Nigerian Press and Group Identity Promotion in Presidential Elections

The study investigated the nature of the coverage of group identity by national newspapers during the 2003 and 2007 presidential elections in Nigeria. The study found out the direction, emphasis and the level of publicity the different groups in Nigeria got from the press in their campaigns for the position of the president of the country. The study also assessed how the press framed the relationship between different groups who were involved in the presidential elections of 2003 and 2007 in the country. Content analysis and framing analysis techniques were instruments adopted for the study. Eight newspapers - New Nigerian, Daily Trust, Daily Sun, Daily Champion, The Guardian, Vanguard, Nigerian Tribune and The Punch- were content analysed and the data gathered from them were collated and directed at answering specific research questions of the study. These eight newspapers, therefore, served as unit of observation while the unit of analysis were news, editorials, cartoons, and opinion articles. Adopting Stempel's constructed and composite weeks, the first six months of 2003 and 2007 were selected and four days were picked in each of the months for the study.