PRESS COVERAGE OF 2019 GENERAL ELECTIONS IN NIGERIA: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF VANGUARD AND DAILY TRUST NEWSPAPERS

Abstract

The paper examined newspaper coverage of 2019 General Election in Nigeria. Content analysis was used to examine headline news about the activities of the elections by the two leading political parties - the All Progressive Congress (APC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). The researchers did a comparative analysis using Vanguard and Daily Trust newspapers, which were selected through a purposive sampling technique based on national reach and geographical spread. The result showed that Daily Trust gave more favourable coverage to the APC while Vanguard gave more favourable coverage to the PDP in their individual reporting of the 2019 General Elections of Nigeria. Therefore, the two newspapers covered the activities of the two frontline political parties, but there was no equitable coverage of the parties. Thus, based on the results, the two national newspapers showed biases in their coverage of each of the leading political parties. The biases found in the newspapers’ coverage were basically based on the region where they chiefly operate in the country. The study recommended that national newspapers should ensure equitable coverage of all political parties and their candidates during the general elections in Nigeria, regardless of their places of operation. This is in line with the stipulations of the code of practice on electoral matters.