Risk Communication and the Coverage of COVID-19 Pandemic by Selected Nigerian Newspapers

Abstract

This paper examined selected Nigerian newspapers’ (Daily Sun, Daily Trust, The Guardian and The Nation) coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic on Risk Communication from March1 – April 30, 2020.The study focused on the frequency of COVID-19 coverage, the journalistic genres used for risk communication in the coverage of COVID-19 pandemic and the risk communication components used in COVID-19 coverage. The study found relevance in situational theory of publics and deliberative process model as theoretical framework. The study adopted content analysis to examine a total of 244 editions (census study) of four newspapers; Daily Sun, Daily Trust, The Guardian and The Nation, published in two months (March1 – April 30, 2020). Data was collected using a coding sheet and analysed. Results showed that straight news was the dominant journalistic genre used in the coverage of COVID 19 with 3,302. Nigerian newspapers accorded COVID-19 much attention in coverage with a total of 6,054 stories. The study concluded that the component of efficacy was rated low, specifically ‘the outcomes of the preventive actions. The study recommends among other things that Nigerian newspapers, in their coverage of pandemic outbreak, should use feature stories to enhance depth of coverage.