Reflection of Nigeria Project Challenges in Press Coverage of the Campaigns for the 2015 General Elections

Abstract

This study was designed to determine the 2015 general election campaigns in Nigcria to establish whether their coverage by the press reflected Nigerian Project concerns as priority. The study covered six months of electioncering from 1st November, 2014 to 30h April, 2015. Four foremost national newspapers were examined and they yielded 181 editions within the study period,from which a sample of 56 was extracted, using a systematic sampling technique. A coding guide and coding sheet were the instruments employed. From the study, it was found that the select newspapers glossed over featured Nigerian Project issues, scoring low on frequency, prominence and magnitude. Conversely,they were deeply loyal to their proprietors' partisan and ethno-religious affiliations, used subversive rhetoric. It was concluded that in upholding the private interest of media owners over the national interest, the newspapers studied were both unpatriotic and unethical: a pedestal from which it is impossible for them to deliver on the much desired Nigeria nationhood - the dream of the country's founding fathers.