This study examines emergent gender issues in the analysis of newspaper coverage of maternal and child healthcare (MCH) in Nigeria over a one-year period. MCH is a major challenge in Nigeria as the country is among the highest contributors to maternal and child mortalities globally. Even though this pattern has wider implication to society at large, it may be regarded as being more relevant to women. Premised on gender bias and journalistic norms hypotheses, the study combines content analysis and in-depth interviews (IDI) to determine the dominant gender leading in the newspaper coverage of such a womencentred issue, and underlying reasons for the dominance. The study thus examines the dominant gender of journalists, and other voices projected in the newspaper reports on the issues. It also compares views of male and female health journalists for possible differences of opinion regarding media coverage of MCH. The study finds male dominance amongst journalists and voices quoted in the coverage of MCH issues and related stories, though there was minimal influence of gender in the overall coverage of issues. The study thus deviates from the media gender studies attributing underrepresentation of women in the media to gender bias; noting that gender imbalance is often rooted in journalistic norms pervading media operations.
The mass media are important for wide dissemination of health information. The frame of reference adopted in the reportage of health issues tends to influence people’s perception towards health related issues. Studies examining framing of health issues have found the me- dia wanting in their reportage of health. This study extends the frontier of framing analysis of health coverage in the media by examining framing of maternal and child healthcare (MCH) issues in Nigerian newspapers. Using the content analyses method, two categories of frames – public health frame, and coping versus alarm message frame – were examined in the study. Four national newspapers were purposively sampled over a 12-month period resulting in the analysis of 1,235 MCH-related editorial items. The study found minimal adoption of public health frame with only 12% adoption rate, and dominant adoption of coping frame over alarm frame with rare combination of both. The findings reflect the implication of greater reliance on official sources for health stories in the media, resulting in lack of context in reported stories to aid proper understanding of issues. The study calls for better framing of health related issues in the media to generate appropriate attention to possibly drive development in the health sector.
This study focuses on a COVID-19 disinformation video promoting hydroxychloroquine as a cure, while dismissing other promoted COVID-19 preventive behaviours. It examines the virality of the video among Nigerians, their convictions on claims made, and likely behaviour in the possibility of suspected COVID-19 infection. The study was premised on the “availability cascade effect” which predicts a higher tendency for people to believe viral information, especially when supported by individuals considered experts on the issue being promoted. It adopted the survey research method, using snowball sampling. Data for the study was gathered electronically online from 222 participants who responded to survey. The snowball sampling method was adopted due to movement restrictions in Nigeria occasioned by the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic at the time of data collection. Findings from the study show that over 90 percent of respondents were aware of the video, with many denying further sharing online. Despite multiple fact-checks on different claims in the video, respondents who still believed the claims were found more likely to try-out hydroxychloroquine efficacy as a COVID-19 cure than those who do not. Respondents were however mostly positive on adhering to promoted COVID-19 preventive measures despite the contrary claims in the video. The virality of the video compared to its fact-checks, and sustained belief in its promoted disinformation claims, support the need to stop false information from spreading very early. Hence, there must be sustained efforts to continuously track false and malicious claims in the public space and strive to stop its spread immediately.
Although the Nigerian government appears committed to improving maternal and child healthcare (MCH), studies consistently show high maternal and child mortality in the country. Studies have also shown that a lack of awareness about symptoms and their severity prevents women from seeking medical attention until complications arise. The media can help address these issues by enlightening and empowering the public with relevant information. Unfortunately, even when published, critical information (about MCH) are usually buried in statistics and within ‘authority interviews’ which may not attract the attention of the target audience or provide them with the relevant information they need to protect the lives of women and children during pregnancy and childbirth. This study presents results from a content analysis of MCH-related contents in four national newspapers for a 12-month period and also interviews with ten health editors about the coverage of MCH-related issues in the Nigerian press. Major findings are that health journalists use statistics and stakeholder interviews mainly in producing health contents in the press because cultural ideologies around secrecy/silence about MCH experiences, the fatalistic acceptance of unfavourable outcomes as destiny, as well as patriarchy, have consistently discouraged women (and men) from sharing their MCH experiences in the media. The study recommends that the media should avoid the sensationalisation of MCH experiences to encourage more people to share their stories. This is because including the positive and challenging experiences of individuals in MCH-related contents in the media provides the human-interest angle that can increase readership of health contents, thus empowering citizens with the information they need to get adequate care and also seek redress when such care is denied.
Nigeria is a developing country with varied developmental challenges. It has one of the worst maternal and child healthcare (MCH) indices, globally. The media, as a vital element within the society, has the potential to contribute to improving MCH through appropriate framing and communication of MCH issues. Achieving media inclusion poses a challenge as media contents are often products of varied power relations. Extant studies have established that health is often not primed in Nigerian newspapers where politics and business hold sway. News media contents are also influenced by varied factors which exists both within and outside of news media organisations. Premised on sociology of news as critical perspective, this study examines power relations in newspaper representation of MCH issues in Nigeria. Combining content analysis of MCH-related stories in newspapers with in-depth interview of newspaper health editors, it explores factors and underlying reasons driving coverage of MCH. It finds that government, local and international aid agencies, and civil societies often influence coverage of MCH issues. These groups drive media representation of MCH through established journalistic routine and reporter-source relations, often favouring priming of official news sources and ‘powerful’ elements within the society, as a necessity for maximising limited news media resources. This paper identifies various forms in which these groups manipulates media representation of MCH, urging the media to be more proactive in driving agenda for improved MCH for the citizenry, and not accede to satisfying peculiar interests over public interest.
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