SELECT NEWSPAPERS' COVERAGE OF THE THREE LEADING CANDIDATES IN THE FEBRUARY 25, 2023 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IN NIGERIA

This study examines select newspapers’ coverage of the three leading candidates in the 8 months period running up to the February 25, 2023 presidential election in Nigeria. Guided by the Agenda setting and Framing theories, the study used Content analysis design to achieve three objectives, namely: ascertain the prominence given to the news stories published on the presidential candidates; the frequency of coverage of the candidates and the slants of the news stories on each presidential candidate. Using the composite week sampling technique and the systematic random sampling procedure, the study sourced 674 news stories from 200 samples obtained from a population of 1210 editions of five purposely selected newspapers, including: This Day, Guardian, Punch, Sun, and Leadership newspapers. The study found frequency and prominence of coverage to be high and adequate for all the candidates with the candidate of the APC obtaining the highest frequency of coverage, (35.16%), followed by the candidate of the PDP (33.53%), and the candidate of the LP (31.30%). Again, the study found that the candidates were positioned prominently in the newspapers (53%) with only 47% of the stories published regarded as not prominent by virtues of their placements and sizes in the pages. Again, the study found that although the candidate of LP secured the least frequency, stories on him were the most prominently positioned during the period under review. The study also found that the presidential candidate of the APC was most negatively slanted (48.2%) and that of the LP most positively slanted (45.3%), while the candidate of the PDP attracted the most neutrally slanted coverage (42.2%). The study concludes that although the frequency and prominence of coverage were high and adequate enough for every candidate and news slants in line with the realities associated with the candidates, but the intended impact of the newspapers’ coverage was not absolute. For example, the popularity of the candidate of the LP whose stories were the most positively slanted and prominently positioned never reflected the outcome of the election as opposed to that of the candidate of the APC who emerged winner and whose stories were less prominently positioned and most negatively slanted. The study concludes that media messages competed with pre-determined attitude of the voters and other social factors such as vote buying, religion, ethnicity etc, to influence voter behavior. The study recommends among others things, that the media should always give equal attention to all candidates and be careful in their news slants so as to provide equal playing ground for every candidate.