious effort but a strategic one to choose some issues and events at the neglect of others.
Also Miller (2002) writes that framing can be executed by the media through the inclusion of explicit subtopics of calculated size strategically placed to augment in the telling of the news story as well as through the style of narration, the article‟s general tone and through the particular details purposively included in or excluded from the story. Framing theory then, assumes that realities or facts can be reconstructed through presentation (Chen, 2004). The framing theory “proposes that how an idea, issue or personality is presented (framed) in the media influences how people think about the issue or personality (Tetteh & King, 2011, p. 505).” For Salwen and Stacks (2008), framing is the main idea around which the content of news is contextualized through emphasis, exclusion and elaboration offered by editors. Payne (2008) shares a similar assertion that framing can be described as an ideological contextualization of gatekeeper‟s choices of content. Payne‟s description of framing assumes a direct relationship between framing and gatekeeping where framing should be a determinant of gatekeeping.
CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
Introduction
This study examined how the the Guardian newspaper, covered the petition tribunals of 2003 from March 2003-May 2004 the Guardian and Observer newspaper are used to content analysis of the coverage. The chapter explains the method used for collecting data for the study and discusses the research design, sampling procedure, units of analysis, coding scheme and procedure for data analysis. To be able to respond to the research questions within the theoretical perspective of framing, the study was conducted using quantitative content analysis.
Research Method
Content analysis was chosen because it is one of the most practical methods for examining media content (Rife et al, 1998). There are several definitions for content analysis (Wimmer & Dominick, 2011). Neuendorf (2002) defines content analysis as the systematic, objective, quantitative analysis of message characteristics while Krippendorf (2004) defines it as a research technique that is used for making replicable and valid references from data to their context. Also, the method of content analysis can be defined as “the systematic assignment of communication content to categorize according to rules, and the analysis of relationships involving those categories using statistical methods (Riffe et al, 2005, p. 3).”
In cognizance of the notion that content analysis is the methodology for “making inferences by objectively and systematically identifying specified characteristics of message” (Holsti, 1969, p. 14.),” the researcher deemed it most appropriate to identify and quantify framing patterns in the newspaper coverage of the 2012 presidential election petition in Ghana. Babbie (2009) asserts that content analysis is among the most appropriate methods for studying processes or events occurring over a long period of time. Babbie‟s assertion also influenced the selection of the content analysis method because this study examined the coverage of election petition tribunals of 2003 from March 2003-May 2004.
Population and Sample
The population for this study was all newspaper editions published by the the Guardian within the study period. There were 132 editions published by the newspaper from March 2003 to May, 2004. According to Wimmer and Dominick (2000), determining an adequate sample size is one of the most controversial aspects of sampling. But studies in content analysis reveal that there is no particular standard for determining a representative sample. However, Wimmer and Dominick (2000) explain that the sample size may largely be determined by factors such as the type, purpose, complexity of study, the amount of acceptable sampling errors as well as time and financial constraints. Taking into consideration the various factors (especially time) that influences a sample size as explained by Wimmer and Dominick (2000), the sample size for this study was 60 editions of the the Guardian.
CHAPTER FOUR
FINDINGS
Introduction
The findings of the research are presented in this chapter. The findings were arrived at through analysis of data that were collected via the processes described in Chapter Three. The results were submitted using graphical and narrative descriptions, including frequencies, percentages and cross tabulations. Analysis of data was therefore conducted in line with the research objectives. The findings were used to address the three research questions that engaged the attention and directed the course of this study. The findings of each of the seven categories, which were used to code the data are presented in the section below.
CHAPTER FOUR
FINDINGS
Introduction
The findings of the research are presented in this chapter. The findings were arrived at through analysis of data that were collected via the processes described in Chapter Three. The results were submitted using graphical and narrative descriptions, including frequencies, percentages and cross tabulations. Analysis of data was therefore conducted in line with the research objectives. The findings were used to address the three research questions that engaged the attention and directed the course of this study. The findings of each of the seven categories, which were used to code the data are presented in the section below.
CHAPTER FIVE
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
Introduction
This study explored how the Guardian reported on the 2003 election petition tribunals. It involved a content analysis of 219 articles to determine the level of prominence and fairness as well as the dominant tone of coverage. This chapter discusses the findings outlined in the preceding chapter and attempts to answer the research questions posed at the beginning of the study. This discussion entailed assessment of key points noted in the findings with inferences from the perspectives gained through review of the framing theory and other related studies discussed in Chapter Two. The chapter also acknowledges the limitations of the study, makes recommendations for future studies and finally draws some conclusions.
Prominence
As applied here, prominence “refers to the positioning of a story within a text to communicate its importance” (Kiousis, 2004, p. 71). As argued by Watts et al (1993), stories in the media indicate their importance to the audience by virtue of their placement, length, or treatment. A story‟s prominence is influenced by its placement, size, pictures and other aesthetic tools (Kiousis, 2004). Accordingly, this study measured the level of prominence given to the 2003 election petition tribunals by using type of story, placement of story, size of story, headline size and enhancement type as indicators.
