South-East Residents' attitude Towards newspaper Reportage of The Campaign Against Child Abuse In Nigeria

International Journal of Communication and Media Science

© 2020 by SSRG - IJCMS Journal

Volume 7 Issue 3

Year of Publication : 2020

Authors : Okolie, Uloma Rosemary Ph.D, Orji, Uchenna Franklin

10.14445/2349641X/IJCMS-V7I3P101

How to Cite?

Okolie, Uloma Rosemary Ph.D, Orji, Uchenna Franklin, "South-East Residents' attitude Towards newspaper Reportage of The Campaign Against Child Abuse In Nigeria," SSRG International Journal of Communication and Media Science, vol. 7,  no. 3, pp. 1-9, 2020. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.14445/2349641X/IJCMS-V7I3P101

Abstract:

The study evaluated Southeast residents' attitudes towards newspaper reportage in the campaign against child abuse. The objectives of this study, among others, were to; find out the level of awareness created on issues of child abuse through exposure to newspaper reports among Southeast residents; identify the extent to which the exposure to newspaper reportage improve the knowledge of South-East newspaper readers on the fight against child abuse, and determine the influence of newspaper reports on Southeast residents' attitude towards child abuse. The study was anchored on agenda setting and social responsibility theories. The study adopted mixed-method research designs involving survey research and in-depth research methods to collect quantitative and qualitative data. A sample size of 513 respondents was drawn from a population of 21,297,016, using an Australian online calculator. A multi-stage sampling technique was used for this study. The questionnaire and interview schedule were used as instruments for data collection. The researcher purposively selected 20 journalists from the states in South-East Nigeria. The findings revealed that: Southeast residents level of awareness of child abuse stories reported in Nigerian newspapers is high at 52.8%; the extent to which exposure to newspaper reportage improved the knowledge of Southeast residents on the fight against child abuse is moderate at 38%, and exposure to newspaper reportage has influenced Southeast residents' attitude towards child abuse positively at 60.5%. It was, therefore, concluded that newspapers are vital in the fight against child abuse in Nigeria. It was, therefore, recommended as follows: the need for persistent use of newspapers to report issues of public importance like child abuse; newspapers should carry information pertaining to child abuse in their reportage; in educating, enlightening, and sensitizing the citizenry, newspapers should remain a major source in championing the course against child abuse; and people should be empowered information-wise through this medium by establishing specialized newspapers that have to do with societal crimes like child abuse.

Keywords:

Awareness, Child abuse, Newspaper, Knowledge, Reportage, Residents, South-East

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