DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS ON RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ON LITERATURE REVIEW ON WOMEN LIBERATION STEREOTYPED COVERAGE AND REPORTING IN NIGERIA: A STUDY OF THE NATION AND VANGUARD NEWSPAPERS

DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS

4.0     INTRODUCTION       

          Frequency distribution tables were used to present quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data collected for this study. The data from this were used to answer the research questions.

4.1     DATA PRESENTATION

Table 4.1    Media

s/no	Publication	Number of issues
1	Vanguard	30
2	Nation	30
Total	2	60

          For this research, 60 copies of the newspaper will be coded, presented and analyzed.

4.2     WOMEN LIBERATION STEREOTYPED ACTIVITIES IN NIGERIA

Story Genre

Story genre devoted to the women liberation in Nigeria by Vanguard and Nation newspapers from April to September 2013.

Table 4.2:   Story Genre

Interpretation variable	Newspaper vanguard	Nation	total
Straight news	4 (40%)	6 (60%)	10 (6%)
Editorials	-	-	-
Articles/features	1 (25%)	3(37%)	4(27%)
Letter to the editor	-	1	1(6%)
Cartoon	-	-	-
Total	5(33%)	10(67%)	15(100%)

          The nature of story genre published by the newspapers studied was found out that the stories were mostly straight news reports. For example, 10(67%) of the stories were news stories, 4(27%) of the stories were feature/articles while 1 (16%) was a letter to the editor on the subject matter. From the above table it could be seen that the vanguard newspaper top the list interms of news stories, features and letters on the subject matter. While the table indicates that the Nation had 4(40%) as its news stories and had 1 (25%) feature on the subject matter. Above is an indication of low interpretation given to women liberation in Nigeria by the Nigerian newspapers.

4.3     VOLUME OF COVERAGE

Research question 1: How is the Nigeria press perceiving women liberation?

          On the question of how the Nigeria press perceiving women liberation, the 60 editions of the two national newspapers studied carried only 15 stories on the issue understudy. Out of these 15 stories, the Vanguard reported 5(33%) and the Nation 10(67%) stories on women liberation in Nigeria. This distribution pattern is presented on a table below.

Table 4.3:   Volume of Coverage

Newspaper	Frequency	Percentage
Vanguard	5	33
Nation	10	67
Total	15	100

          This explanatory study came up with quite some interesting revelations on the way the press covers the issues of women liberation in Nigeria. First, it discovered that inspite of the Negligence on women and the second fiddle women are termed, Nigerian newspapers are yet to give adequate coverage to women liberation in Nigeria. Secondly, it reveals that media treat the issue of women liberation with levity.

4.4     DIRECTION

Research question 2: What are the roles of the Nigerian press in liberating women?

Table 4:4:  Direction

Direction	Vanguard	Nation	Total
Favourable	1(20%)	2(20%)	3(20%)
Unfavourable	3(60%)	5(50%)	8(53%)
Neutral	1(20%)	3(30%)	4(27%)
Total	5(33%)	10(67%)	15(100%)

          From the table above, the direction of coverage given to women liberation in Nigeria were used to determine if the press gave a positive, negative or neutral direction to the issue on women liberation. The Vanguard newspaper had 5 stories about women liberation that is 33% out of 30 copies studied. The favourable story was 1, that is 20% of the 30 copies studied, the unfavourable stories were 3, that is 60% and the neutral story was 1, that is 20% of the 30 copies studied, the unfavourable stories were 3, that is 60% and the neutral story was 1, that is 20%. The nation newspaper had 10 stories about women liberation that is 67% out of 30 copies studied, the favourable stories were 2, that is, 20% of the 30 copies studied, the unfavourable stories were 5, that is, 50% and the neutral were 3, that is 30%.

4.5     PLACEMENT

Research question 3: To what extent has women liberation given prominence in the Nigerian press?

Placement category	Vanguard	Nation	Total
Front page	-	-	-
Inside page	5(33)	10(67%)	15(100%)
Back page	-	-	-

          The variable of placement was used to determine the degree of prominence given to women liberation in Nigeria. On the question of placement of stories on the pages of the newspapers studied, the study showed that all women liberation stories in Nigeria as covered by the two newspapers studied were placed on the inside pages. The Vanguard recorded 5 (33%) of the women liberation stories in Nigeria. The Nation had 10(67%) of the stories on the subject matter on the inside pages. None of these stories made the front or back pages of the newspapers studied.

4.6     TOPICS

          Topics under which women liberation issues in Nigeria appeared in the Vanguard and the Nation Newspapers from April to September 2013.

Table 4.6: Topics

Topics	Vanguard	Nation	Total
Politics	1(20%)	2(20%)	3(20%)
Business	1(20%)	2(20%)	3(20%)
Education	-	-	-
Health	3 (60%)	6(60%)	9(60%)
Sports	-	-	-
Total	5(33%)	10(67%)	15 (100%)

          The table above shows topics published by the Vanguard and the Nation newspapers during the five (5) months study period. The Vanguard newspaper reported 1(20%) in politics, 1(20%) in business and 3(60%) in health. The nation newspaper reported 6(6%) in health, 2 (20%) in business and 2(20%) in politics. From the analysis the Nation newspaper shared more insight facts about the effect of women liberation on the health of the people.

4.7     DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS

          Nigerian mass media (using the print media) as focus of analysis, are not doing enough interms of reporting and analyzing of issues of women liberation

          There attempt at holding the government accountable to the people interms of women liberation safety is very poor.

          From the findings, it was discovered that inspite of the negligence on women and the second fiddle in which they played and termed, Nigeria newspapers are yet to give adequate coverage to women liberation in Nigeria. The research also revealed that the volume of coverage given to women liberation in Nigeria was very low. The low level of awareness and understanding of women liberation issues in Nigeria can be attributed to the low level coverage of such issues by Nigerian mass media.

          According to Enoh (1986), the extent to which the media attends to certain issues can determine the degree to which the public attaches importance to those issues. Our position is that the less media coverage of women liberation issues translate to low level of knowledge and this invariably translate to low level of awareness on the part of the government and the general public.

          Women liberation issues in Nigerian mass media were not given prominence as shown by the findings of this study. This is regrettable and also correlates with the low level of women liberation awareness in Nigeria.

          Baran (2002), observed that the space of time to a story and its placement in the broadcast or on the print page, respectively is also a form of agenda-setting as people will consider the story move important than others. Supporting this assertion, Iyenge and Kinder (1987), posits that the lead story on the mightily newscast had the greatest attention of the public. Base on the findings, it was observed that none of the women liberation issues made it to the front pages of the newspaper studied, which means that women liberation issues in Nigeria were not given prominence. As a  result of this, the government and the general public will not be aware of the effect it has on the Nigerian women.

          Finally, it revealed that unfavourable direction had the highest number interms of the story direction given to the women liberation issues in Nigeria. It simply explains that the press did not go deep into telling government and the general public the causes, effects and protection of women, liberation of women in the society.