Unlike Busher (2006) who avoided other types of newspaper content such as editorials, letters to the editor, opinion columns and cartoons, this study did otherwise. The results showed that a majority (63.9%) of the articles analyzed were straight news stories. This was similar to the findings of Cummings (2006) where more (60.7%) of the articles were in that category. Miller et al (2012) also found more articles (89.8%) that were news stories than editorial, columns or letters and associated the most of prominence with the straight news type story. The findings therefore imply that the coverage of the Guardian on the election petition by article type was prominent enough.
Miller et al (2012) asserted that prominence includes the location (front page, front section, elsewhere) of stories. This study accordingly measured prominence by taking into cognizance the placement of the story. As noted by Andrade (2013), stories located on the front page of newspapers are more prominent than those found elsewhere. The findings of this study showed that less than one-quarter (21.9%) of the stories analyzed were placed on the front page of the Guardian while a substantial number (74.0%) of the articles were placed on other pages. This was similar to the findings of Miller et al (2012) that about a quarter of the stories analyzed were placed on the front pages. As noted by Saunders (2006), the front page of newspapers are reserved for high profile personalities. The results show that the Guardian did not treat the election petition stories with much prominence in terms of placement although 63.9% of the stories were in the straight news category.
As noted earlier, there is a significant relationship between length of the news article and its perceived importance (Cissel, 2012) and “the physical space devoted to an element of a particular story in a print news medium frames the story in such a way that elements taking more space will be more influential in readers‟ interpretation of the story” (Peng 2008, p. 363). This means that the larger the size of a story in the newspaper, the more its prominence. The study showed that 109 stories (49.8%) were at least half a page large constituting less than 219 of the articles analyzed. On the other hand, 110 stories (50.2%) were less than half of a page. It can therefore be said that the coverage of 2003 election petition tribunals in terms of story size was somewhat prominent.
Another variable that was used to measure the level of prominence was enhancement of stories. Khan (2003) also measured the level of prominence given to the election petition in terms of whether stories were accompanied with visuals or not. The results showed that most of the stories (80.4%) were accompanied with visuals as compared to 19.6 percent which had no visuals. In terms of enhancement, it could be said that the coverage of the election petition was with much prominence.
The headline size of stories was also another indicator this study adopted to measure the level of prominence. As noted by Kinney and Simpson (1993), though stories may appear on the same page, they may have different levels of prominence due to differences in headline size. The findings of this study showed that a little over half (51.8%) of the stories were more prominent (streamer and spread head sized) while a little below half (48.2%) of the stories were less prominent (two-column and one-column sized). In terms of the size of headline, the election petition stories was somewhat prominent.
The findings of this study showed that the Guardian covered the election petition with a significant level of prominence. This level of prominence was communicated by the newspaper through the various variables (story placement, size, type, enhancement and headline size) used in measurement. Quite a good number of stories were placed at the front pages, most stories were straight news stories, most stories were also at least half-paged sized and most of the stories were also accompanied with enhancements.
Bias
As indicated earlier, Miller and Riechert (2001) advocated that in the process of frame identification, key words should be mapped out and counted in terms of frequency within the data collected. Accordingly, fairness of each story analyzed was determined by identifying key words that denoted a slant towards any side or otherwise. The findings of this study did not support the findings of Amoakohene (2007), Temin & Smith (2002) and Frère (2011) where the State-owned media were biased or favourable towards the ruling (incumbent) government in their reportage. The results of the study indicated that most (90.4%) of the stories analyzed were presented neutrally. This means that almost all the stories reported on the election petition did not favour any side to the detriment of another. This presupposed that the level of fairness with which the Guardian reported on the 2003 election petition tribunals was very high. What this finding means is that the Guardian honored its constitutional obligation as a state- owned media of being fair. If the assertion that a bias in media is a failure of the “news market” (Sutter, 2001) is anything to go by, then it can be noted that the coverage of the 2003 election petition tribunals by the Guardian was not a failure of the “news market.”
The finding that government newspapers were more biased in their coverage than private newspapers (Goretti, 2007) was not supported by this study. The findings of this research disagreed with those of Cummings (2006), Grbeša (2012), Goretti (2007), Khan (2003), Khudiyev (2005) which all found high levels of bias in the newspapers they studied.
Recommendations
Although findings generated from the study were very useful, the generalizability of the results to other media types such as radio and television, should be treated with caution. This is because the study was limited to only the Guardian newspaper‟s coverage of the 2003 election petition tribunals. It is therefore recommended that future studies consider a comparative study of Guardian and other leading newspapers in Nigeria. It would also be very interesting to adopt a broader media studies in the coverage of election issues by not looking at only newspapers, but also at television and radio stories.
Conclusion
Primarily, this study sought to explore how the 2003 election petition tribunals was framed by the Guardian. The analysis of the findings was to establish the level of prominence and fairness with which the state-owned newspaper covered the election petition as well as the dominant tone of the coverage. The study used the quantitative content analysis approach to explore the stories. Generally, stories on the election petition were framed prominently in terms of the size of headline and story, enhancement and the type of story. However, Guardian could have done better in terms of placement of election petition stories because most of the stories on election petition were not found in the prominent pages of the newspaper but the “the other” pages. With regards to the overall tone, the study showed that the coverage of the election petition was framed either positive or neutral but the positive tone dominated. Also the findings indicated that the election petition was framed with much fairness. Therefore, to a very large extent, one can say that the Guardian adhered to its constitutional obligation of affording fair opportunities to divergent and dissenting views.
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