A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF PATTERNS OF NEWS COVERAGE BETWEEN A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF PATTERNS OF NEWS COVERAGE BETWEEN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE RADIO STATIONS IN LAGOS STATE (A CASE STUDY OF EKO FM AND TOP RADIO)

Abstract

Comparative analysis of pattern of news coverage between public and private radio station a study of Eko FM and Top Radio in Lagos state was examined in this study. Codebook and code sheet were used as the instrument for data collection for this study. The research makes use of a content analysis and framing analysis in order to analyze the textual data both quantitatively and qualitatively. Findings from the analysis revealed that the length of news report of Eko FM 89.7 is longer than that of Top Radio 90.9 and this will influence the level of prominence and the perceived importance of their news by the audience. Secondly, both stations focused more on socio-economic reports, however, aside socio-economic reports, Eko 89.6 FM tend to report more political issues than Top Radio 90.9 FM while on the other side Top Radio 90.9 FM focused more on events report, courts report and other reports. The study also finds out that Top Radio 90.9 FM enjoy a wide range of coverage than Eko FM 89.6, this finding agrees with Ojebiyi & Oluwasina (2019) research, where they found that private radio stations have more coverage than public radio stations as they are perceived to be more socially responsible and report more credible and entertaining program compared to the public stations. Both private and public radio stations have the same source of news. Eko 89.7 FM is heavily dependent on one single source which is individuals for their news while Top Radio 90.9 FM has considerable proportion spread across three sources of news, political actors, individuals and experts. The study recommends that the radio media should refrain from being biased in their coverage so that their stories become prominent, all broadcast media in particular radio stations, should have strict guidelines to cover major stories, to support their media outlets and to ensure the integrity of their news sources by testing multiple news sources and the radio stations must increase their performance by informing the nation properly and correctly. All knowledge should be adapted to strengthen the positive frames of news stories.